PROJECT REPORT

ON

MIDDAY MEAL SCHEME ( A CASE STUDY ON KHAMMAM

DIST IN TELANAGNA)

SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR AWARD OF THE

DEGREE

BACHELOR OF ARTS
BY

CHALLA RAMESH

HT.NO:- 17-161-1972

EPP-3RD YEAR

DEPT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

SUPERVISOR

MS.HARITA SALLA ,
DEPT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE ,
NIZAM COLLEGE (AUTONOMOUS),
OSMANA UNIVERSITY.

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 CERTIFICATE

This words to certify the BA project entitled “MIDDAY MEAL SCHEME ( A CASE
STUDY ON KHAMMAM DIST IN TELANAGNA)” is submitted in partial fulfillment
for the Award of Under Graduate Degree “BACHELOR OF ARTS” from NIZAM
COLLEGE , OSMANIA UNIVERSITY. The project report as been carried out by
challa Ramesh with H.T.No:- 17-161-1972 ,under my guidance the academic year 2018-
19

This his original work and has not been submitted to another collage or other
institution for the award of degree/diploma/certificate.

Signature of the the guide Signature of the Head

Department of Political science,
Nizam college(autonomous),
Hyderabad.

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 TITLE PAGE

NAME OF THE TOPIC : MIDDAY MEAL SCHEME ( A CASE STUDY ON

KHAMMAM DIST IN TELANAGNA)

NAME OF THE STUDENT : CHALLA RAMESH

NAME OF THE COLLAGE : NIZAM COLLEGE

NAME OF THE COURSE : B.A FINAL YEAR(EPP)

HALL TICKET NUMBER :17-161-1972

NAME OF THE GUIDE : Ms.HARITA SALLA

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 DECLARATION

I am CHALLA RAMESH studying in B.A(EPP) Final year 2016-2019 hearby declare

that the project report entitled “MIDDAY MEAL SCHEME ( A CASE STUDY ON
KHAMMAM DIST IN TELANAGNA” is my original work and was carried out by me
under esteemed guidance of MS.HARITA SALLA

The empirical findings in this report are based on the data complied from the survey
by myself.

CHALLA RAMESH
17-161-1972

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 ACKNOWLADGEMENT

I take this an opportunity express my gratitude to all who had made it possible for me to
accomplish this project work. I express my deep sense of gratitude to my guide
Prof.MS.HARITA SALLA, Department of poitical science without whose approval and
support this project report would not have been completed. I would like to express my
sincere gratitude to Head department of Political science
,NIZAM COLLEGE, OSMANIA UNIVERSITY .

Above all my parents have been a constant source of the support throughout my life. This
work wouldn’t have been complete for the solace they provide to me whenever. I ran into
difficulties . No words can express my gratitude to them.

Date:-

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER-1 - INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 2.0 – BACKGROUND

2.1 -Mid-day meal scheme in Telangna- an introduction

2.2 Meal Provision

CHAPTER- 3 .0 -REVIEW OF LITERATURE

3.1 - GLOBAL SCENARIO OF SCHOOL MEAL PROGRAMME

3.2 - INDIAN SCENARIO OF MIDDAY MEAL SCHEM

3.3 -TELANGANA SCENARIO OF MIDDAY MEAL SCHEME

CHAPTER-4.0 -VISIONS AND OBJECTIVES OF MIDDAY MEAL SCHEME

4.1 - Objectives of Mid Day Meal scheme

4.2 - Mission/Vision Statement of the MDM SCHEME

CHAPTER-5.0- IMPLEMENTATION OF MDM SCHEME

CHAPTER- 6.0 -RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

6.1 - SAMPLING
6.2 - SOURCES OF DATA

6.2 - SOURCES OF DATA

6.3 – HYPOTHESIS

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 CHAPTER – 7.0- PROBLEM ANALYSIS

CHAPTER – 8.0 - DRAWBACKS AND RECOMMEDATIONS

8.1 - DRAWBACKS-5 REASONS
8.2 - RECOMMEDATIONS

CHAPTER 9.0- CONCLUSION

BIBILIOGRAPHY

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 CHAPTER -1
INTRODUCTION

"Kale varshantu parjanyaha, Pruthivi sashya-shalini I

Desho ayam kshobha rahitaha, Brahmana santu nirbhayaha II"

“Let there be timely rainfall, let our mother-land remain ever green and give plenty of food and
flowers. Let there be no crimes, riots and unrest in the country, and men of knowledge, wisdom
and vision ever remain fearless”.

Basic education is one of the most effective investments in improving economies and creating
literate, self-reliant and healthy societies. Yet, 100 million children of primary school age, 97%
of them in developing countries, are not in school and of these, two thirds are girls. Of those
children who start school, 150 million drop out before completing five years of education, the
minimum required for basic literacy. About two thirds of them are girls. Meanwhile, 300
million children are chronically hungry in the world today. Of these, some 180 million go to
school on an empty stomach.

Despite significant economic progress in the past decade, India is home to about 25 percent of
the world's hungry poor. Although the country grows enough food for its people, pockets of
hunger remain. Stark inter-state disparities exist with some states better off on all social
indicators than the others. The states that suffer from hunger and malnutrition the most include
Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.

Education and learning depend on good nutrition and health. Under nutrition continues to be a
widespread problem in India, despite significant improvement in food production and
advancement in science since Indian independence. The National and the State governments
have been implementing a number of poverty alleviation programmes for the overall
socioeconomic development of the community and several nutrition programmes to mitigate
the sufferings of the vast multitudes of the population at risk.

Poor nutrition and health among schoolchildren contributes to the inefficiency of the
educational system. Children with diminished cognitive abilities and sensory impairments
naturally perform less well and are more likely to repeat grades and to drop out of school than

8
 children who are not impaired; they also enroll in school at a later age, if at all, and finish fewer
years of schooling. The irregular school attendance of malnourished and unhealthy children is
one of the key factors in poor performance. Even short-term hunger, common in children who
are not fed before going to school, can have an adverse effect on learning. Children who are
hungry have more difficulty concentrating and performing complex tasks, even if otherwise well
nourished.

The Government of India’s National Nutrition Policy, apart from setting nutrition goals to
control and prevent malnutrition in the country started National Programme of Nutritional
Support to Primary Education (NP-NSPE) as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme on 15th August
1995, initially in 2408 blocks in the country. By 1997-98 it was introduced in all blocks of the
country. It was further extended in 2002 to cover children studying in EGS and AIE centers.

Cooked mid-day meal is the popular name for the school meal programme which involves
provision of lunch –free of cost to school children on all school days.

School meals can be used to effectively tackle hunger, nutrition, education, gender inequality
and broader development issues. They transfer much needed income to food insecure
households.

The five main outcomes of school feeding are:

Nutrition: improved micronutrient intake and macronutrient intake leads to enhanced nutrition
and child health, increased learning and decreased morbidity for students;

Education: school feeding can help to get children into school and to keep them there, through
enhancing enrolment and reducing absenteeism;

Gender: the positive contribution of school feeding to gender equality is proved. Access to
education is increased for orphans and vulnerable children,

Value transfer: school feeding transfers resources to households, averting negative coping
strategies and allowing investments in productive assets;

Local development: school feeding is often linked to health and nutrition/essential package
interventions. School feeding favours spin offs to community development and local

9
 production, in particular when food is being sourced from poor, small-holding farmers.

When putting food on the family table today takes priority over a child’s potential for
tomorrow, school feeding programmes allow parents the choice of sending children to school.
School feeding also allows valuable income to be freed up to invest productively in ways that
benefit the entire family

School feeding also serves as a platform for other developmental outcomes such as: reinforcing
and developing local economies through the purchase of local goods and services; reducing
gender and social inequities by encouraging families to send girls and other vulnerable children
to school; establishing basic infrastructure to allow governments to implement their own school
feeding, nutrition and health programmes, while employing environmentally-friendly
technologies and practices; ensuring safe learning environments to improve social interaction
and cohesion during meal times; and improving nutrition and learning by using quality foods
with added micronutrients and supplementary programmes that enhance health and cognition.

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 CHAPTER 2

BACKGROUND

The past decade has seen sustained 8 percent per annum growth of gross domestic product
(GDP) and expanding foreign exchange reserves; in purchasing power parity terms, India is
the world’s fourth largest economy. This success is reflected in a reduction in poverty from 36
percent of the population in 1993 to 26 percent in 2004, and a change in image from a
stagnating low-level economy to an emerging world power. Yet in many areas, particularly
rural India, poverty and deprivation affect 260 million people – the largest share of poor people
in the world.

Even with continued economic growth, India accounts for 40 percent of the world's
underweight children, though it has 20 percent of the global child population; the prevalence
rate is 47 percent, double that of sub-Saharan Africa. Underweight increases a child’s risk of
dying from common illnesses and retards cognitive and physical growth. Malnutrition has
multiple causes, but the burden of disease and insufficiency and poor-quality diet are major
causes in India. Current rates of progress suggest that India is unlikely to achieve Millennium
Development Goal (MDG) of halving the number of underweight children by 2015.

Food insecurity and under nutrition show higher rates of malnutrition in some states: Orissa,
Maharashtra, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan have rates of underweight
above 50 percent. In scheduled castes the malnutrition rate is 53 percent and in scheduled tribes
it is 56 percent. Gender disparities are reflected in the 48.9 percent underweight rates among
girls compared with 45.5 percent among boys; it is disturbing that these inequalities in
nutritional status widened during the 1990s.

Mid-Day Meal in schools has had a long history in India. In 1925, a Mid-Day Meal Programme
was introduced for disadvantaged children in Madras Municipal Corporation. By the mid- 1980s
three States viz. Gujarat, Kerala and Tamil Nadu and the UT of Pondicherry had universalized a
cooked Mid-Day Meal Programme with their own resources for children studying at the primary
stage By 1990-91 the number of States implementing the mid-day meal programme with their
own resources on a universal or a large scale had increased to twelve states.

During the year 2009 the following changes have been made to improve the implementation of
scheme
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Food norms have been revised to ensure balanced and nutritious diet to children of upper
primary group by increasing the quantity of pulses from 25 to 30 grams, vegetables from 65 to 75
grams and by decreasing the quantity of oil and fat from 10 grams to 7.5 grams.

2.1 Mid-day meal scheme in Telangna- an introduction

Under Mid-day Meal Scheme cooked meal is being provided to the students from class I – VIII
Implemented in (Primary and Middle classes) in all Govt. and Govt. Aided schools and also
the students of 197 AIE .At present total number of students covered under this scheme
comes to 112500, (106000 students of Govt. & Govt. Aided Schools + 6500 students of AIE
Centres). Food grains of wheat and rice is being provided by Govt. of India through Food
Corporation of India. The major portion of expenditure on this component will be met out of
telanagna state budget.

2.2 Meal Provision

With a view to enhance enrolment, retention and attendance and simultaneously improving
nutritional levels among children, the National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary
Education (NP-NSPE) was launched as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme on 15th August 1995,
initially in 2408 blocks in the country. By the year 1997-98 the NP-NSPE was introduced in
all blocks of the country. It was extended in 2002 to cover children studying in centres running
under the Education Guarantee Scheme (EGS) and Alternative & Innovative Education (AIE)
Scheme and Madarsas/Maktab. The scheme has been further extended to Upper Primary
Schools in 2006-07. Since, 2009-10 the scheme covers children studying in National Child
Labour Project (NCLP) Schools also.

Since its inspection, the scheme has been revised from time to time and the present provisions
are as given below:-

1) Free supply of food grains @ 100 grams per child per school day at Primary and @ 150
grams per child per school day at Upper Primary.
2) Subsidy for transportation of food grains is provided to 11 special category states at
PDS rate prevalent in these states and up to a maximum of Rs.75.00 per quintal for
other than special categories States/UTs

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 3) Cost of cooking includes cost of ingredients, e.g. pulses, vegetables, cooking oil and
condiments as given below:-

Food norm with effect from 1-12-2009

Quantity per day/Child

S. No. Items Primary Upper Primary

1 Food grains 100 gms 150 gms

2 Pulses 20 gms 30 gms

3 Vegetables (leafy also) 50 gms 75 gms

4 Oil & fat 5 gms 7.5 gms

5 Salt & condiments As per need As per need

4) Children Covered Under Mid-Day Scheme

Year Govt. Schools Govt. Aided Schools AIE Centres Total

Primary Upper Primary Upper Primary

Primary

2008-09 46013 24805 1232 1628 6264 79942

2009-10 47798 23890 1236 1079 9344 83347

2010-11 48564 27371 1289 1239 7126 85589

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 CHAPTER-3
REVIEW OF LITERATURE

“Yatha tu dirlabo baalah khadannapi ch vahnimaan

Kumaaram vapumedhabalpushtikara h smritah”
(78-81,Nidaan-Chikitsa,Yogratnkar)

(Children with lesser dietary intake are more likely to present features of malnutrition due to
inadequate supply of vital nutrients. On the contrary children having food supplemented with
good essential nutrients attain a healthy body along with efficient mental capabilities).

WHO recognises nutritionally adequate and safe food without distinction of age, sex, or race
and a life free from hunger and malnutrition as basic human right. It rests on the conviction
that hunger and malnutrition are unacceptable in a world that has both the knowledge and the
resources to end this widespread, continuing human catastrophe. It recognizes that hunger and
malnutrition are rooted in poverty, deprivation, and under development, and that they are the
result of inadequate access to the basic requirements for nutritional well-being, including safe
and adequate food, care, health, education and a clean environment (1). The programme
implemented by only three of the main actors in this field India, Brazil and WFP reach a total
of180 million beneficiaries, which illustrates the scale of the efforts needed. A global alliance
of donors, governments, international organizations, NGO's and practitioners will be needed to
support this approach, which is clearly in line with the new thinking on school feeding: greater
alignment with national strategies; increased government ownership and commitment; and an
evidence-based approach to designing cost-effective, relevant and well-targeted programme.
(2). Aware of these facts this review of literature explores the links between socioeconomic
status and scholastic performance with nutritional status of children availing School feeding
programmes world over. The literature search include various studies and documents providing
information on the scholastic achievement and nutritional status of children availing these
programmes. It explores the existence of high levels of malnutrition and poor academic
performance by analysing food distribution systems, eating habits and growth patterns of
children in primary and upper primary classes.

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3.1 GLOBAL SCENARIO OF SCHOOL MEAL PROGRAMME

Healthier children live longer, healthier lives and perform better in school. As Education is the
cornerstone of social development (3). A programme named universal-free school breakfast
program (USBP) Found that Participation in a school breakfast program enhanced daily
nutrient intake and improvements in nutrient intake were associated with significant
improvements in student academic performance and psychosocial functioning and decreases
in hunger. Students who reported low nutrient intakes had more symptoms of hunger and
psychosocial problems (by both their own and their parents reports) than students with higher
nutrient intakes. Perhaps even more importantly, students who increased their nutrient intakes
after the start of a free school breakfast program were more likely to improve their nutrient
intake status and academic and psychosocial functioning (4). The effect of school feeding is
recognised by principals and food service personnel. In a survey majority (over 95%) believed
that there were benefits to providing breakfast in schools (5).

Examining the effects of subsidized school meals on school participation, educational

achievement, and school finance in a developing country setting. Data was collected from 25
randomly chosen preschools in a pool of 50. Children's school participation was found 30
percent higher in the treatment group than in the comparison group. The meals program led to
higher test scores (0.4 of a standard deviation), but only in schools where the teacher was
relatively well trained prior to the program. Progression rates to primary school were similar
in treatment and comparison schools. The school meals displaced teaching time and led to
bigger class sizes (6).

Dietary habits, food intakes, health status, and school and community life of meal skipping
children, are the factors predicting meal skipping of children. In Korea a sample composed of
944 children in low-income families were provided with public meal service. Study confirmed
that poverty and family dissolution are significant risk factors for meal skipping of children.
Absence of parent or caretaker who regularly provides meals for a child is critical for food and
nutrition intake of children. It preached for social support programs to be provided to meet
needs of meal skipping children and their families at community level (7). Height, weight and
BMI have a significant association with learning, suggesting the importance of nutrition
in the education system. The evidence indicates that breakfast consumption is more beneficial

15
 than skipping breakfast (8).

16
 To evaluate the impact of healthy school meals on educational outcomes unique features of the
“Jamie Oliver Feed Me Better” were exploited in 2004 In United Kingdom. The campaign
introduced drastic changes in the menus of meals served in schools. It showed that the
campaign increased the percentage of pupils reaching level 4 by 4.5 percentage points in
English, and the percentage of pupil’s reaching level 5 by 6 percentage points in Science.
Absences dropped by 15% on average (9).

School feeding programs may improve nutrition and health by directly increasing household
food availability, but the net effect on nutrition could be negative if the family loses income
because the child is spending more time in school and less time in productive activities. If a
school feeding program is not accompanied by increased school capacity, classrooms may be
crowded, negatively affecting learning. Therefore, negative effects on both education and
nutrition are possible (10).

3.2 INDIAN SCENARIO OF MIDDAY MEAL SCHEME

An average Indian school going child is undernourished and underweight, suffers from
iron deficiency anaemia, and is vitamin A, riboflavin, vitamin C and iodine deficient. She/he
very often suffers from intestinal worms, upper respiratory infections, malaria, diarrhea, skin
infections like scabies and a host of other. A school going child has to have a minimal level of
nutrition and health in order to imbibe what is taught to her/ him in school (11).Educational
achievement of the children in general is strongly influenced by their nutritional intake,
parental and home environmental condition (12).

Across the Indian states, there is a disproportionate burden of malnutrition among the children
from poor SES, more so in urban areas (12). It calls for state specific policies which should be
designed and implemented on a priority basis, keeping in view the nature of inequality in
childhood malnutrition in the country and its differential characteristics across the states (2).
Studies have indicated The MDM program needs to be strengthened in its operational
supervision. Also the quantity and quality of the supplement needs to be further improved to
fill the nutrient gap (13) .

In rural population, the prevalence of under nutrition tended to increase from about 63% among
6-9 year age group to 78% in 10-13 years and then decreased to 66% in 14-17 year age group

17
 of children. Though no significant sex differences in the prevalence of under nutrition were
observed in 6-9 and 10-13 year age groups, a relatively higher proportion of boys (73%) in 14-
17 year age group were found to be undernourished as compared to their female counterparts
(60.4%) (55). Several other studies corroborate these findings. In Vadodara, Gujarat, there was
almost 28 percent of absenteeism in rural schools; malnutrition was highly prevalent with 70
percent of children being underweight; Stunting was evident in 32.4 percent of girls and 30.8
percent boys, prevalence of anaemia was 73 percent and the severity was more in under-
nourished children (14) . In Hisar district, Haryana food and nutrient intake was inadequate
and anthropometric measurements (mean height and weight) were significantly (P<0.05) lower
than reference value. Regarding prevalence of malnutrition, it was found that 54.11 percent of
the children were stunted and 55.5% were underweight (15).

It is not only the rural children but a nutritional gap is also seen among the urban children,
hence imparting nutrition knowledge and follow-up of the running nutritional programme
should be done. In the urban schools where children bring their own lunch boxes to schools,
parents should be counselled about nutrition and a monthly diet plan should be advised to the
parents according to the requirement of the child. This can keep a check as well as will help in
modifying the diet of the child and the family as well. The government should have a budget
to run a comprehensive nutrition education programme in all the schools. It is recommended
that the food provided to the children under Mid-day Meal programme should be a mixture of
all the essential nutrients (16) .

School feeding could also inculcate in the pupils good dietary habits and promote personal
hygiene and awareness of the importance of environmental sanitation. In fact, MDM could be
a valuable means of imparting health and nutrition education not only to children but also to
the parents and the community (17).

The Mid-Day Meal did not makes important impact was that the reduced dropout rate among
the girls (12). The results show that the average monthly attendance rate of girls in grade 1
jumps up by more than 10 percent points with the introduction of the program. Overall the
findings indicate that the program has been more successful in improving participation rates of
girls thereby reducing gender disparity in schooling (18).

MDM seeks to provide, each school child with third of the daily nutrient requirements in the
form of a hot fresh cooked meal. It is sometimes argued that in the case of children of poor
households, the school meal may become a substitute rather than a supplement for the home

18
 meal (17). Students who increase their nutrient intakes after the start of a free school breakfast
program are more likely to improve their nutrient intake status and academic and psychosocial
functioning. The diet of school going children was deficient in all the food groups ultimately
resulted in the low intake of all the nutrients. Mid-day meal programme has been found to be
a substitute rather than a supplement for the home meal. The deficiency in the intake of protein
and micronutrient intake might be due to low intake of pulses, milk and milk products, green
leafy vegetables and fruits (19).

A study in Delhi found that needs of a class one child are very different from those of a class
five child. However, this has not been taken into account while fixing the quantity of food
provided to children. There is no uniform rule to ensure the equitable distribution of food.
Children belonging to lower grades are given food first and are unconsciously served less
because they are smaller and because teachers do not want food to run out. The possibility
of a shortage arises because food is cooked in centralized kitchens based on attendance
records of the previous day (20). Found that Shortage of utensils is a common problem. There
is similar issue with the lunch plates. Children are expected to bring plates or bowls from home.
Some parents however are reluctant to let children take plates or bowls away from home, for
fear of losing them. It is worth noting that some poor parents simply don’t have containers (21).

A study in Aligarh, U.P found that MDMS is not making any appreciable impact on the
nutritional status and academic achievement of school children. Majority of MDM children are
stunted and thin. There may be different causes for poor nutritional status and performance,
like irregular attendance of recipients in the school because of their involvement in family
occupation. The amount of Mid-Day Meal may not be sufficient. Feeling of hunger prevents
them to concentrate on their studies, poor quality of food items were used in Mid-Day Meal
and also there were no use of soybean and seasonal vegetables etc. Statistically the mean height
and weight of MDM school children was found lower than that of ICMR 1990 standards. The
nutritional status of the MDM school children was found to be lower than those of NMDM
school children. The prevalence of stunting among MDM boys and girls were 75.37%
and74.68%, respectively and wasting was observed 86.93% for boys and 76.53% for girls. In
NMDM boys and girls stunting was 54.08% and 55.24% moreover 79.25% boys and 76.35%
girls were found wasted, respectively. Significant difference in the prevalence of stunting and
wasting for both MDM boys and girls was observed (22).

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3.3 TELANGANA SCENARIO OF MIDDAY MEAL SCHEME

Students, teachers and parents reported that MDM scheme is served regularly in
TELANGNA . The hot cooked meal is transported from centralized kitchens run by four
institutes. It is reported that 25-30% students are bringing their own tiffin when meal is not of
their liking (23). School feeding programs also show the potential to increase children’s body
size and muscle mass, though it is unclear whether the benefits are derived from increased
energy intake or the provision of micronutrient-rich foods. Moreover, there is virtually no
evidence on how in-school feeding affects children’s activity levels, which could ultimately
impact anthropometric outcomes. The effect of in-school feeding on grade repetition, drop-
out rates, learning achievement, and school performance are all interrelated. The socio-
economic gradient of long-term nutritional status among children needs special focus, more
so in the states where chronic malnutrition among children apparently demonstrates a lower
prevalence . There is a lack of research comparing nutritional effect of MDMS on adolescents
In telanagna . It is also important to study the effect of such interventions on academic
performance.

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CHAPTER -4

VISIONS AND OBJECTIVES OF MIDDAY MEAL SCHEME

4.1 Objectives of Mid Day Meal:-

The Government of India started Mid-Day Meal Scheme. With an aim to enhancing enrolment of
children in schools, retention and increased attendance while also improving nutritional levels
among children, the National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education (NP-NSPE)
was launched as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme on August 15, 1995. After some amendments, as
per the expansion of the programme, the Government designed a set of rules and guidelines to be
followed for implementation. These include various aspects related to child health and growth like
the quantity of calories and proteins required for children from specific age groups, the quantity of
grains that can be allotted to each child, and so forth.

The objectives of the Mid-Day Meal Scheme are:

• Improving the nutritional status of children in classes I-V in Government, Local Body and
Government aided schools, and EGS and AIE centres.

• Encouraging children, belonging to disadvantaged sections, to attend school more regularly

and help them concentrate on classroom activities.

• Providing nutritional support to children of primary stage in drought affected areas during
summer vacation.
• Improve the effectiveness of primary education by improving the nutritional status of
children thereby reducing malnutrition.

• Attract children from disadvantaged sections, especially girls from Dalits and Adivasi
tribes to school, thereby increasing attendance, reducing dropout rates & promoting
women empowerment through literacy.

• Promote a feeling of oneness and secularism amongst various different religions and
cultures.

21
 • A majority of the population in India is still unable to get at least one complete square meal
a day. Annamrita has resolved to liberate the underprivileged children from the vicious
cycle of poverty and illiteracy by serving them sanctified and nutritious Mid-Day meals.
We aim to provide the children with satvik ahaar that helps them with the right nutrition in
their formative years.

4.2 Mission/Vision Statement of the MDM SCHEME

1. To prevent classroom hunger and promote school participation thereby enhance enrolment,

retention and attendance; foster social equality and gender equity and simultaneously improve

nutritional levels among children.

2. Through the MDMS, the Government is helping underprivileged children by providing them with
a healthy, balanced meal that they would otherwise have to work for. The meal is an incentive for
them to continue their education. It helps reduce the dropout rate to an enormous extent and
increase classroom attendence

CHAPTER-5

IMPLEMENTATION OF MDM SCHEME

While implementing the mid-day meal programme, the Central and State Governments work hand in hand.
Central Government issues guidelines to be followed by State Governments while executing the scheme. However,
there are some states that have issued guidelines different from Central Guidelines.

3. A National Steering-cum-Monitoring Committee (NSMC) is set up to monitor the programme, assess its
impact and provide policy advice to Central and State Governments. Central assistance in the form of
subsidies is released upon submission of the committee’s Annual Work Plan by the Programme Approval
Board.
22
4. Steering-cum-Monitoring Committees are also set up at a state level to monitor the programme. A nodal
department is authorised to take responsibility. Implementation cells are organised by the nodal department
and one officer is appointed at each district and block level to oversee effective implementation of the
programme.

5. The Panchayats / Urban Local Bodies are in charge of the scheme in states where primary education is
entrusted to them.

23
24
Flow of Funds
The Ministry of Human Resource Development is the nodal agency for sanctioning funds and supply of food grains
(central assistance) to the states on behalf of the Government of India.

Source of images: Planning Commission, Govt. of India

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 CHAPTER 6
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The research methodology is an integral and essential part of research work. It is most important for the
frame work to obtain all the necessary input for the research work to examine the objective of the research
along with the testing of hypothesis.

As per the objectives of the study on the topic called Economic Evaluation of Primary
Education and Mid-Day Meal Programme . A Case Study of District of KHAMMAM in TELANGNA ,the
details of methodology which includes the research design, sampling procedure, tool and techniques used for
data collection and procedures adopted for data analysis.

6.1 SAMPLING

This study is design as exploratory and conclusive in nature. As exploratory research,

search of secondary data, survey of knowledge person and case study has been made.
While to conduct survey Researcher randomly selected 10 schools from case study of
khammam district in telangna which includes 5 from rural block and 5 from urban
block to know the basic difference and problems related to the implementation of the
Mid-Day Meal. Here Block does not mean administrative Block, it’s a simple word
used by researcher to urban area and rural area. The interview was conducted with 10
students from each class that is form class III to V to fill up the questioner. As a whole
30 students from each school which gives total number 300 students (150 students
from 5 schools of rural block and 150 students from 5 schools of urban block) in
general are selected to fill the questioner. While to minimize the possibilities of in all
sample schools researcher used to take help from class teacher of class III level in
every schools of rural as well as urban block to fill the questioner. Apart from
students’ three class teachers from each level that is from class III to V, in-charge of
the programme in school level, cooks and helpers were selected to fill the questioner.
A formal interview with head of the all sample schools were conducted to know their
views against the Mid-Day Meal Programme. In order to secure more authentic
information, data have been collected from 300 households that include the houses of
the sample students. This was done to avail a clear idea about the success and failure
of the Programme.

Along with the students, teacher and the persons who were directly or
indirectly involve in Mid-Day Meal Programme in school premises and parents are
also included in this study. Separate questioners were used for the parents that reflect
29
 the socio-economic condition of the family, such as occupational distribution,
qualification, total member in the family, standard of Family: Below Poverty Line or
Above Poverty Line, Table placed below shows the structural details of the sample
size along with the number of respondents from each school.

Table No. 6.1

Structural details of the sample size to fill the Questionnaires during Survey
(2019)

Block No. of Students/Class /School Total Total Total No. Mid-Day No. of
No. No. of Meal In- Households
charge
School Students Teachers
(3) (4) (5)
(1) (2)

Class Class Class Total (Total Total

III IV V No. of number
Studen of 3
t (2 x 4) Teachers/
School/
Block
(3x5)

Rural 10 10 10 30 05 150 15 05 150

Urban 10 10 10 30 05 150 15 05 150

Source: prepared by researcher himself

6.2 SOURCES OF DATA

The researcher used both, Primary and Secondary data to fulfil the objectives
of the study.
The required primary data collected from the field survey dated 2019-03-19,
with the help of informal and formal interview with students, teachers, in-charge of
the Mid-Day Meal Programme in school level, cooks and helpers, parents, head of the
school and Assistance Programme Officer (State Headquarter Mid-Day Meal
KHAMMAM , TELANGNA ).

30
 Secondary data are collected from census of India 2011, Human Resources
Development Department Government of Telangana, information centre of hyderbad ,
Mid-Day Meal Cell State Headquarter Government of telangana in hyderbad. Further,
the data was obtained from the Government schools, in-charge of the Mid-Day Meal,
etc. Apart from this, number of journals, reports and books have been consulted for
the purpose of the study.

6.2 SOURCES OF DATA

Along with the informal and formal interview with Mid-Day Meal staff,
school teachers, student and parents, observation and participation method were used
to understand the reality of the Programme.
The researcher spent 5-6 days and 4- 5hours/day in the school premises to
examine the facilities and various issues which is directly or indirectly affect the Mid-
Day Meal Programme such as, daily record of the food grain as well as cost of Mid-
Day Meal Programme, teaching learning process, cooking, serving, involvement of
the teachers, practice of discrimination based on caste, religion, sex, rich and poor,
observing sufficiency and quality of the meal, availability of basic facility such as,
electricity, toilets (for girls and boys separately), water, play ground, telephone and
computer. The researcher used simple techniques to analyze the collected data such
as, percentage, and content method along with the chi- square to justify the
hypothesis.

6.3 HYPOTHESIS

A comparative study of the Mid-Day Meal Programme in KHAMMAM in

TELANAGNA can be done, where the micro level study was done by the researcher
with the help of field survey in sample school of the rural and urban areas of the east
district only. A bird eye view to the implementation and practice of the Programme,
the optimum utilization of resource and infrastructure, the future prospective of Mid-
31
 Day Meal Programme can be made on the basis of various parameters, school
enrolment; practice of discrimination among students on the basis of caste, creed,
religion etc has been taken place. So to examine and justify the mentioned issues
researcher formulate a single Hypothesis in this study which State that,

“Mid-Day Meal is a pioneer programme for optimum level of

literacy growth but it is suffering due to inadequate infrastructure.”

32
CHAPTER 7

PROBLEM ANALYSIS

 Each model has different strength and weakness with respect to allowing
community participation, employment opportunities for the underserved
population, transparency and accountability, financial viability and social and
gender equity.

33
 Decentralized models have the unique ability to involve the community, build relationships
between the Mid-Day Meal staff and school children, and serve as a tool for teaching children
about good, hygiene, and cleanliness. They are also more easily monitored by the community and
provide an excellent source of employment to underprivileged populations.

 The centralized kitchens visited in KHAMMAM seemed to have complete

autonomy in the selection of staff. Few women or other underserved population
were selected as employees. In one kitchen almost 90% of the staff consisted of
men, while in another kitchen the staff consisted mainly of Burmese refugees.

 Spoilage was more associated with centralized kitchen as meal were often
prepared very early in the morning and reached the schools only much later.
The extended time lag between cooking and serving resulted in many children
falling ill from bacterial infection..

 In the centralized model in KHAMMAM DISTRICT sometimes the kitchen

staff did not wear gloves, hairnet, and other equipment while cooking the food.
While the decentralized kitchen took less precaution on these matter, because of
the absence of gloves, hairnets, and aprons.

 In schools of TELANGANA many principals and teachers complained that the

meal disrupted class. They prefer packaged meal instead of cooked meals to
save teaching hours. While in Ahmadabad, students, school staff and parents felt
that, Mid-Day Meal Programme did not cause any sort of disruption to class.

 Generally the impact of Mid-Day Meal is positive on the matter of enrolment

and attendance in all the surveyed schools and children enjoying the entire meal
process and hoping for its continuation

 In TELANAGANA, most of the children from well-off families as well as

 backward and forward caste families attend the private schools.

 In TELANGNA, where the surveyed village has almost an equal ratio of SC,
OBC and forward caste population, more than 90% children in the government
school are from the SC community and 90% private school-going children are
from OBC and forward caste. Despite this high number, the proportion of
forward caste girls in extremely low in all schools.

The study revealed that TELANGNA( KHAMMAM) is facing problem of adolescent

malnutrition. Malnutrition is affecting mostly the people of poor socio-economic group. 09-16 is
an age group which will take responsibility of our country’s future. These adolescents are facing
double edged problem as malnutrition also affects educational performance The positive finding
is that Students like their meals which proves it is meeting some objectives though not all of them
as revealed by poor scholastic scores and high prevalence of malnutrition.
CHAPTER 8
DRAWBACKS AND RECOMMEDATIONS

8.1 DRAWBACKS-5 REASONS

Focus is on reach not on quality or quantity

• The government only concentrates on statistics as to how many number of schools they
are able to cover and provide food. They don't give importance to quality.

• Political parties use this programme to toot their party’s horn and show how much they
are doing for the children in their constituencies.

• Not once to do they bother to check whether the scheme is being implemented properly
or that the children it is intended for are actually eating it.

Serving death for lunch

Most of the children who study in village government schools are very poor and end up eating this mostly as
their only meal for the day. There is no one to inspect the quality of the food being served to them. The callous
attitude can be seen in this instance in Bihar where 23 children lost their lives after eating their Mid Day meal
on July 16, 2013. The forensic reports say that it was a case of poisoning because the oil used for cooking was
kept in was previously used to store pesticide. There are many such unreported cases where students who eat
his meal have reported of dysentery and ill health. So parents and children fearing safety have declined to have
food served in these midday meals.

The MDMS guidelines dictate that the meal should be of good quality, besides being nutritious, tasty, and
digestible, and varying from day to day to ensure variety in the menu. High standards of hygiene and
cleanliness are expected to be maintained during the cooking and serving of the meal, along with transparency
in accounts, which would be open for public scrutiny.

Corruption

Is there any part of the country or is there any segment of the running of the system without corruption? The
answer is NO. Here’s a report conducted in 2015. CAG's performance audit report of Mid Day meal not only
found financial mismanagement by the HRD ministry but it has also discovered states having indulged in
diversion of funds to the tune of ₹123.29 crore meant for the scheme.

The report further highlights how in Karnataka, ISKCON which supplied Mid Day meals to children of 304
schools in two taluks of Bellary district "used 1.04 lakh kg less rice than the prescribed norms in preparing
MDM". And while this scheme runs with the provision that the food needs to be cooked by mothers, many of
the states did not adhere to these norms. The guidelines also say that the meal should be provided every day at
a regular time, that all supplies should reach every school on time. Under this scheme food supplies are being
diverted, supplies are being halved and there is also a lot of wastage
Casteism

The flagship Mid Day meal scheme in Rajasthan, Orissa, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh is afflicted with
largescale caste and gender-based discrimination. Like this recent incident in Madhya Pradesh points out.

In some places the upper caste children refuse to eat food cooked by SC/ST women, in some places the Dalit
and backward classes students are made to sit separately from the others, other states have reported incidents
where food was reportedly thrown at the Dalit students.

The scheme is supposed to work as per the guidelines. It is also expected to use the opportunity to impart a
spirit of equality among and sharing by children of different social backgrounds.

Lack of implementation

n an academic paper titled Caste Discrimination in Mid day meals (MDM), the authors conducted a survey to
come to a conclusion. It emerged during the study that though 99 per cent of the schools had facilities
for operation of the MDMS, and 97 per cent of them provide cooked meal during most the days, yet in about
11 per cent of the villages, the food was served only a few days a week, while in 2 per cent of the cases, it was
served very rarely. In 38 per cent of the cases, the prescribed menu was not followed and the quality of food
was also allegedly poor. The location also has consequences for the attendance in the school by the SC
children and their access to the MDMS, as these children often face harassment while passing through the
high caste localities, which discourages them from attending school, thereby also adversely affecting their
participation in the MDMS.
8.2 Recommedations

 The State and district administration and other Non-Government Organizations need
to plan and implement the programme more vigorously for improving the
nutritional status poor children by involving local people.
 As educational achievement was found to have been influenced by physical
development, school health programme should be strengthened.
 Non polluted environment including good hygienic school premises, adequate space
in the class room according to the number of students, proper ventilation and light
conditions, filtered drinking water and sanitary toilets should be ensured
 Mid-day meal could also inoculate in the pupils good dietary habits and promote
personal hygiene and awareness of the importance of environmental sanitation to
reduce absenteeism.
 Measuring of educational outcomes regularly so that scheme not only increases
attendance but improves academic performance of children.
 Linkage with Geo informatics System to make it site specific targeted delivery system
 Find out the still remaining children in slums who are not able to avail this facility.
 Regular monitoring of nutritional value of food provided to meet central
government guidelines.
• Local elected PRI representatives should regularly monitor scheme and give their
recommendations and suggestions.
• Local co-operatives should be engaged to prepare food To generate self-sufficiency
in local communities.
• Further research should be initiated to find out prevalence of nutritional
deficiencies and implementation of measures to tackle them through mid-day meal
scheme

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CHAPTER 9

CONCLUSION
The Scheme could be a platform for strengthening the school health programme in order to produce a real
impact. Since the Supreme Court says that the onus to monitor the implementation of the scheme essentially
lies with the Central government, as it is the Central government that is providing assistance, it is important
that leakages from the MDMS should be stopped at all cost.

Comprehensive, periodical and systematic orientation is mandatory to sensitize all stakeholders including the
policy makers, implementers, teachers, centre level officials and community people to make them understand
this scheme well. This would help them to become more efficient and be active partners in the programme that
will certainly enhance its performance.

To conclude, the Mid Day Meal Scheme is one of the country's national flagships feeding scheme
initiated to improve the nutritional and educational status of the vulnerable children. However, the
sustainability of the scheme depends on the political will, community participation and continuous
monitoring of the program.

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