CHANAKYA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY,

Patna

SOCIOLOGY I

MID-DAY MEAL SCHEME IN BIHAR: PROS & CONS

SUBMITTED TO:

DR. SANGEET KUMAR

FACULTY OF SOCIOLOGY

SUBMITTED BY:
NISHANT KUMAR
ROLL NO – 1542
B.A. LLB, 1ST SEMESTER
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The researcher take this opportunity to express her profound gratitude and deep
regards to her guide Dr. Sangeet Kumar for his exemplary guidance,
monitoring and constant encouragement throughout the course of this thesis.
The blessing, help and guidance given by him time to time shall carry the
researcher a long way in the journey of life on which the researcher is about to
embark.
The researcher is obliged to staff members of Chanakya National Law
University, for the valuable information provided by them in their respective
fields. The researcher is grateful for their cooperation during the period of her
assignment.
Lastly, the researcher would like to thank almighty, her parents, brother, sisters
and friends for their constant encouragement without which this assignment
would not be possible.

THANK YOU,
NISHANT KUMAR
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TABLE OF CONTENT

sl. no. NAME OF CHAPTER Page

no.

1. INTRODUCTION 5-6
 REVIEW OF LITERATURE
 AIMS AND OBJECTIVE
 HYPOTHESIS
 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
 LIMITATIONS

2. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 6-7

 AREA OF RESEARCH
 SAMPLING TECHNIQUE
 METHODS OF DATA COLLECTION
 SOURCE OF DATA
 TOOLS OF DATA COLLECTION
3. INTRODUCTION 8-10

4. MID-DAY MEAL SCHEME: A BACKGROUND STUDY 10-12

5. MID-DAY MEAL IN BIHAR 12-20

 THE BIHAR TRAGEDY

6. TEACHERS AND MID DAY MEAL: REALTED 20-22
ASPECTS

7. FIELD WORK AND DATA ANALYSIS 22-26

8. CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION 27

BIBLIOGRAPHY
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DECLARATION

I hereby declare that the work reported in the B.A.LL.B (Hons.) Project Report entitled

“Mid-Day Meal Scheme In Bihar: Pros & Cons” submitted at Chanakya

National Law University, Patna is an authentic record of my work carried under the

supervision of Dr. Sangeet Kumar. I have not submitted this work elsewhere for any

other degree or diploma. I am fully responsible for the contents of my project report.

Nishant kumar

Chanakya National Law University, Patna

15/10/2016
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Introduction
The researcher in this project wants to highlight the pros & cons of mid-day meal
scheme (Govt. of Bihar), and the measures that are being taken for the positive
development of the children in their education section as well as their health diet.
How with advent of communication technology in recent times, a child’s exposure to
media including television, radio, music, video games and the Internet, has increased
manifold? Therefore, researcher planned to study whether the impact of recent
changes in the education department. The researcher wants to highlight all these

HYPOTHESIS
 Government schemes have resulted in increased attendance.
 Mid-Day Meal has positively affected the nutrition of student.
 Teachers are adversely affected because of Mid-Day Meal Scheme.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS
a) What is the realistic figure of Mid-Day Meal Scheme in Bihar.
b) What is the need of Mid-Day Meal to the students.

AIM S AND OBJECTIVES

RESEARCHER INTENDS TO-

To understand and analyze its need to students, specially the poor.

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LIMITATIONS
The present research is confined to a time limit of one month and field work will be
confined to urban areas of Buxar only. The researcher people will contact three
people related to this scheme.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
For the project research, researcher will rely upon the doctrinal and non-
doctrinal methods of Research.
1. Sampling techniques- The researcher will adopting following
convenient purposive sampling technique

2. Methods of data collection:

a) Observation
b) Interview
c) Questionnaire
3. Source of data
A. Primary sources
a) National Food Security Act, 2013
B. Secondary sources
a) Newspaper
b) Website
c) Interview

4. Tools of data collection

a) Diary
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b) Notepad
c) Sound recorder
d) Camera
e) Interview schedule
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Introduction

The Midday Meal Scheme is a school meal programme of the Government of India designed
to improve the nutritional status of school-age children nationwide.1 The programme
supplies free lunches on working days for children in primary and upper primary classes in
government, government aided, local body, Education Guarantee Scheme, and alternate
innovative education centres, Madarsa and Maqtabs supported under Sarva Shiksha
Abhiyan, and National Child Labour Project schools run by the ministry of labour.2 Serving
120,000,000 children in over 1,265,000 schools and Education Guarantee Scheme centres, it
is the largest such programme in the world.3

One of the pioneers of the scheme is Madras that started providing cooked meals to
children in corporation schools in Madras city in 1923.The programme was introduced on a
large scale in 1960s under the Chief Ministership of K. Kamaraj. Thereafter, the programme
saw a major thrust in 1982 when Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Dr. M. G. Ramachandran,
decided to universalize the scheme for all children up to class 10.Tamil Nadu's mid-day meal
programme is among the best known in the country. Less known, but equally interesting is
the history of Pondicherry, which started universal school feeding as early as 1930.

1
"India: A Desk Review of the Mid-Day Meals Programme" , Chettiparambil-Rajan
2
"Frequently Asked Questions on Mid-Day Meal Scheme"
3
"About the Mid-Day Meal Scheme", Mdm.nic.in.
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There is an interesting story about how K. Kamaraj got the idea of a noon meal scheme. He
saw a few boys busy with their cows and goats. He asked one small boy, "What are you
doing with these cows? Why didn't you go to school?" The boy immediately answered, "If I
go to school, will you give me food to eat? I can learn only if I eat." The boy's retort sparked
the entire process into establishing the mid-day meal programme.
Several other states of India also have programmes. The most notable among them is
Gujarat that has had it since the late 1980s.Kerala started providing cooked meals in schools
since 1995 and so did Madhya Pradesh and Orissa in small pockets.On November 28, 2001
the Supreme Court of India gave a landmark direction to government to provide cooked
meals to all children in all government and government assisted primary schools. The
direction was resisted vigorously by State governments initially, but the programme has
become almost universal by 2005

Under article 24,4 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which India is a
party, India has committed to providing "adequate nutritious foods" for children. The
programme has undergone many changes since its launch in 1995. The Midday Meal
Scheme is covered by the National Food Security Act, 2013. The legal backing to the Indian
school meal programme is similar to the legal backing provided in the US through
the National School Lunch Act.

4
"Convention on the Rights of the Child". United Nations. 20 November 1989.
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MID-DAY MEAL SCHEME: A BACKGROUND STUDY

The roots of the programme can be traced back to the pre-independence era, when a mid
day meal programme was introduced in 1925 in Madras Corporation by the British
administration.5A mid day meal programme was introduced in the Union Territory
of Puducherry by the French administration in 1930.6

Initiatives by state governments to children began with their launch of a mid day meal
programme in primary schools in the 1962–63 school year.Tamil Nadu is a pioneer in
introducing mid day meal programmes in India, Thiru K. Kamaraj, then Chief Minister of
Tamil Nadu, introduced it first in Chennai and later extended it to all districts of Tamil Nadu.

During 1982, July 1st onwards, the Chief Minister of Tamilnadu, Thiru. M. G.
Ramachandran upgraded the existing Mid-day meal scheme in the state to 'Nutritious food
scheme' keeping in the mind that 68 lakh children suffers malnutrition.7

Gujarat was the second state to introduce an MDM scheme in 1984, but it was later
discontinued.

A midday meal scheme was introduced in Kerala in 1984, and was gradually expanded to
include more schools and grades. By 1990–91, twelve states were funding the scheme to all
or most of the students in their area: Goa, Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya
Pradesh, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tamil
Nadu, Tripura and Uttar Pradesh. Karnataka, Orissa, and West Bengal received international
aid to help with implementation of the programme, and in Andhra
Pradesh and Rajasthan the programme was funded entirely using foreign aid.

In Karnataka, Children's Love Castles Trust started to provide mid-day meals in 1997. A total
of eight schools were adopted and a food bank programme and an Angganwasi milk
Programme were started. The food-bank programme was replaced by the State
Government midday meal scheme. Tamil Nadu was the first to initiate a massive noon meal
programme to children. Neither a child that is hungry, nor a child that is ill can be expected to
learn. Realising this need the Mid-Day Meal (MDM) Scheme was launched in primary

5
"About the Mid-Day Meal Scheme", Mdm.nic.in.
6
"National Programme of Mid-Day Meals in Schools Annual Work Plan and Budget 2011–12",
7
"Mid-Day Meal Programme". National Institute of Health & Family Welfare. 2009.
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schools during 1962-63. Mid-Day Meal improves three areas: 1. School attendance, 2.
Reduced dropouts, 3. A beneficial impact on children's nutrition.8

The programme covers around 21.1 million children (beneficiaries) in class I to V standard by
1989-90 through government, local body and private-aided primary schools. Food grains at
the rate of 3 Kgs minimum per child are provided per month (300 k cal and 8-12 grams of
protein per day). The Central Government supplies the full requirement of food grains for
the programme free of cost. For its implementation in rural areas, Panchayats and
Nagarpalikas are also involved or setting up of necessary infrastructure for preparing cooked
food. For this purpose NGOs, women's group and parent-teacher councils can be utilised.
The total charges for cooking, supervision and kitchen are eligible for assistance under
Poverty Alleviation Programme. In several states, supplementary feeding was assisted by
food supplies from Cooperation for American Relief Everywhere (CARE) and World Food
Programme (WFP). There are problems of administration and quality of food that have
affected the programme outcomes.

The government of India initiated the National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary
Education (NP-NSPE) on 15 August 1995. The objective of the scheme is to help improve the
effectiveness of primary education by improving the nutritional status of primary school
children. Initially, the scheme was implemented in 2,408 blocks of the country to provide
food to students in classes one through five of government, government-aided and local
body run schools. By 1997–98, the scheme had been implemented across the country.
Under this programme, a cooked mid day meal with 300 calories and 12 grams of protein is
provided to all children enrolled in classes one to five. In October 2007, the scheme included
students in upper primary classes of six to eight in 3,479 educationally backward
blocks,9 and the name was changed from National Programme for Nutrition Support to
Primary Education to National Programme of Mid Day Meals in Schools.10

Though cooked food was to be provided, most states (apart from those already providing
cooked food) chose to provide "dry rations" to students. "Dry rations" refers to the
provision of uncooked 3 kg of wheat or rice to children with 80% attendance.

8
http://www.nihfw.org/NationalHealthProgramme/MID_DAYMEAL.html
9 Garg, Manisha; Mandal, Kalyan Sankar
10
"Agenda note of 5th meeting of National Steering and Moitoring Committee meeting".
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In April 2001, the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) initiated the public interest
litigation (Civil) No. 196/2001, People’s Union for Civil Liberties v. Union of India & Others11
– popularly known as the "right to food" case. The PUCL argued that article 21 – "right to
life" of the Indian constitution when read together with articles 39(a) and 47, makes the
right to food a derived fundamental right which is enforceable by virtue of the constitutional
remedy provided under article 32 of the constitution. The PUCL argued that excess food
stocks with the Food Corporation of India should be fed to hungry citizens. This included
providing mid day meals in primary schools. The scheme came into force with the supreme
court order dated 28 November 2001,12 which requires all government and government-
assisted primary schools to provide cooked midday meals.[17]

MID-DAY MEAL IN BIHAR

Across India, the Midday Meal Scheme provides roughly 120 million children with free
lunch, making it the world's largest school lunch program.13 In spite of corruption involved in
implementing the scheme, it aims to fight widespread poverty and improve children's
school attendance and health as a large number of India's children suffer from malnutrition.

11
Dr. N.C. Saxena. "Sixth Report Of the Commissioners".
12
"Right to Food Campaign: Mid Day Meals". Righttofoodindia.org.
13
Biswas, Soutik (17 July 2013). "Why India's school meal deaths are a terrible tragedy". BBC News.
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Bihar in northern India is among the nation's poorest states.14 According

to Mashrakh residents, students have suffered from food poisoning after eating school
lunches on multiple occasions. P. K. Shahi, Bihar's education minister, said complaints about
food quality were not uncommon but there had been no reported incidents of widespread
food poisoning during his tenure. The nonprofit Iskcon Food Relief Foundation describes the
meal programmes in Bihar and neighbouring Uttar Pradesh as "the worst in India." Public
health is poor in general, with most water sources contaminated, and hospitals
underfunded.15

The primary school in the village of Dharmashati Gandaman was established in 2010. At the
time of the incident, 89 children were registered with the school.16 The food material for
midday meals was stored at the house of the headmistress as the school did not have
sufficient infrastructure.

There are problems which are discussed below:

MDM scheme is one of the largest centrally funded schemes which provide free one time
meal to the students in government primary schools. 11 crore of children are being provided
one time meal everyday. The programme is considered of immense benefit since it provides
both nutrition and education to the children. However, how far the scheme is really being
taken seriously by the government and its officials is the issue. The provision involves the
preparation and distribution within the school premises.

1. There was no proper kitchen to prepare food in the primary schools. \

2. Sitting arrangement for students was either in the classes or open grounds which invited
flies and other insects.

14
Banerji, Annie; Bhardwaj, Mayank; Kotoky, Anurag (17 July 2013). "Contaminated school meal kills 25
Indian children".
15
Harris, Gardiner; Kumar, Hari (17 July 2013). "Contaminated Lunches Kill 22 Children in India". The New
York Times.
16
"Nine children die after mid-day meal in Bihar school". The Hindu. Chennai. 16 July 2013.
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3. The cooks in the schools didn’t know the guidelines to ensure hygiene.

4. The water used for cooking food was not wholesome.

5. The grievance redressal mechanism for the complaints of MDM scheme was not known to
the parents.

The teachers in these schools agreed of lack of infrastructural facilities for these schools. The
teachers said that the schools lack the provision of proper kitchen though the scheme of food
distribution was there. Further, the teachers told that the cooks hired for cooking, were
illiterate or hardly know to read basic hindi or punjabi. These people didn’t know about the
guidelines issued by the MHRD to ensure the hygine. Hence, it was concluded that MDM
scheme though has been implemented but is not being monitored properly. The scheme has
given one way provision. The feedback from the students and parents should be taken
regularly. Further, how MDM scheme is affecting the education in the schools.

The Bihar Tragedy

On 16 July 2013, children aged between four and twelve years at the Dharmashati
Gandaman primary school complained that their lunch, served as a part of the Midday Meal
Scheme, tasted odd. Children who questioned the food were rebuked by the headmistress.
Earlier, headmistress Meena Kumari had been informed by the school's cook that the new
cooking oil was discoloured and smelled odd. Kumari replied that the oil was purchased at a
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local grocery store and safe to use. The cook, who was also hospitalized by the poisoning,
later told reporters that it looked like there was "an accumulation of residual waste at the
bottom [of the oil jar]".17 The meal cooked at the school that day consisted of soya beans,
rice and potato curry.

Thirty minutes after eating the meal the children complained of stomach pain and soon
after were taken ill with vomiting and diarrhoea. The number of sick children overwhelmed
the school and local medical system. Some of the sick children were sent home, forcing their
parents to seek help on their own. According to the official count, 23 children died as a
result of the contaminated food.18 Parents and local villagers said at least 27 had
died. Sixteen children died on site, and four others were declared dead upon arrival at the
local hospital. Others died in hospital. Among the dead were two children of a female cook,
Panna Devi; her third child survived. A total of 48 students fell ill from the contaminated
food. Three remained in a critical condition as of 17 July. Thirty-one children were moved
from the local hospital to Patna Medical College Hospital (PMCH) for further treatment.

On 16 July 2013, the number of children in Gandamal school (Saran district, Bihar) was
higher than usual as parents had learnt that school textbooks would be distributed that
day.1 The school does not have a building of its own, and in order to comply with the
distance norms of the Right to Education Act, it had been running out of a community
building nearby. It did not have a kitchen shed to cook meals either; food used to be cooked
in a verandah. There was no proper storage facility for the food supplies. Supplies were
stored at the teacher’s residence and would be brought on a daily basis to school by the
cook. When the cook poured the oil into the pan, besides observing “black smoke” she
complained to the headmistress of a foul smell, but the teacher did not pay attention. Once
the food was cooked, the preparation seemed discoloured and once again the cook and
students complained; the teacher was unmoved and reportedly silenced the complaints
with the threat of her stick. Soon after the children ate the food, they began to feel
nauseous whereas others began to faint. Initially, the headmistress’ husband offered to pay
for all medical expenses but as soon as the first child died, the entire family fled the village.

17
Banerji, Annie; Bhardwaj, Mayank; Kotoky, Anurag (17 July 2013). "Contaminated school meal kills 25
Indian children". Reuters.
18
"India lunch deaths children buried in Bihar school". BBC News. London. 18 July 2013.
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Meanwhile, parents began to take their children to the nearest Primary Health Centre (PHC)
in Masrakh block, where the only doctor was reluctant to treat the children; the parents
then forced the PHC ambulance to take them to the district hospital. Nearly three to four
hours were lost before the children received proper medical attention. Ultimately, the
children were taken to Patna for treatment. In all, 23 children died in this tragedy. The tragic
incident in Bihar has raised questions about the mid-day meal (MDM) scheme, an otherwise
popular and successful programme.
For those unfamiliar with the programme, India’s MDM scheme is a huge operation that
today provides cooked food to more than 12 crore children every day. It is one of the more
“successful” (in terms of regularity and scale) food security programmes initiated by the
Government of India. The programme has been studied extensively for its effects on
education and nutrition. The studies show that it has a significant impact on enrolment of
children, especially those from disadvantaged groups. Afridi (2011) reports increase in
Grade 1 enrolment by 12 percentage points. Jayaraman and Simroth (2011) find even larger
positive effects on enrolment in all primary grades, with the largest effect (a 21% increase)
for Grade 1 enrolment. It helps retention (postponement of incidents of drop outs) and
even regular at tendance. Afridi (2010) found positive nutrition effects among children in
Madhya Pradesh – comparing nutrient intake on a school day with a non-school day, she
finds that “nutrient intake of programme participants increased substantially by 49% to
100% of the transfers”. Deficiency in protein intake is reduced by 100% and iron deficiency
by 10%, for a very small cost – “3 cents per child per day”. Singh, Park and Dercon
(forthcoming) find that the programme had positive effects on nutrition in Andhra Pradesh.
Children exposed to droughts early in life and benefi ting from the scheme were no worse
off than children who had not been exposed to a drought. Finally, children are likely to learn
more in school if they have a full stomach. Afridi, Borouah, Somanathan (forthcoming)
present some evidence on the effect of MDM on learning outcomes in Delhi. From the
child’s point of view, the lure of hot food makes the school environment more child-friendly.
Where anganwadis do not function regularly, it is not uncommon to see children who are
not enrolled also coming to school at the time of the meal. The MDM scheme is popular
among parents as well: for poor working mothers, it makes it easier for them to send their
child to school. Further, the scheme provides an excellent (underutilised, so far) opportunity
to impart nutrition education, inculcate hygiene habits (such as washing hands before
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eating). The programme has been a source of employment for tens of thousands of
destitute women. It has provided an opportunity to break the tenacious hold of caste
barriers, as children from different communities share a meal, cooked by someone not
necessarily of their community. I have witnessed firsthand children from so-called “upper
castes” eating at school even though they had been instructed by their parents to abstain.
Tamil Nadu pioneered the scheme in the 1960s, based on which a central scheme was
launched in 1995. Most states got away by providing “dry rations” (3 kg of wheat or rice per
month to take home, conditional upon 80% attendance) in government schools. These
states had to introduce cooked food after the Supreme Court’s landmark order on 28
November 2001. The Court order directed the state governments to implement the Mid-Day
Meal Scheme by providing every child in every Government and Government assisted
Primary School with a prepared mid-day meal with a minimum content of 300 calories and
8-12 grams of protein each day of school for a minimum of 200 days. Those Governments
providing dry rations instead of cooked meals must within three months [February 28, 2002]
start providing cooked meals in all Govt and Govt aided Primary Schools in all half the
Districts of the State (in order of poverty) and must within a further period of three months
[May 28 2002] extend the provision of cooked meals to the remaining parts of the State.
Tamil Nadu has continued to set an example in terms of nutrition, infrastructure,
administration, monitoring and so on (see Table 1). While not many states are able to match
Tamil Nadu (where children now get an egg everyday), there has been steady progress
across the country (e g, even poor states like Odisha provide eggs twice a week).
The tragedy in Bihar has brought into the limelight many concerns that have been raised in
the past: lack of proper infrastructure and staff, nutritive quality of the food, accountability
mechanisms, caste issues and so on. In many states, the response of the state governments
to these concerns has been largely positive (even though progress has been too slow). The
contrast between Bihar, where the tragedy occurred, and Rajasthan is particularly telling.
Neither of these states provided cooked food until the Supreme Court’s order. In Rajasthan,
when schools reopened in July 2002, neither state had kitchens, hand pumps, utensils,
cooks or helpers. Teachers and students took on the task of fetching water, firewood and
cooking the meal. The “cooked meal” comprised just boiled wheat with salt or sugar (or,
“ghooghri”). The MDM received a lot of bad press then, but Rajasthan has come a long way
since then (see the Table). Cooks and helpers have been appointed, hand pumps and
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kitchen sheds are available, and teachers mostly only supervise. Starting with ghooghri, now
a weekly menu which includes fruit (a banana or guava) twice a week is in place. Bihar, on
the other hand, was the last state to comply with the Court order on 1 January 2005 – a full
three years after the Court’s deadline. As in Gandaman school, where the tragedy occurred,
school buildings, kitchen sheds, utensils for storage remain a concern in many parts of the
state. A Planning Commission report (GOI 2010) for 2006-07 reported that the only states
that have “low” levels of satisfaction were Jharkhand, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh. In fact,
the trajectory of the MDM in most states resembles that of Rajasthan rather than Bihar. To
some extent, even in Bihar, there is some good news: meals are provided regularly, the
MDM functions better than most other food security schemes and there has been slow
improvement over time. Given the burden of its past, it will take time to catch up. Another
area of concern is the role of the media. Soon after the news of the Bihar tragedy hit the
headlines, news reports on the poor quality of food served began coming in from many
parts of the country (Goa, Maharashtra, Odisha and even Tamil Nadu made it to the
headlines). None of these cases turned out to be serious. It appears that children were
taken directly to hospital in Tamil Nadu as a precaution once they complained of feeling
uneasy. While none of these cases were serious, in many parts of the country the poor
quality of the MDM, poor infrastructure and hygiene are issues that have been highlighted
repeatedly by researchers and activist groups for some time. It raises the question as to why
this was not considered “newsworthy” (especially for the English and electronic media),
until children died in the Bihar incident. It suggests that the media is falling short on its
“watchdog” role. Moreover, the media also has the role of spreading information to
generate informed debate, but if the media reports on these issues only at times of such
disasters, readers and viewers are presented a biased picture of the programme. (The
imbalance in reporting was corrected, partially at least, in subsequent reports.) Meanwhile,
as budgetary allocations to the programme have risen – the Union Budget allocated
Rs.13,800 crore in 2013-14 – private entities have begun to eye the MDM “market”. In 2008,
a “Biscuit Manufacturers Association” wrote to Members of Parliament (MPs) trashing the
scheme and urging them to replace it with fortified biscuits (Drèze and Khera 2008). Many
MPs forwarded this proposal to the concerned ministry. Thankfully, the proposal was shot
down (can one imagine eating biscuits everyday instead of a hot meal). Further, putting in
place accountability mechanisms is more difficult as many contractors are persons with
 P a g e | 19

political clout. The late Ponty Chadha had cornered the entire supply of food to anganwadis
in Uttar Pradesh (UP). His contract remained untouched even with a change of government
in UP and reports of supply of poor quality food. Similar issues have arisen in Delhi – with
centralized kitchens supplying meals, parents, children, even teachers do not really know
where to complain. Samples regularly fail quality tests, but not much has happened to
remedy this. These examples point to the general danger of invasion of private interests into
such programmes. Contractors will only come for profit, and will not hesitate to cut corners.
There are at least four important lessons from this tragedy: one, administrative and
monitoring systems need to be reorganised and improved in line with what is seen in the
leading states. Action needs to be taken in a timely manner against all those responsible for
the children’s deaths, in order to ensure that such incidents do not happen again. Two,
there is a need to correct the imbalance in media coverage of rural issues in general, and
social security programmes (such as the MDM scheme) in particular. Three, the government
must guard against the creation of vested interests in these programmes in the name of
“public-private partnerships” or bogus “self-help groups” which often come with a profit-at-
any-cost motive. Four, the laggard states must learn from the many examples (Odisha,
Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu to name a few) and improve the nutritive content of the food
provided and use this as an opportunity to catch up with others. Hopefully, the tragic
incident in Bihar will also pave the way to end the daily heartbreak of children being served
food with poor nutrition in some states. At Rs 5 per child daily, the MDM is perhaps the best
investment states can make in their future.

Nineteen of the children's bodies were buried on or near school grounds in protest. Across
Bihar, numerous students refused to eat their meals in the days following the incident. On
17 July, hundreds of Mashrakh residents took to the streets in protest. Demonstrators lit
fires and burned effigies of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. Four police vehicles were
damaged by the fires. Others threw stones at the police station and chanted slogans
denouncing the government.19 Some villagers demanded that the Midday Meal program be
scrapped. Roads and rail lines were blocked by angry protesters carrying sticks and poles.
Desks and chairs from the school were taken and smashed, while the kitchen area was

19
Banerji, Annie; Bhardwaj, Mayank; Kotoky, Anurag (17 July 2013). "Contaminated school meal kills 25
Indian children".
 P a g e | 20

destroyed. In nearby Chhapra, multiple arson attacks were reported, including reports that a
crowd set fire to a bus, but no injuries were reported from either city.

Shahi commented that many people involved in the program are looking for easy money
and that "it is just not possible to taste meals in all the 73,000 schools before children eat
the food." He also alleged that the contaminated oil had been purchased from a member of
a rival political party.20 Opposition party members accused the ruling Janata Dal
(United) party of acting too slowly and called for a general strike.21

The Bihar government promised a thorough investigation and offered INR 200,000
(US$3,400) compensation for families of the dead children. Kumar called an emergency
meeting and dispatched forensic experts to Mashrakh. The headmistress and her husband
fled after the deaths became public knowledge and she was suspended by the
administrative authority. A First Information Report was filed against the headmistress
for criminal negligence, and police began searching for her. A district magistrate told the
BBC that her property would be confiscated if she did not surrender to the authorities. She
was apprehended by police in Chhapra on 24 July and held on suspicion of murder and
criminal conspiracy. In October 2013 the headmistress and her husband were charged with
murder and faced the death penalty if convicted.

TEACHERS AND MID DAY MEAL: REALTED

ASPECTS
Mid-Day Meal Scheme forcing teachers to serve food rather of focusing on education

That the Mid-Day Scheme is meant for students in the schools, naturally brings the
Headmasters, Headmistresses, and teachers in the picture. And for running the Scheme
hassle-free post Bihar tragedy, the services of teaching staff become mandatory. Nothing
wrong. The scheme must run safely and successfully. The good-intentioned Government‘s

20
"Poison theory floats as Bihar midday meal kills 27 kids". The Times of India. Mumbai.
21
Devichand, Aloke; Hume, Tim (17 July 2013). "School meals tainted with poison kill 22 children in Indian
village".
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Mid-Day Meal Scheme has hidden a veiled dark side beneath the scheme. That the Mid-Day
Scheme is meant for students in the schools, naturally brings the Headmasters,
Headmistresses, and teachers in the picture. And for running the Scheme hassle-free post
Bihar tragedy, the services of teaching staff become mandatory. Nothing wrong. The
scheme must run safely and successfully. However, the moot question is: Are the teachers
made for handling every minute detail of the Mid-Day Meal Scheme?

If the teachers are handed over the responsibilities of the Mid-Day Meal Scheme, of course,
not every day, then what about the rightful duties of teachers. The Education. The teachers
have to maintain a record of rice, grocery stocks, clean and protection aspects, serving food
to students, quality of food etc All these aspects draw the attention of teachers a day or the
other. In many schools, teachers have been assigned the jobs related to the food scheme
which suck them for the entire day. And a mighty hot to Education, too. The teachers are
assigned the job turn by turn. And, turn by turn and day by day the education also takes the
brunt. No teacher in the world could focus only on education if his or her mind is continually
struggling with facts and figures of Mid-Day Meal or any other scheme. Even though the
responsibility of preparation of food is given to contractors, both food and fate of students
could not be left at the mercy of the contractors. And the remedy for this problem lies with
the teachers. And the remedy for education lies with invisible hands. Naturally, education,
too, becomes invisible. In simple words: No lessons for students to learn.

According to expert, the solution to all the problems could be sorted out by the packed
food. The packed food will not only solve the problems of food cooking but also save the
transportation of rice sacks, grocery, creating kitchen structure, purchasing of utensils, fuel
arrangement etc. The teachers could also focus on their rightful duties the Education. And
they will also be spared of “counting every grain of rice”.

According to Right to Education (RTE) Rules and Regulations, teachers cannot be assigned
any work related to Mid-Day Meal Scheme. The teachers could only be assigned jobs of
Census, Election Process, relief operations during Natural Tragedies. Moreover, if the
teachers-on-food-duty gives a thought to move courts, all the parties including the
Government at the loss. Loss of image of schools. Loss of face of Government. Loss of
Students. And, finally, loss of Education.
 P a g e | 22

It effects the professional life of teachers. Say, a person who struggled very hard to reach at
a position in which his mental ability was required including his academic results but what if
that person is asked to look after the cooks, the quality of food, maintaing the records , etc .
Was he employed for this ?

It effects the personal life as well, the teacher himself has to go and buy the materials for
the meal or he sends someone else but he so scared that if something goes wrong then he’ll
be trouble.

FIELD WORK AND DATA ANALYSIS

Researcher’s study was limited within the area of Buxar. Researcher talked to various
people, which includes two Teachers and one Principal.

INTERVIWEW SCHEDULE-1

Interview with a Principal

Respondent Name: Lalita Juit

Age: 56years Date: 9-10-2016

Sex: Female

Place: Buxar
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Q.1. What are the advantages of Mid-day meal ?

Ans. With the implementation of this scheme, it became easier for the authorities to
convince people to send their children to school. Children, for their part, were more than
eager to come to school, as a result of which school enrolment and attendance improved. It
also helped in solving the problem of classroom hunger—one of the main reasons for lack of
concentration in school children. The Mid-day Meal Programme is the largest school meal
programme in the world. But obviously, an operation of this scale will require a huge
workforce.

Q.2. A/c to you, does this scheme affects the literacy rate?

Ans. Yes, because by this scheme enrollment of students has increased which has led to
increase in the literacy rate.

Q.3 Who cooks the food? What is norm for engagement and payment of cook cum helper?

There is provision to engage cook cum helpers @ Rs. 1000 per cook per month for 10 months. The
norm for engagement of cook-cum-helper is one cook-cum-helper in a school having upto 25
students, two cooks-cum-helpers for schools having 26 to 100 students, and one additional cook-
cum-helper for every addition of up to 100 students. But here their are 8 cooks combining with the
helper because this school has 1368 students in total.
 P a g e | 24

Q.4 Is this scheme affecting the personal as well as the professional life of the Principal or
the teachers concerned?

Ans. Yes, as I am Principal of this school (Aadarsh Middle School, Naya Bazar, Buxar), I have
got many things to look after. And its my duty to look after but still I’ve was trained for this
job which is also very important to be executed. I am suffering from sugar, followed with
high blood pressure. I’ve to look after both the academic as well as the mid-day meal
section. I, myself buy all the vegetables, Species, Oil & all other necessaries materials. Every
next day or sometimes the other day itself, I’ve to go through this process. I jus want to say
that their should be a separate committee for it which will exclusively looking after the mid-
day meal.

INTERVIWEW SCHEDULE-2

Interview with a Teacher

Respondent Name: Md. Ansari

Age: 52years Date: 9-10-2016

Sex: Male
 P a g e | 25

Place: Buxar

Q.1. Where does the responsibility of implementation of mid day meal scheme lie?
Ans. The overall responsibility to ensure full and proper utilization of available resources for serving
cooked mid day meal lies with the State Governments.

Q.2. Is this scheme affecting the personal as well as the professional life of the Principal or
the teachers concerned?

Ans . A/c to me, it partially affects the personal life of the teachers concerned with the mid-
day meal scheme and the cooks are also paid very less amount i.e. 1000/per month, by
which the cooks also suffers.

Q.3 A/c to you, does this scheme affects the literacy rate?

Ans. Yes. This is one of the solid reason children come to school to study because they know
they will be served over there after their school finishes.

INTERVIWEW SCHEDULE-3

Interview with a Teacher

 P a g e | 26

Respondent Name: Amrita Devi

Age: 48years Date: 9-10-2016

Sex: Female

Place: Buxar

Q.1. What is the objective of Mid Day Meal Scheme?

Ans. The objective of the scheme is to provide hot cooked meal to children of primary and upper
primary classes.

Q.2. How many days Mid Day Meal is served?

Ans. Mid Day Meal is served on all working days in the school. There is provision to provide mid day
meal to children in summer vacations in drought affected areas.

Q.3 A/c to you, does this scheme affects the literacy rate?

Ans. Yes, because many students come school with the reason to have the meal and
alternatively it helps the student to study.
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CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION

Mid-day meal scheme is a centrally sponsored scheme which was launched on 15th August
1995 as a National Programme of nutritional support to Primary education in order to
enhance enrolment, retention and attendance and simultaneously improving nutritional
levels among children. It aims to inspire children from poor and weaker sections to enroll
themselves into schools as well as to attend school regularly and this scheme is also to deal
with the problem of malnutrition among children by providing them nutritious food as the
level of malnutrition is of great concern in India. With over 40 percent of children being
classified as under nourished. Survey among rural population of India, by National nutrition
monitoring bureau in 2002 reported prevalence of malnutrition using Gomez classification
to be 94.6 percent among 6-9 years and 97.1 percent in 10-13 year old (Dr. James, 2013)
This flagship programme has a long history to go. It was originally introduced by the British
government in India in 1925 in Madras Corporation. Then it was introduced in Calcutta city
in 1928 as compulsory mid-day tiffin on payment basis followed by the French
administration in Pondicherry (Now Puducherry) in 1930 .Maharashtra and Karnataka were
also among those states which started it before independence. Many states adopted this
scheme in different forms in different years after independence. Finally, the government of
India initiated mid-day meal programme in 1995 as a centrally sponsored scheme with an
objective to help improve the nutritional status of primary school children. But initially it
was launched in certain parts of the country.
Mid-day meal scheme (MDM) is a school which talk about one meal in a day for 200 days to
all children enrolled and present in the school to provide them nutritious food and ensure
their attendance in the school .But the question arises: Is one time food in twenty four
hours is sufficient to provide them adequate nutritional level. Moreover what about the
Sundays and holidays in which they do not get any kind of help. Secondly ensuring
attendance in the school for certain days does not ensure quality education to a child. The
above trends shows that before the launch of this scheme on an average enrollment
increased in fifty years but after this scheme in few years the average enrollment decreased.
There is a fall noticed in dropout rates before and after this scheme. But the change is not
so significant. All this indicates that the mid-day meal scheme is not the only factor which
attracts children to school or which make their dropout rate low. There are certainly many
 P a g e | 28

other factors responsible for enrollment and dropout of children from schools. As far as
MDM is concerned, undoubtedly it is a good effort by the government but there is a dare
need to introduce some other measures and remove the loopholes for the ensured success
of these measures.

Suggestions:

1. Their should be appointment of separate staffs for this, who will look
exclusively for mid-day meal programme only.
This will increase employment.
2. The salaries of the cooks and the helpers should be increased.
3. There should be proper dinning halls, with proper sitting arrangements, so that
they can have their meals in a dignified manner.
Because in rainy season this very difficult for children to sit on ground and to
have their meals.
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Bibliography
Books

1. Mid-Day Meal Scheme and School Education: Planning Implementation and

Effectiveness by P.C. Sikligar.
2. Mid-Day Meal Programme By H R Uma

Websites

1. mdm.nic.in/
2. http://www.ijsrp.org/research-paper-1113/ijsrp-p2360.

3. http://www.iimahd.ernet.in/~satish/MDMJISPEPaper(2)

Act

National Food Security Act, 2013.