National Programme of Mid-Day Meal in Schools: Most Important Topic for 2023 NET, IAS, State-SET (KSET, WBSET, MPSET, etc.), GATE, CUET, Olympiads etc.

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  • In 2001, the Supreme Court passed an order stating “A basic entitlement of every child in every Government & Government assisted Primary Schools 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”
  • The Mid-day Meal Scheme is a school meal programme of the Government of India designed to improve the nutritional status of school-age children nationwide.
  • 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. The Government of India initiated the National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education (NP-NSPE) on 15th August 1995.
  • The “annamrita program” is carried out in Government aided & non-aided Schools. The Education Inspectors of The Education Department of the Government of Maharashtra allocate the schools. The same is approved by The Parent Teacher Association & the Management of these schools.
  • The facility is available only for schools that have secular policy for admissions. For primary section each meal provides 12 grams of protein and 450 cal energy & for secondary section each meal provides 20 grams of protein and 700 cal energy. The government provides the raw rice and a minimum cooking charge of ₹ 3.50 per child, the remainder of the expenses are borne by ourselves.
Illustration: National Programme of Mid-Day Meal in Schools: Most Important Topic for 2023 NET, IAS, State-SET (KSET, WBSET, MPSET, Etc.) , GATE, CUET, Olympiads Etc

Objectives

  • To enhance the enrollment, retention & attendance & simultaneously improve nutritional levels among school going children studying in Classes I to VIII of Government, Government - aided schools, Special Training centres (STC) & Madarasas and Maktabs supported under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.

Meal Provision

  • The scheme guidelines envisage to provide cooked mid-day meal with 450 calories & 12 g of protein to every child at primary level & 700 calories & 20 g of protein at upper primary level. This energy & protein requirement for a primary child comes from cooking 100 g of rice/flour, 20 g pulses & 50 g vegetables & 5 g oil, & for an upper primary child it comes from 150 g of rice/flour, 30 g of pulses & 75 g of vegetables & 7.5 g of oil.
  • The present provisions are as given below:-
    • Free supply of food grains@100 grams per child per school day at Primary & @ 150 grams per child per school day at Upper Primary.
    • Subsidy for transportation of food grains is provided to 11 special category states at PDS rate prevalent in these states & up to a maximum of ₹ 75.00 per quintal for other than special categories States/UTs
    • In addition to food grains, a mid-day meal involves major input, viz. cost of cooking, which is explained below. Cost of cooking includes cost of ingredients, e. g. pulses, vegetables, cooking oil & condiments. In order to cover the impact of price rise in the items of consumption in the MDM basket, the cooking cost has been revised upward annually since 2010.