Centre allocates Rs 1,061 crore towards Mid-day meal in Gujarat in 3 Years

Ahmedabad:The central government has released total Rs 1,061 crore towards mid-day meal scheme in Gujarat in last three years since 2014-15. Under this scheme, average 43.47 children of primary and upper primary schools were benefited per year for last three years. The Minister of State for Human Resource Development Shri Upendra Kushwaha informed Rajya Sabha on February 2, 2017 in a reply to the question raised by Rajya Sabha member Shri Parimal Nathwani.

According to the statement of the minister, total 42.61 lakh, 43.95 lakh and 43.86 students of primary and upper primary were benefited from Mid-day Meal scheme in last three years. He also stated that the central government allocated Rs447.83crore, Rs380.53 crore and Rs232.19 crore in the same period.

Shri Nathwani wanted to know about the number of students benefited and budget allocated by Government to the States under the scheme along with the cooking cost per day per children reimbursed/incurred during the last three years and monitoring system under the Mid-day Meal Scheme.

According to the statement, under the Mid-day Meal Scheme, the Central Government started providing 100% Central Assistance for construction of kitchen-cum-stores at a flat rate of Rs60,000/- per unit since 2006-07. Under the scheme, the cooking cost per day per child during the last three years has increased from Rs3.59 and Rs5.38 in 2014-15 to Rs4.13 and Rs6.18 in 2016-17 in primary section and upper primary sections respectively, said the statement. It is also stated that the cooking costs are to be shared between Central Government and States/UTs in ratio of 60:40 for non-NER States, 100% for UTs and 90:10 for NER States and 3 Himalayan States viz. Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir and Uttarakhand.

According to the statement, the Government has adopted an elaborate monitoring mechanism at Central, State and District levels to ensure that quality food is served to children under the Scheme. At national level, an Empowered Committee, headed by Minister of HRD, a National level Steering-cum-Monitoring Committee (NSMC) and Programme Approval Board (PAB), both headed by Secretary (School Education & Literacy), evaluate the performance of each State and UT in implementation of the Scheme and suggest measures for its smooth and effective implementation, which is a continuous process, said the statement.

The statement also said that at the State level, a State level Steering–cum-Monitoring Committee headed by the State Chief Secretary and, at District Level, a District Level Committee under the Chairpersonship of the senior-most Member of Parliament of Lok Sabha of the district monitors the implementation of the scheme in the concerned District. At local level Gram Panchayats/Gram Sabhas, members of Village Education Committees (VECs), Parent-Teacher Associations (PTAs) and the School Management Committees (SMCs) are required to monitor the regularity and wholesomeness of the mid-day meal served to children, cleanliness in cooking and serving of the meal, timeliness in procurement of good quality ingredients, fuel, etc, implementation of variety in menu so as to make it attractive to children and ensuring social and gender equity on daily basis.

In addition, the Centre constitutes Joint Review Missions (JRMs) consisting of educational and nutritional experts, which review the scheme through field visits from time to time, the statement said. The reports of JRMs are shared with concerned States/UTs for taking corrective action on the findings, he said.

DeshGujarat