I. Introduction

1.1 Profile of the State

II. Implementation of Mid-Day Meals in Rajasthan

2.1 The Supreme Court Direction

2.2 The Administrative Set-Up at State and District Level

2.3 Provision of Infrastructure for the Programme

2.4 Nutrition Status, including Data on Malnutrition, Anemia, Vitamin A, Other Micro-Nutrient        Deficiencies

2.5 Adherence to Supreme Court Guidelines Regarding Employment of ST/ SC/OBC Cooks

2.6 Food Grains Management, including Adequacy of Allocation, Timeliness of Lifting, Transportation and Distribution, and Suitability of Storage at Different Levels

2.6.1 Food Grain Supply Chain

2.7 Calorific/Protein Value of the Mid-Day Meal Provided

2.8 Different Schemes for Mid -Day Meal Provision

2.9 System for Procuring Cooking Ingredients

2.10 System for Cooking, Serving and Supervising Mid Day-Meals in the School.

2.11 Impact of the Mid Day Meal Scheme on Retention and Drop out Rate of the Students

2.12 Management, Monitoring and Evaluation System

2.12.1 Management Information System at School, Village/ Gram Panchayat, Block, District and State Level

2.12.2 Software Development

2.12.3 Reporting System

2.12.4 Inspection System

2.12.5 External Evaluation System

2.12.6 Monitoring System

III. Methodology

3.1 Objectives

3.2 Methodology Adopted

IV. Best Practices for Mid-Day Meal Provision

4.1 School Development Management Committee Schools

4.2 Building Public Private Partnership

4.2.1 Akshay Patra:

4.2.2 Naandi Foundation Midday Meal Programme

4.2.3 Annapurna Mahila Sahkari Samiti (AMSS)

4.2.4 Schools Adopted by the Bharati Airtel Group

4.3 General Observations during Visits to the Schools

V. Discussions

5.1 Some Best Practices of the Scheme

 LIST OF TABLES

• Number of Children (Class, Category and Gender wise) who Participated in the programme
• Assistance by the Government of India
• Budget alloction (Rs. in lakh) (Plan Head)
• Availability of Infrastructure for MDM Programme in Schools
• Appointment of Cooks (Category-wise)
• Food Menu for MDM Programame at Schools

FIGURES

• Students Covered under MDM vide decentralized and centralized kitchens
• List of Donors and Donation given displayed in School Notice Board
• Entries made in the software at different levels
• Notice Board in School Displaying the MDM Menu
• Register showing attendance of children and MDM preparation
• Register showing food grain consumption as per number of meals prepared
• Room for storing food gains in SDMC Schools
• Students serving food to other children
• Poster depicting method of cleaning hands displayed in a schools
• Student cleaning their utensils after having food
• Students waiting for their turn and having meals together
• ISO Certificate Issued to Akshay Patra for cooking and delivering meals to schools
• Boilers for Cooking Food at Akshay Patra
• Worker cleaning and organizing the store at Akshay Patra
• Food Grain container (with label) at Akshay Patra Store
• De-stoning Machine for Cleaning Food Grains
• workers manually checking the food grains
• Workers cleaning the utensils in the wash room
• Cleaned utensils stored in a room
• Food being cooked in boilers
• Register containing the record of food grains in the store
• Statement showing the meals provided in schools
• Workers carrying prepared food in trolleys to the truck
• Food to be transported to the schools packed in a truck
• Cooks doing preparatory work for cooking food at an AMSS Schools
• Well-decorated class room of a school adopted by Bharati Airtel Group
• Food given on the day of the visit at the school adopted by Bharati Airtel Group along with the menu
• Students organising the cleaned utensils given by the other students

ANNEXURES

 Annexure I : Centralized Kitchens Functioning and under   Implementation in the State

Annexure II : Format for Checking MDMS designed by the MDM Directorate

Annexure III : List of the Schools Visited

Annexures IV : General Observations of the Schools

General Observations Of The Schools

Schools under SDMC

(i) Rajkiya Adarsh Prathmik Vidhyalaya, Khora Meena

(ii) Rajkiya Ucch Prathmik Vidhyalaya, Dhand

(iii) Rajkiya Ucch Prathmik Vidhyalaya, Amer

(iv) Rajkiya Madhyamik Vidhyalaya, Malikpur, Gobindgarh

(v) Rajkiya Ucch Prathmik Vidhyalaya, Charanvas, Gobindgarh

Bharati Airtel Adopted School

(vi) Satya Bharati Kanya Ucch Prathmik Vidhyalaya, Gunavit, Amer

Schools Covered by Naandi

(vii) Rajkiya Ucch Prathmik Vidhyalaya, Dhodsar

(viii) Rajkiya Ucch Prathmik Balika Vidhyalaya, Dhodsar

Schools Covered by Akshay Patra

(i) Rajkiya Sindhi Prathmik Vidhyalaya, Anaj Mandi, Malviya Nagar

Schools Covered by AMSS

i) Rajkiya Balika Ucch Prathmik Vidhyalaya, Udaypuria, Gobindgarh

(ii) Rajkiya Ucch Prathmik Vidhyalaya, Udaypuria, Gobindgarh

With a population of over 1200 million India is the second most populous country of the world.  The Mid Day Meal (MDM)Scheme ‘A global report by the World Food Project (WFP) for 2013 on 169 countries has said that India has the largest school feeding programme in the world, catering to over 114 million children, but stands 12thamong 35 lower-middle-income countries covering 79 per cent of its total number of school-going children.

The report adds an important rider — “school feeding can only help if the other major elements that are prerequisites for learning — such as teachers, textbooks, curriculum and an environment conducive to learning — are also in place. It warns that care should be taken to avoid using teachers or education staff to prepare food, since this “merely taxes the system that school-feeding programmes aim to enhance.”

According to Ambrish Rai,convenor of the Right toEducation Forum, an umbrella body of NGOs working in the field of education in India,  “there is no clear structure defined for MDM in India, and every state functions according to its wish. In most places, it is a matter for the teachers to manage MDM. In some places, NGOs or private contractors do the job. The scheme is better managed in south Indian states, but in the northern part of India the situation is pathetic.  In India no body except the children of the poor masses  go to public (government run) schools. The basic assumption behind MDM is to provide meal to those poor children so that they can stay in schools and study.

Rajasthan is a poor northern Indian state which has achieved relatively better practices in implementing MDM. The study report of Rajasthan will help 169 nation states with middle economy  especially 35 nations with lower-middle economy to improve upon their MDM practices and achieve universal elementary school education, a cherished dream of the global community.

National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education’ commonly known as Mid-Day Meal Scheme was launched on the 15th August, 1995 on nation wide scale by the Department of Elementary Education and Literacy, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India. However, the scheme was implemented in Rajasthan with effect from 2002 in compliance with the Supreme Court orders. In April 2001, People’s Union for Civil Liberties (Rajasthan) initiated the now famous right to food litigation. This public interest litigation has covered a large range of issues relating to right to food, but the best known intervention by the Court was on mid-day meals. In one of its many directions in the litigation the Supreme Court directed the government to fully implement its scheme of providing cooked meals to all children in primary schools. This landmark direction converted the mid-day meal scheme into a legal entitlement, the violation of which can be taken up in the court of law. The direction and further follow-up by the Supreme Court has been a major instrument in universalising the scheme.

Mid-Day-Meal Programme is being implemented by Mid Day Meal Directorate under Administrative Control of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Department in Rajasthan. Mid-Day-Meal is being provided to all eligible students studying in 82007 government and government- aided schools, and also schools run by local bodies and EGS /AIE centres. State Government started providing cooked meal in mid-day-meal programme since July, 2002 from State budget.

The infrastructure for the MDMS is supposed to be developed by the State Government from funds available under the scheme. Cooked meals according to menu based on preferences of children and local availability of raw material and decided by a district level committee are being given to the children.

Earlier the students of class I to V were benefited with this scheme, in Oct 2007 the Government of India announced to enhance the programme up to Class VIII in Educationally Backward Blocks but Government of Rajasthan decided to provide MDM to all students up to class VIII from own budget. The expenditure of cost of food grains, transportation and cooking cost was being borne by Government of Rajasthan in non-educationally backward blocks during the year 2007-08. Currently, Rs. 2.08 and Rs. 2.60 is the assistance for primary and upper primary students respectively. There is provision to provide seasonal fruits once a week along with mid-day-meal. The number of children who participated in the programme is given in the following Table

Number of Children (Class, Category and Gender wise) who Participated in the programme

S. No.	Class	Gender			Total (3+4)
Male				Female
1.	Class I	864473	861234		1725707
2.	Class II	692888	708576		1401464
3.	Class III	587147	603756		1190903
4.	Class IV	494889	494259		989148
5.	Class V	466692	452895		919587
6.	Class VI	445764	373132		818896
7.	Class VII	392576	302279		694855
8.	Class VIII	356288	270779		627067
Total		4300720	4073914		8374627

 

Central Assistance received and utilized towards (a) cooking costs, (b) kitchen shed construction, (c) procurement of kitchen devices, (d) management, monitoring and evaluation, (e) transport subsidy:

At present, cooking assistance @ Rs. 2.08 is being shared by GOI @ Rs. 1.58 per student and GOR @ Rs. 0.50 per student per day for primary students @Rs. 2.60 per student (GOI 2.10/- & GOR 0.50) for upper primary students. Assistance for construction of kitchen cum store @ Rs. 60000/- and procurement of cooking devices etc @ 5000/- per school is also being given by GOI.

During the year 2007-08, GOI has provided assistance as per details given below (up to 13.02.08):

Table 2.2: Assistance by the Government of India Sl. No.	Date	Head		Amount (In lakhs)	Remarks
1.	25.05.07	Cooking conversion cost		12162.70	Class I to V
2.	28.09.07	Cooking conversion cost		4267.22	Class VI to VIII
3.	23.11.07	Cooking conversion cost		12162.70	Class I to V
4.	23.03.07	Cooking equipment & utensils		383.85	Class I to V
5.	28.11.07	Kitchen construction		253.20	Class I to V
6.	29.11.07	Kitchen construction		1113.60	Class I to V
7.	22.02.07	Kitchen construction		2033.40	Class I to V
8.	30.01.08	Kitchen construction		7600.20	Class I to VIII
9.	18.07.07	MME		291.69	Class I to V
10.	23.10.07	MME		109.00	Class VI to VIII
11.	08.11.07	Cooking equipment & utensils		128.35	Class I to V
12.	08.01.08	MME		301.39	Class I to V
13.	30.01.08	Kitchen Construction		2469.00	Class VI to VIII
Total			43276.30

 

The State is very well trying to adhere to the guidelines by the Supreme Court regarding appointment of the SC/ST/OBC cooks for the provision of mid-day meals in the schools. . The summary of appointment of cooks according to the category is as follows:

Table 2.5 : Appointment of Cooks (Category-wise) Sl. No.	Category	Percentage of Cooks
1	ST	11.41
2	SC	19.41
3	OBC	53.18
4	General	16.00

 

Objectives of the Study

Present study aimed to :

•  Study the status of Mid-day meal scheme in the state of Rajastha
•  Identify best practices in the implementation of Mid-day Meal programme in the state
• Document good practices implementing at the school level

 Methodology Adopted

The data was collected from both the primary and secondary sources. The field study was based on the observations of 11 primary/upper primary government schools in which Mid-Day Meals Scheme was functional. Ten schools were situated in rural area while one was in urban area .The study also covered two centralised kitchens providing mid–day meals to schools. All the eleven sample schools were government schools .However one of them was adopted by the Bharati Airtel Group. Field research consisted of unannounced visits to the schools to observe meal preparation and distribution, and informal discussions with government school teachers, cooks, parents, primary school children, sarpanch and block officers. The selection of sample schools and centralised kitchen for conducting the study was done by the Mid-Day Meals. Primary data was collected by using interview schedule, observation schedule and focus group discussions. School Management Committee members (implementing agency), community members, parents, teachers, and students were involved in the focus group discussions. Besides this, observation method was also adopted to note the condition of kitchen-shed, availability of the drinking water facility, availability of water for cooking and cleaning vessels, preparation and distribution of the meal, manners of the children during the time of serving mid-day meals and hygienic conditions in the kitchen and school premises. School data on weekly menu, number of cooks etc. were collected from the headmasters and teachers.