Mid-Day Meal Scheme, Salient Features, MDM Rule 2015

Mid-Day Meal Scheme

In India, the midday meal programme was introduced on August 15th, 1995, as part of the National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education (NP-NSPE). The National Programme of Mid Day Meal in Schools, also known as the Mid-Day Meal Scheme, replaced the name NP-NSPE in October 2007. The vice president of India recently suggested giving kids milk with their midday meals.

The Mid-Day Meal Programme was renamed “PM POSHAN” or Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman in September 2021. In addition to those presently covered by the mid-day programme, PM POSHAN will extend the hot prepared meals to pupils enrolled in pre-primary levels or Bal Vatikas of government and government-aided primary schools.

Mid-Day Meal Scheme Overview

With a budget of Rs 1,30,794.90 crore, the redesigned programme has been established for 5 years, from 2021–2022 to 2025–2026. The 11.80 crore youngsters enrolled in the country’s 11.20 lakh schools are expected to benefit, according to the government. In the following aspects, the plan differs from the mid-day meal plan:

• The updated programme would prioritise monitoring schoolchildren’s nutritional status in addition to serving them nutritious meals.
• At order to ensure that the BMI, weight, and haemoglobin levels of the pupils are monitored, a nutritional specialist will be established at each school.
• There would be specific dietary preparations offered in areas where anaemia was prevalent.
• On school campuses, the government is also thinking of establishing nutrition gardens with student involvement.

Salient Feature Mid-Day Meal Scheme

It is the largest school lunch initiative in the world and is intended to help primary education become universal. The designated entity for carrying out the plan is the Ministry of Education, formerly the Ministry of Human Resources and Development. Because it is a centrally sponsored programme, costs are split between the federal government and the states. (The center’s share is 60%.)

• The midday meal programme was originally introduced in the state of Tamil Nadu. The midday meal programme was originally introduced in the state of Tamil Nadu.
• When MDMS changed to a cooked midday meal programme in 2001, every eligible kid was given a prepared noon meal for at least 200 days:

• The programme was exclusively intended for public, public-aided, and local body schools up until 2002. Later, the programme was expanded to include students attending Alternative & Innovative Education (AIE) and Education Guarantee Scheme (EGS) institutions.
• 3,479 Educationally Backwards Blocks (EBB) students in classes 6–8 was included in the programme in 2007.
• Each kid has a right to get the number of micronutrients (tablets and deworming medications) specified in the National Rural Health Mission’s school health programme, in addition to calories and food intake.

MDM Rules, 2015

• In accordance with the National Food Security Act (NFSA) 2013, Midday Meal Rules 2015 were published on September 30, 2015.
• In accordance with the MDM regulations, schools are permitted to use additional cash for midday meals if MDM funding run out.
• When schools and other required bodies are unable to serve children hot meals, they are compelled to give recipients food allowances.
• Random monthly testing of meals to be handled by accredited labs.
• According to the MDM guidelines 2015, the state government in question must assign blame to a person or organisation if students at any school go without food for three consecutive school days or five days in a row.

How is the Midday Meal Scheme implemented?

One of the three models is used for its implementation:

• Decentralised model: Local cooks preparing meals on-site, self-help organisations, etc.
• Centralised model: In this arrangement, food is prepared and delivered to the schools by an outside organisation rather than the neighbourhood on-site cooks.
• International Support: Numerous worldwide nonprofit organisations support public schools.

Important Government Schemes

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