The Midday Meal Scheme, or PM-Poshan Shakti Nirman in Hindi, is a free school meal programme in India designed to enhance the nutritional status of school-age children nationwide. The programme supplies free lunches on working days for children in government primary and upper primary schools, government-aided anganwadis (pre-school), madrasas and maqtabs. Serving 120 million children in over 1.27 million schools and Education Guarantee Scheme centres, the Midday Meal Scheme is the largest of its kind in the world.
In 1920, A. Subbarayalu Reddiar, the first Chief Minister of the Madras Presidency, introduced the mid-day meal scheme in a Corporation school in the Thousand Lights area. The initiative was based on the idea proposed by P. Theagaraya Chetty, who was serving as the President of the Justice Party at the time. Ellis, Catriona. "‘If You Cannot Feed the Body of a Child You Cannot Feed the Brain’: Education and Nutrition in Late Colonial Madras." South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies 44, no. 1 (2021): 135-151.
The Midday Meal Scheme has been implemented in the Union Territory of Puducherry under the French Administration since 1930. In post-independent India, the Midday Meal Scheme was first launched in Tamil Nadu, pioneered by the former Chief Minister K. Kamaraj in the early 1960s. By 2002, the scheme was implemented in all of the states under the orders of the Supreme Court of India.
In 2021, the Central Government announced that an additional 2.4 million students receiving pre-primary education at government and government-aided schools would also be included under the scheme by 2022.
Under article 24, paragraph 2c of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which India is a party, India has committed to yielding "adequate nutritious food" 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 for the Indian school meal programme is akin to the legal backing provided in the US through the National School Lunch Act.
History The Midday Meal Scheme refers to the government of India programme introduced in all government elementary schools to provide children with cooked lunches. Tamil Nadu was the first state in India to introduce this scheme. The first school which had the scheme was the Sourashtra Boys Higher Secondary School, Madurai, which implemented it in 1955. On 28 November 2001 the Supreme Court asked all state governments to begin this programme in their schools within 6 months. The programme has shown many positive effects. Many parents who couldn't send their children to schools due to poverty, were eager to get their children free nutritious food and this incentivized them to send their children to school. The Midday Meal Scheme increased the number of school-going children.
Roots of the programme The roots of the programme can be traced back to the pre-independence era, when a midday meal programme was introduced in 1925 in Tamil Nadu. Initiatives by state governments began in the 1962–63 school year.
The Indian state Tamil Nadu was a pioneer in introducing midday meal programmes in India to increase the number of children enrolling in school; K. Kamaraj, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu at the time, introduced it first in Chennai and later extended it to all districts of Tamil Nadu. During 1982, 1 July onwards, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, M. G. Ramachandran upgraded the existing midday meal scheme in the state to 'Nutritious noon-meal scheme' keeping in mind that around 68 lakh children were malnourished. 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, Odisha and West Bengal received international aid to help with the implementation of the programme, while in AP and Rajasthan the programme was completely funded by foreign aid.
In Karnataka, the Children's LoveCastles Trust started providing midday 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.
Initiatives by the central government
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 midday 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, and the name was changed from National Programme for Nutrition Support to Primary Education to National Programme of Mid Day Meals in Schools. 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.
Supreme court order 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 & Others – 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 midday meals in primary schools. The scheme came into force with the supreme court order dated 28 November 2001, which requires all government and government-assisted primary schools to provide cooked midday meals.
Interim orders The Supreme Court occasionally issues interim orders regarding midday meals. Some examples are: Order regarding Exact text Order dated Basic entitlement "Every child in every place and Government assisted Primary Schools with a prepared midday meal with a minimum content of 300 calories and 8–12 grams of protein each day of school for a minimum of 200 days" 28 November 2001 Charges on conversion cost "The conversion costs for a cooked meal, under no circumstances, shall be recovered from the children or their parents" 20 April 2004 Central assistance "The Central Government... shall also allocate funds to meet with the conversion costs of food-grains into cooked midday meals" 20 April 2004 Kitchen sheds "The Central Government shall make provisions for construction of kitchen sheds" 20 April 2004 Priority to Dalit cooks "In appointment of cooks and helpers, preference shall be given to Dalits, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes" 20 April 2004 Quality safeguards "Attempts shall be made for better infrastructure, improved facilities (safe drinking water etc.), closer monitoring (regular inspection etc.) and other quality safeguards as also the improvement of the contents of the meal so as to provide nutritious meal to the children of the primary schools" 20 April 2004 Drought areas "In drought affected areas, midday meals shall be supplied even during summer vacations" 20 April 2004
Entitlements The nutritional guidelines for the minimum amount of food and calorie content per child per day are: + Entitlement norm per child per day under MDM Item Primary (class one to five) Upper primary ll (class six to eight) Calories 450 700 Protein (in grams) 12 20 Rice / wheat (in grams) 100 150 Dal (in grams) 20 30 Vegetables (in grams) 50 75 Oil and fat (in grams) 5 7.5 In the case of micronutrients (vitamin A, iron, and folate) tablets and de-worming medicines, the student is entitled to receive the amount provided for in the school health programme of the National Rural Health Mission.
The overall responsibility for providing hot cooked nutritious meals lies with State Governments and UT administrations. States/UTs are specifically allowed/encouraged to decide menus suited to local conditions, including local foods such as millets, vegetables, condiments, etc., but only within the prescribed nutrition and food norms. Many States/UTs provide such additional supplementary nutrition interventions by introducing items like egg, milk, fruits, chikki, ragi malt, chicken, etc.
Finances The central and state governments share the cost of the Midday Meal Scheme, with the centre providing 60 percent and the states 40 percent. The central government provides grains and financing for other food. Costs for facilities, transportation, and labour is shared by the federal and state governments. The participating states/territories contribute different amounts of money, depending on whether they are Himalayan states, Northeastern Region (NER) states, union territories without legislature, or the residual (Non-NER states and union territories with legislature).Global Child Nutrition Foundation (GCNF). 2021. State Survey of School Meal Programs: India 2020. GCNF: Seattle. The share contributed by states is often larger than what is stipulated. While the eleventh five-year plan allocated for the scheme, the twelfth five-year plan has allocated , a 134 percent rise. The public expenditure for the Mid Day Meal Programme has gone up from in 2007–08 to in 2013–14. In 2020–21, the Midday Meal Scheme budget comprised 11% of the total budget for the Ministry of Education. The per day cooking cost per child at the primary level has been fixed to while at the upper primary level is . As of FY24 - 25, the budget estimate of the PM Poshan Scheme stands at Rs. 12,467.39 crore (US$ 1.49 billion).
Implementation models
Decentralised model This is the most widespread practice. In the decentralised model, meals are cooked on-site by local cooks and helpers or self-help groups. This system has the advantage of being able to serve local cuisine, providing jobs in the area, and minimising waste. It also allows for better monitoring (e.g., by parents and teachers). In total, the MDM Scheme employs over 2.5 million cooks/food preparers (referred to as cooks-cum-helpers), usually providing a small honorarium for their work (equal to approximately US$14 per month).Global Child Nutrition Foundation (GCNF). 2021. Global Survey of School Meal Programs Country Report, India. Accessed January 26, 2023 at: https://gcnf.org/country-reports/ .
In the absence of adequate infrastructure (such as kitchen sheds, utensils etc.), it can lead to accidents and maintaining hygiene can be difficult. In 2004, 87 children died when the thatched roof of a classroom was ignited by sparks from a cooking fire. In 2011, a child died after succumbing to burn injuries she sustained after accidentally falling into a cooking vessel.
Centralised model