Midday meals leave a long-lasting impact: study

Subject :Govt Schemes

Context: A study on the inter-generational benefits of the midday meal scheme published in Nature Communications.

Concept :

Midday meals scheme:

The scheme guarantees one meal to all children in government and aided schools and madrasas supported under Samagra Shiksha.
It was launched in the year 1995 as the National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education (NP – NSPE). In 2004, the scheme was relaunched as the Mid Day Meal Scheme.
It is a centrally sponsored scheme, hence cost is shared between the centre and the states.

It is implemented using one of the three models:

Decentralized model – Preparing meals on the site by local cooks, Self-help groups etc.
Centralized model – In the place of local on-site cooks, under this model, an external organization cooks food and delivers it to the schools.
International assistance – Various international charity organizations aid government schools.

MDM Rules, 2015

Midday Meal Rules 2015 are notified on 30th September 2015 under National Food Security Act (NFSA) 2013.
Under the MDM rules, schools are empowered to utilize other funds for midday meals in case MDM funds get exhausted.
On occasions where schools and other required bodies are unable to provide cooked meals to children; they are to provide food allowances to beneficiaries.
Accredited labs to take on the monthly testing of meals on a random basis.
Under MDM rules 2015, if children of any school don’t get food for 3 consecutive school days or 5 days in a month, the concerned state government has to fix the responsibility on a person or an agency.