Question : REVAMPING OF MDMS

(a) whether the Government proposes to revamp Mid-day-meal scheme in view of rising complaints of supply of poor and sub-standard meals in schools and if so, the details thereof;

(b) whether the Government is planning to supply only packaged food within expiry date and if so, the details thereof;

(c) whether the Government proposes to revive Government owned Modern Bakery with its units set up at district levels or ask Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC) to supply healthy and hygienic food and if so, the details thereof;

(d) the role of school inspectors, principals and panchayats in the effective implementation of Mid-day-meal scheme; and

(e) whether there is any proposal to give responsibility to food inspectors to oversee the MDMS and to conduct raids in school kitchens and if so, the details thereof along with the frequency of raids proposed?

MINISTER OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT (SMT. SMRITI ZUBIN IRANI)

(a) Mid Day Meal Scheme covers 10.80 crore children in 11.58 lakh schools during 2013-14. The Scheme provides for a mechanism to deal with complaints and grievances of the stakeholders. The Ministry issues instructions from time to time for effective implementation of the Scheme.

(b) Under Mid Day Meal Scheme, only hot cooked meals are served to the children as per the direction of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India.

(c) The Mid Day Meal Scheme Guidelines envisage that NGO / Trust / Centralized Kitchen may be engaged for urban areas, where there is a space constraint for setting up school kitchens in individual schools. There is no proposal for supply of meals through Modern Bakery or IRCTC in the Ministry.

(d) The Guidelines provide that, as far as possible, the responsibility of cooking/supply of cooked midday meal should be assigned to local women’s/mothers’ Self-Help Group or local Youth Club affiliated to the Nehru Yuvak Kendras or a voluntary organization or by personnel engaged directly by the School Management Committee (SMC)/Village Education Committee (VEC)/ Parent Teacher Association (PTA)/Gram Panchayat/Municipality.

The Mid Day Meal Guidelines envisage that teachers should not be assigned responsibilities that will impede or interfere with teaching learning. Teachers should, however, be involved in ensuring that
(i) good quality, wholesome food is served to children, and
(ii) the actual serving and eating is undertaken in a spirit of togetherness, under hygienic conditions, and in an orderly manner so that the entire process is completed in 30-40 minutes. It should however, be ensured that the food prepared is tasted by 2-3 adults including at least one teacher before it is served to children. Thus, the teacher is to supervise that the mid day meal is served in an orderly manner within specified time (recess period) and to taste the meal on rotational basis before it is served.

(e) The Government of India has requested all the States / UTs for testing of the meals from accredited labs. The Governments of NCT Delhi and Punjab have engaged accredited labs for testing of samples in their State. The States / UTs Government may involve Food Inspectors to collect the food samples for testing on quality parameters.