Lok Sabha Question No. 5961 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2017-04-10
Subject: NGOs Involved in Mid Day Meal Scheme
Ministry: HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: SONA RAM CHOUDHARY, PONGULETI SRINIVASA REDDY, PINAKI MISRA, DEVJI MANSINGRAM PATEL

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION & LITERACY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.5961 TO BE ANSWERED ON 10.04.2017

## NGOs Involved in Mid Day Meal Scheme

† 5961.  COL. SONARAM CHOUDHARY: SHRI PONGULETI SRINIVASA REDDY: SHRI PINAKI MISRA: SHRI DEVJI M. PATEL:

Will the Minister of HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

- (a) whether it is a fact that the NGOs engaged in providing the Mid Day Meal in various Government schools in the country are further subletting their contracts and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether it is a fact that such NGOs are not providing hygienic and nutritious food to the children  in  rural  and  urban  areas  resulting  in  the  children  falling  sick  and  if  so,  the details thereof;
- (c) the number of such cases reported in the country during the last three years, State/UT and  year-wise  including  Rajasthan  along  with  the  action  taken  against  the  errant agencies;
- (d) whether the Government proposes to eliminate the role of NGOs in the said scheme, especially in rural areas and if so, the details thereof;
- (e) whether the Government has fixed any nutritious value for serving Mid Day Meal to the children and if so, the details thereof along with the sanctioned amount per head for the same;
- (f) the details of the margin of profit allowed and earned by those who are entrusted with the responsibility of providing the said meal; and
- (g) the  total  number  of  people  provided  employment  including  cook  cum  helpers  under the said scheme during the last three years, State/UT-wise and year-wise?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT (SHRI UPENDRA KUSHWAHA)

(a) to (d): The Mid Day Meal Scheme (MDMS) is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme implemented in  partnership  with  the  States/UTs.  The  overall  responsibility  for  providing  cooked  and nutritious  mid-day  meal  to  the  eligible  children  lies  with  the  State  Governments  and  Union Territory  Administrations.  The  MDM  guidelines  provide  for  Centralized  kitchens  for  urban areas  where  there  is  space  constraint.    In  Centralized  kitchens,  cooking  can  take  place  and cooked  hot  meal  may  be  transported  under  hygienic  conditions  through  reliable  transport systems to various schools.

A  total  number  of  fourteen  complaints  against  NGOs  for  providing  unhygienic  food  to  the children  under  Mid-Day  Meal  Scheme  have  been  reported  by  various  States  and  Union Territories during the last three years. Respective State Governments/UT Administrations were requested to furnish Action Taken Report (ATR) in the matter. As per ATRs received from States/UTs,  actions  such  as  issue  of  warning  to  the  erring  NGOs  and  to  the  officials responsible;  termination  of  contract  of  the  NGO  and  imposition  of  penalty  on  the  NGO  by withholding the payment to them have been taken up by the concerned State Governments/UT Administrations. The State/UT-wise details including Rajasthan of such incidents and action taken thereon during each of the last three years is given at Annexure-I.

- (e):   The Mid Day Meal Guidelines prescribe the following nutritional value for the MidDay-Meal provided to the children in the schools:

| Items                                    | For children of Primary classes          | For children of Upper Primary classes    |
|------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------|
| A) Nutritional Norms (Per child per day) | A) Nutritional Norms (Per child per day) | A) Nutritional Norms (Per child per day) |
| Calorie                                  | 450                                      | 700                                      |
| Protein                                  | 12 gms                                   | 20 gms                                   |
| B) Food Norms (Per child per day)        | B) Food Norms (Per child per day)        | B) Food Norms (Per child per day)        |
| Food-grains                              | 100 gms                                  | 150 gms                                  |
| Pulses                                   | 20 gms                                   | 30 gms                                   |
| Vegetables                               | 50 gms                                   | 75 gms                                   |
| Oil &fat                                 | 5 gms                                    | 7.5 gms                                  |
| Salt &condiments                         | As per need                              | As per need                              |

Under the Mid-Day Meal Scheme, the present sanctioned cooking cost per child per day for Primary  and  Upper  Primary  stages  is  Rs.4.13  and  Rs.6.18,  respectively . In  addition,  the Central  Government  provides  100%  funding  for  Foodgrains,  Transport  Assistance,  Kitchen Devices  and  Management/Monitoring  Expenses.  Several  State/UT  Governments  are  also contributing  additional  funds  over  and  above  their  minimum  mandatory  share  under  the Scheme.

- (f): The  Mid-Day  Meal  guidelines  provide  that  as  far  as  possible,  the  responsibility  for cooking/supply of cooked mid-day meal is to be assigned to  Local  women's/mothers' SelfHelp  Group;  Local  Youth  Club  affiliated  to  the  Nehru  Yuvak  Kendras;  Personnel  engaged directly by the VEC/SMDC/PTA/Gram Panchayat/Municipality or NGOs through Centralized kitchens  for  urban  areas  where  there  is  space  constraint.    The  guidelines  also  provide  that NGOs supply cooked mid day meal on a no profit basis.
- (g): Under Mid -Day Meal Scheme (MDMS), one cook-cum-helper is engaged for schools with up to 25 students, two cooks-cum-helpers for schools with 26 to 100 students and one additional  cook-cum-helper  for  every  addition  of  up  to  100  students.  The  State/UT-wise number  of  cook-cum-helpers  engaged  under  the  scheme  during  the  last  three  years  is  at Annexure-II.

- (a)        State/UT wise No. of complaints related to NGO received during last three years
- (b)      Action taken by States/UTs on aforesaid complaints

| Sl. No.   | State/UT      |   2014 |   2015 |   2016 |   Total |
|-----------|---------------|--------|--------|--------|---------|
| 1         | Delhi         |      1 |      3 |      0 |       4 |
| 2         | Goa           |      0 |      1 |      0 |       1 |
| 3         | Karnataka     |      2 |      0 |      0 |       2 |
| 4         | Maharashtra   |      1 |      1 |      1 |       3 |
| 5         | Uttar Pradesh |      2 |      1 |      1 |       4 |
|           | Total         |      6 |      6 |      2 |      14 |

|   Sl. No. | Type of Action                                                                                                                            |   2014 |   2015 |   2016 |   Total |
|-----------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------|--------|--------|---------|
|         1 | Departmental action (including warning, transfer, suspension) and action against service providers/complaint substantiated by State Govt. |      3 |      4 |      1 |       8 |
|         2 | General corrective action, including issue of instructions to concerned, by State Govt./GoI.                                              |      1 |      2 |      0 |       3 |
|         3 | Baseless, not related toMDMS                                                                                                              |      2 |      0 |      0 |       2 |
|         4 | Under enquiry/ investigation at State level                                                                                               |      0 |      0 |      1 |       1 |
|         5 | Total                                                                                                                                     |      6 |      6 |      2 |      14 |

## Annexure-II

|    |                   |   2014-15 |   2015-16 |   2016-17* |
|----|-------------------|-----------|-----------|------------|
| 1  | 2                 |         3 |         4 |          5 |
| 1  | Andhra Pradesh    |     97251 |     92105 |      92105 |
| 2  | Arunachal Pradesh |      7736 |      7729 |       7736 |
| 3  | Assam             |    122724 |    121441 |     116472 |
| 4  | Bihar             |    235181 |    236278 |     238353 |
| 5  | Chhattisgarh      |     95524 |     93420 |      89791 |
| 6  | Goa               |      2067 |      2623 |       2623 |
| 7  | Gujarat           |     90671 |     89796 |      87329 |
| 8  | Haryana           |     32610 |     30652 |      30620 |
| 9  | Himachal Pradesh  |     23478 |     22813 |      22375 |
| 10 | Jammu &Kashmir    |     29555 |     30648 |      29619 |
| 11 | Jharkhand         |     81203 |     81824 |      81824 |
| 12 | Karnataka         |    117842 |    118886 |     117984 |
| 13 | Kerala            |     13700 |     13664 |      14373 |
| 14 | Madhya Pradesh    |    243309 |    236986 |     224767 |
| 15 | Maharashtra       |    164479 |    163523 |     167909 |
| 16 | Manipur           |      6528 |      6951 |       6951 |
| 17 | Meghalaya         |     16965 |     17094 |      17567 |
| 18 | Mizoram           |      5166 |      5220 |       5071 |
| 19 | Nagaland          |      5057 |      5057 |       5057 |
| 20 | Orissa            |    128020 |    128817 |     127382 |
| 21 | Punjab            |     41820 |     42343 |      42609 |
| 22 | Rajasthan         |    124616 |    115622 |     115622 |
| 23 | Sikkim            |      1891 |      1884 |       1891 |
| 24 | Tamilnadu         |    128130 |    128130 |     128130 |
| 25 | Telangana         |     55151 |     53492 |      53600 |
| 26 | Tripura           |     10941 |     10926 |      10943 |
| 27 | Uttarakhand       |     29397 |     28699 |      28031 |
| 28 | Uttar Pradesh     |    401378 |    398073 |     398971 |
| 29 | West Bengal       |    237774 |    244744 |     236658 |
| 30 | A&N Islands       |       721 |       721 |        721 |
| 31 | Chandigarh        |       740 |       746 |        749 |
| 32 | D&N Haveli        |       861 |       927 |        927 |
| 33 | Daman &Diu        |       304 |       317 |        318 |
| 34 | Delhi             |     20845 |     19271 |      19228 |
| 35 | Lakshadweep       |       113 |       110 |        110 |
| 36 | Puducherry        |      1031 |      1031 |       1031 |
|    | Total             |   2574779 |   2552563 |    2525447 |