Why India needs to urgently ensure adequate finances for Mid-Day Meal Scheme

New Delhi: The abrupt closure of schools due to the COVID-19 pandemic has not only impacted learning but also the provision of nutrition to children. The National Mid-Day Meal Scheme (also known as the MDM ) is the world’s largest school feeding programme aimed at increasing attendance and guaranteeing one 'nutritious' meal to the 11.59 crore children studying in government schools.

While States were quick to adapt by providing grains or food security allowance (FSA) directly to families, recent studies have shown that the actual provision of nutrition through the scheme remains far from adequate.

Part of the problem lies in the complexities involved in scheme planning and the fund flow system of the Union and State governments.

These challenges existed even prior to the pandemic and have now been magnified. Unless these are resolved soon, we could be headed for a crisis within a crisis.

Here’s why.

As early as March 2020, the Supreme Court of India had recognised the danger of non-supply of MDM due to school closure and had instructed States to ensure food security of vulnerable populations, including children. This, it stated, was to safeguard against the possibility of a large-scale malnutrition crisis. Soon after, the Ministry of Education, issued a directive to the states asking that “hot cooked mid-day meal” be provided to the children's homes or “food security allowance” be given.

States complied, announcing either direct benefit transfers (cash in accounts) such as in Bihar, foodgrains (such as in Rajasthan or Telangana) or FSA comprising foodgrains, pulses, oil etc. (equivalent to cooking cost). Even wholesome meals including milk, eggs etc were given in states such as Kerala. To fund these efforts, additional approvals were also sought to ensure that MDM can be provided during the summer months, which in non-pandemic times are typically not accounted for due to school summer holidays.

Yet, despite these measures, recent studies have shown that many children are still not being provided what has been promised. A survey by Oxfam in May-June of 1,158 parents across four states (Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh) found that nearly one-third (35%) of children were not receiving MDM. The proportion was as high as 92% in Uttar Pradesh. Other studies have found an even lower number of children receiving MDM.

Why?

To understand the possible reasons one has to look at the hurdles the scheme is facing. It is also useful to analyse budgets, fund flows and data on who is receiving the scheme’s benefits. MDM is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme which means that the Centre and States pool in funds. Under MDM (to understand the scheme download this brief ), the Centre provides 60% of the funds for various activities that are essential for the scheme’s functioning like cooking costs, honorariums for cooks-cum-helpers and infrastructure ( kitchen devices, etc.). It also bears the entire cost for foodgrains.

At the start of the fiscal year 2020-21, the Union government had allocated Rs. 11,000 crore which was subsequently increased to Rs. 12,600 crore. This additional allocation of Rs. 1,600 crore was for providing MDM during the summer months. The release of funds from the Centre to the States, however, has been lower than required and also delayed. We compared funds required for cooking costs (estimated by multiplying the number of days with per unit cooking costs) for the first quarter of the fiscal year (April to June 2020) with actual releases for the quarter by the Centre. This estimation points to a considerably low level of required funds being released.

For instance, in Rajasthan, while required cooking costs for quarter 1 were estimated at Rs. 173 crore, only Rs. 90 crore was released by the Union government. Similarly, in Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, and Uttar Pradesh less than 60 per cent of the required funds were released.

Even the additional allocation for summer months have not been released. In the first two quarters of the fiscal year (April to September). For example, in Uttarakhand, only 43 per cent (Rs. 5.39 crore) of the total approved FSA (Rs. 12.54 crore) was released by the Union government. The proportion for Tamil Nadu was 79 per cent. In fact, as on 29 October 2020, only 21 States and Union Territories had got any funds from the Centre for providing MDM during summer holidays.

For States which did receive funds from the Union government, they were released late - towards the end of the second quarter or the start of the third quarter. For any government scheme, funds are critical to its functioning. For the MDM, this has proven to be the case as it remains slow in providing services even at a time of dire need like the COVID-19 pandemic.

Fund availability issues aside, the scheme also has gaps in ensuring coverage for all students. As per the scheme design, States provide estimates to the Union government on the number of children who will be availing MDM based on the previous year's trends. These estimates are then reviewed and approved by the Union government.

Yet, in many states, the number of children provided FSA was less than estimates provided by States.

This trend also holds for the FSA provided during the summer months. The gap between children actually provided FSA and those initially approved was highest in Bihar, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and Haryana.

Given that the need for MDM only increased due to the pandemic, as a result of the loss of livelihoods and decline in incomes making it hard for families to get adequate nutrition, the number of children who would be availing MDM during this period is likely to be higher than the estimations made by States at the start of the fiscal year. This would mean that this gap in coverage is probably even higher.

But questions on the manner in which coverage is estimated and the accuracy of the numbers are not new. In 2018-19, for instance, enrolment numbers as available on the MDM website were on average higher than those reported in the United District Information Systems (UDISE), the official school database used for budgeting by the Education Ministry. Differences ranged from as high as 18 lakh for Bihar and 14 lakh for West Bengal among two databases used by the Union and State governments for planning.

There is no doubt that the pandemic has placed enormous fiscal burdens on the Centre and States alike which means funds are being tightly controlled. But it is going to be critical to strengthen our planning, budgeting and fund flow systems. Failure to do so may result in what the Supreme Court had already warned - an accentuated malnutrition crisis.