Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, July 20: At a time when there is lot of outcry over the death of students after taking poisoned food under Mid Day Meal Scheme in Bihar, all is not well in the implementation of this scheme in Jammu and Kashmir as the Department of School Education of the Union Ministry of Human Resource and Development has pointed out several shortcomings in this regard and asked the concerned authorities to take immediate steps to overcome the same.
According to the analysis of the implementation of the Mid Day Meal Scheme conducted by the concerned wing of the HRD Ministry on the basis of the quarterly progress reports, Jammu and Kashmir has not been paying required attention towards the areas which otherwise deserve special focus so that nothing adverse takes place in the State.
As per the guidelines laid down by the HRD Ministry for guiding, monitoring and implementation of the scheme, State Steering-cum-Monitoring Committee headed by Chief Secretary is required to meet at regular intervals to review the scheme and suggest policy measures for effective implementation of the programme. Moreover, it is mandatory on the part of the Steering Committee to give prior information about such meetings to the Government of India so that HRD Ministry’s School Education and Literacy Department sends its representative.
“However, neither any State level nor District level meeting was convened by Steering-cum-Monitoring Committee during the 2012-13 financial year”, the report of the HRD Ministry said. “This shows the level of seriousness towards monitoring of the scheme, whose ultimate aim is to ensure that no child remains hungry in the covered schools and the basic health and hygiene needs of the children are met in a safe and serene atmosphere”, sources said.
Finding more chinks as far as monitoring, which is the integral part of implementation of the scheme and proper utilization of the funds, is concerned, the HRD Ministry said, “Only 45% schools were inspected during the period by the concerned authorities in the State”. As against total 22878 institutions covered under the scheme only 10330 were inspected by the State, district and block officials.
“The Government is advised to put in more emphasis on inspection of Mid Day Meal Scheme at school level for better implementation”, said Dr Amarjit Singh, Additional Secretary, Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Human Resource and Development in an official communication No.7-2/2013 MDM-2-1.
According to the HRD Ministry analysis, coverage of children against enrolment under the scheme is 60% as against 75% at the national level. “This shows that the utilization of the resources allocated under the scheme is not up to the mark”, the report said.
Stating that the consumption of food grains is 70% as against the national average of 84% in Jammu and Kashmir and utilization of cooking cost is 71% against the national average of 86%, the report said that there should be effective monitoring to ensure proper synchronization between utilization of food grains and cooking cost.
It has also pointed out lifting of food grains less than the national average in Jammu and Kashmir and attributed the same to the delay in 100% clearance of payment bills. An amount of Rs 233.66 lakh was outstanding against J&K till March 31, 2013, the report said.
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