Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, May 23: Notwithstanding the serious concern expressed by the Union Ministry of Human Resource and Development a number of times, Jammu and Kashmir Government’s performance on all the vital parameters of the Mid-Day Meal Scheme has gone down considerably thereby indicating that intended benefits of this scheme have yet not reached the targeted population.
As per the latest data of the Union Ministry, the copy of which is available with EXCELSIOR, J&K’s performance has gone down on vital parameters like coverage of children, number of working days, utilization of food grain, construction of kitchen-cum-stores, procurement of kitchen devices, inspection, availability of drinking water, testing of meal, social audit of scheme and above all screening of children under Rashtriya Bal Suraksha Karyakram (RBSK).
According to the radar charts of the Ministry, which have been prepared on the basis of 10 institutions for each parameter, coverage of children in 2012-13 was 8.6 and the same reduced to 8.5 in 2013-14 and further dipped to 8.1 in 2014-15. The mid-day meal was served to children on 153 days a year as against the approval of 176 days a year.
“Though the Government has attributed this to different holidays pattern in both the divisions of the State and natural calamity in most parts of the State in September last year, the Ministry has not found any weight behind the same on the ground that less coverage is continuous for the past many years”, sources said, adding the Ministry has directed the State Government to enquire about the reasons of low coverage and take corrective measures so that coverage of children is increased as per the real objective of the scheme.
The Ministry has also found that field inspection by the State MDM Machinery was extremely poor, which otherwise is very imperative for plugging of the gaps and strengthening of the scheme, sources said, adding “the State authorities have a number of times assured the Ministry that District Magistrates would be requested for deploying officials for MDM inspection at school level. But the situation is contrary as neither the District Magistrates are deploying officials nor School Education Department is taking this aspect seriously”.
Most shocking aspect, which has come to the fore, is that there is no mechanism in Jammu and Kashmir for food sample testing. Even the option of getting food samples tested through convergence with other concerned departments like Health has not been explored till date despite commitments made with the Union HRD Ministry in this regard.
According to the Ministry data, financial assistance was provided for construction of 4697 kitchen-cum-store units but till date the same has not been completed and now the State Government has assured to get all these units completed by December this year. Moreover, the Ministry had sanctioned funds for procurement of 3431 kitchen devices—-1312 during 2013-14 and 2119 during 2014-15 but again slackness of the concerned officers created hurdles in utilization of funds.
The Ministry has also detected dismal status of distribution of micronutrients, lack of community participation in the implementation of Mid-Day Meal Scheme, non-adherence to the provision of social audit of the scheme and non-delivery of foodgrains and LPG at school doorstep.
“In J&K, the teachers are utilized for picking up food grains from PDS shop and LPG from nearest centre thereby hampering teaching. This is notwithstanding the fact that the Ministry provides additional transport assistance for foodgrains and LPG to all the hilly States”, the Ministry has noticed.
The HRD Ministry has also detected poor coverage under Rashtriya Bal Suraksha Karyakram as only 50% children were screened during first three quarters of the 2014-15 financial year. Moreover, Health Card was also not maintained in most of the schools.
Out of 50% children covered under RBSK, 3% children received vitamin-A syrup and 16% children received deworming medicine against enrolment, the Ministry data said.
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