In Jharkhand, school managing committes (SMCs) are managing the deficit budget successfully for the last some months. When they were asked as to how they were managing it they said it is jugaad.
last year egg was added in the menu of midday meal given to the Government school students. Jharkhand Government sanctioned the rate of Rs4 per egg and disbursed the amount. The rate of egg in retail market is more than Rs5 while in wholesale market it is not less than Rs135 per tray which means Rs4.50 per egg.
In Hazaribagh district as per Government figure more than 1,75,000 are enrolled in Government schools. Midday meal is served to about 1,49,000 students per day. As per instruction egg is given twice in a week to these 1,49,000 students. There is a deficit of 50 paisa per egg as per the rate sanctioned by the Government and actual rate. So in a day the teachers of government schools are managing about Rs75,000. If you calculate it taking four weeks in a month then the amount will go up to Rs6 lakhs (Rs1.5 lakhs/week).
The money they manage comes from jugaad technology. It doesn’t mean that they arrange this money by donations. A teacher said, “we arrange the money from other items of the midday meal. It is a unique and successful technology because no one has so far criticised it. On the other hand tomorrow flood of criticism is bound to come though it will be made by many experts. So the budget makers please learn the technology from our teachers.”
