The Mid Day Meal (MDM) Authority approved by State Government on September 26 to facilitate and expertise MDM in Jharkhand is yet to take a shape. “It is still under process,” said an official of State Human Resources Development (HRD) department.
“The resolution of this order will be notified in a day or two. After the notification, we will hold a meeting with the members of this authority,” said a State primary education department officer after the MDM scheme.
As per an HRD official, the authority issue is still under process. He said, “Nothing much has been discussed about the implementation by the HRD Minister.”
The delay in this approval comes at a time when most of the schools covered under this MDM scheme are often deprived of food grains and funds, reveals The Fifth Review Mission on MDM of Jharkhand conducted by Government of India (GOI)
Balram, Advisor to Supreme Court Commissioner who is a member of this mission said, “The Fifth Review Mission after an inspection in about 42 schools of East and West Singhbhum from October 21to 30 found that state government is delaying the fund release for food grains and payment of cooks. As a result, there are days in a week, when MDM is not upto the mark.”
“The scene is somewhat same in schools of Santhal Pargana division comprising Godda, Deoghar, Dumka, Jamtara, Sahibganj and Pakur districts,” Balram added.
According to Balram, the team of this mission has found that the state level monitoring committee assigned to look after this MDM has not held its meeting for past one year. He said, “Communication gap has raised this ‘delayed’ problem.”
Notably, since September 1, state school teachers had declared to detach themselves from MDM management due to the death of more than a dozen children after taking poisonous meal in states like Bihar, Odisha and Punjab due to teacher and principal’s negligence in the months of July and August.
Observing these incidents, chief secretary RS Sharma had given the approval to this authority for timely allotment of food and quality of meal.
According to media statement officers of primary and secondary education directorates, Food Corporation of India, nutritionists, districts education officers and non-governmental organizations are supposed to be members of this authority.
However, Jharkhand chapter of the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), which is known to be one such member, is not aware of its association with this MDM authority. A top official of UNICEF on the condition of anonymity said, “We have not received any information in this context. States like Uttar Pradesh have this authority and are managing MDM in a proper way.”
Am HRD official informed that the sanction on implementation of this approval is a not an easy task. Despite being aware of the above facts, he said, “Unless the authority is formed, our department is managing the MDM in all possible ways.”