The State Government has allotted 3,173 quintals of rice for the Mid-day meal scheme for various Government schools. The allocations would be made in schools through the Civil Supply and Consumer Protection Department from the month of May in 19 districts of the State.
It may be recalled that the management of various Government schools have the responsibility of appointing a teacher to taste meals before they are served to children in Chhattisgarh. The Central Government in its detailed guidelines issued on Mid-day meal scheme to all States and Union Territories (UTs) has made it mandatory that the food be tasted by a teacher just before the meals are served to children.
This apart, the teacher is also required to maintain a record of tasting in a Register. The School Management Committee (SMC) member should also taste the food on a rotation basis along with the teacher before it is distributed to the children, it stated.
The States/UTs must consider engaging CSIR Institutes / NABl accredited laboratories and FSSAI accredited laboratories for undertaking testing of samples of MDM for food safety and contamination (microbial and chemical), the guidelines stated.
The guidelines also made it mandatory that under procurement of oil, pulses and condiments only packed dals, salt, spices, condiments and oil with AGMARK quality symbol should be purchased. Any ingredient being sold loose should never be bought. The packaging and expiry date of the ingredients should be checked, it stated.
In the kitchens of Mid-day Meal bore water/tap water/hand-pump water is being used (in general) for cooking, drinking and washing. Water needs to be tested for chemical as well as microbiological contamination. The testing of water can be done in convergence with the concerned water supply/Public Health Engineering departments of the States/UTs, the guidelines mentioned.
The Mid-day Meal (MDM) scheme is a Centrally sponsored scheme which serves hot cooked Mid-day meal to school children studying in Classes I-VIII of Government, Government-aided schools, Special Training centres (STC) and Madarasas and Maktabs supported under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.
The MDMs guidelines envisage to provide cooked Mid-day meal with 450 calories and 12 g of protein to every child at primary level and 700 calories and 20 g of protein at upper primary level.
This energy and protein requirement for a primary child comes from cooking 100 g of rice/flour, 20 g pulses and 50 g vegetables and 5 g oil, and for an upper primary child it comes from 150 g of rice/flour, 30 g of pulses and 75 g of vegetables and 7.5 g of oil.
The Mid-day meal should contain adequate nutrients and should be, palatable, hygienic, and operationally feasible. These food safety guidelines are for school level kitchens only, where the Mid-day meal is cooked for children.
Quality assurance of Mid -day meal and food safety should be an integral part of food handling procedures at the school kitchen. The food provided through these kitchens should be nutritious, free from food adulterants, contamination pathogens, artificial non food grade colours, and additives and adhere to food safety and quality norms.
Only “double fortified salt” should be used for cooking Mid-day meals. Food grains should be stored in standard bins while, plastic food grade containers are ideal for storage of dals, spices, condiments and other ingredients
Procurement of perishable raw materials such as vegetables, fruits and other perishable food commodities should be procured fresh and storing for longer time/duration should be avoided. Perishable items should not be stored in plastic bags as these get spoilt quickly due to lack of transpiration. Such items have to be stored away from sunlight, in a cool place.
Zero energy cool chambers are a low cost alternative to store horticulture produce. This is an on-farm storage chamber, for fresh fruits, vegetables to extend their marketability. Due to their high moisture content fruits and vegetables have very shortlife and are liable to spoil. The zero energy cool chambers can be constructed easily with materials like brick, sand, bamboo, khas khas/straw, gunny bag etc.
As mandated under MDM scheme, food grains are provided by Food Corporation of India (FCI). Food grains are to be allocated bi-annually by the Department of School Education and literacy with the concurrence of Department of Food and Public Distribution for primary and upper primary school level separately.
FCI is to ensure continuous availability of adequate quantity of food grains, which will be in any case not less than of Fair Average Quality (FAQ) in its Depots. The FCI will appoint a Nodal Officer for each State to take care of various problems in supply of food grains under the scheme. Temperature of the Mid-day meal when served should be maintained at 65°C.
Microorganisms multiply at a fast pace when the food is kept at temperature between 5°C and 60°C which represents the danger zone due to thermophilic and thermoduric nature. Therefore, food should be served to children immediately after being cooked.
Vegetarian and non-vegetarian items should be segregated. Fridge wherever available should be cleaned at least once a week to remove stains, ice particles and food particles. The temperature in the fridge should be in the range of 4°C - 6°C.
Requisite number of CCHs should be deputed at school level for the distribution of food from centralized kitchen for the distribution of Mid-day meal with proper gear (gloves, apron and caps etc).
Moreover, with a strong belief on their competence, the Chhattisgarh Government has entrusted women self-help groups (SHGs) of the State with the 100 per cent responsibility of preparing and distributing ready-to-eat food, hot-cooked meal and breakfast to Anganwadi centres, officials stated.
Nearly 1,568 women self-help groups are conducting the work of ready-to-eat food preparation and distribution. likewise, distribution of snacks and hot-cooked meal is looked after by 22,226 women self-help groups of State.
In Anganbadi centres, children of age-group 6 months to three years as well as pregnant and lactating mothers are provided ready-to-eat food, murra laddoos and double fortified salt through take-home-ration system.
Moreover, the children of age group 3-6 years are provided breakfast and hot-cooked meal as per the decided menu. The amount for medicine kit distributed at Anganwadi centre has also been increased from Rs600 to Rs1000. For all round development of teenage girls, Sabla Yojana is conducted in 10 districts of State while in other districts, Kishori Shakti Yojana is operated.
‘The Chhattisgarh Mahila Kosh’ is operated in State to provide financial aid to women for self-employment activities. Under the scheme, women self-help groups are at first provided loan of upto Rs50,000 at nominal annual interest of 3 per cent, and then loan of upto Rs2 lakh is provided to them.
Till date, more than 25,000 women self help groups have taken loans worth Rs41.60 crore for business activities. likewise, with the help of saksham yojana, more than 800 women have become financially self-dependent. Moreover, schemes like Swavlamban Yojana, Skill Improvement Training Scheme and Entreprenuer Awareness Programme are also operated to provide financial aid and skill improvement assistance to women.
Moreover, School Education Department is operating schemes like free bicycle distribution scheme, free textbook distribution scheme, labour Department is operating free bicycle and sewing machine distribution scheme for female labourers and Higher Education Department’s decision to provide dew higher education to girl students are proving beneficial in all-round development of girls of women in state.
The State Government has lived up to its commitment towards security, protection and development of women and children by effectively implementing various schemes, programmes and laws. It is the result of State Government’s consistent efforts that level of malnutrition in children has declined, number of girls students in schools have increased significantly and socio-economic development of women has paced up, officials stated.
The initiative taken by the Chhattisgarh Government to empower women by organizing them in Self Help Groups (SHGs) has proved a success, officials claimed. As many as 23,794 SHGs are successfully accomplishing the work of providing ‘Ready-to-Eat’ food, fresh food and breakfast to more than 49,000 Anganwadi and Mini Anganwadi centers run by the Women and Child Development (WCD) Department.
Among these SHGs, as many as 1568 are engaged in preparation and distribution of Ready-to-Eat meals (nutrition dietary supplements) while 22,226 SHGs are engaged in providing breakfast and fresh food. The Anganwadi and Mini Anganwadi centers are providing nutrition dietary supplement to more than 2,54,9000 children, pregnant and lactating women.
All these activities at one hand are helping the women in becoming organised and independent and on the other hand State is benefiting from the commitment shown by the women towards work and honesty of these women. Showing full faith in women, the State Government has handed over the complete work of preparation and distribution of mid-day meal in school to the SHGs.
Besides this the SHGs are also engaged in preparation of school uniform, mushroom production, production of papad, badi, murabba, daliya, silk production, lac farming, bamboo craft, woodcraft, animal husbandry etc. income generating works.
The women SHGs also play an important role in the campaign against malnutrition. Apart from becoming independent and organized, the women of the State are gradually raising voice against social evils. It was due to initiative taken by women, hundreds of liquor shops have been closed by the Government.
To encourage women and to provide financial assistance to them, the Chhattisgarh Mahila Kosh is running schemes like loan scheme, Swavlamban scheme , skill development scheme, entrepreneurship awareness scheme.
As a striking example of women empowerment, to cite an example in Bilaspur district is the ‘Prabhat Women Self-Help Group’ (SHG) of village Akola in Bilaspur district which started earning extra income from the work of preparing fresh meals and snacks for children of Anganwadi centres.
The SHG has gained much popularity in the nearby areas. People of adjacent villages come all the way to Prabhat Self Help Group for taking loan at 5 per cent monthly interest. This group has started doing internal transactions of up to Rs1 lakh, officials informed.
Chairperson of the Group Prabhavati said that in year 2006, 10 women had gathered to form ‘Prabhat Self Help Group.’ later, they opened their account in the name of SHG at UCO bank Masturi and deposited Rs100 per member in the account. The members of the Group used to meet twice a month and collect Rs50 each. Soon they started giving the amount so collected as loan to members at 3 per cent monthly interest and at 5 per cent to the non-members.
After the SHG collected nearly Rs10,000, the Group members decided to start vegetable business along with their work of internal transactions. But they did not have any land to grow vegetables. Hence, they availed the loan scheme of Chhattisgarh Mahila Kosh and took loan of Rs10,000. After taking a piece of land on lease, they started growing vegetables and selling it off.