Irregularities in Mid-Day Meal in Bihar: Study

Patna,(BiharTimes): A study done by Accountability Initiative-- Planning, Allocations and Expenditures, Institutions Studies in Accountability (PAISA) survey––in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh has revealed that there is widespread irregularities in the implementation of the Mid-Day Meal scheme.

The study was done at the behest of Human Resources Development ministry and two districts of each state was selected for this purpose.

It was carried out in Bihar chief minister’s home district of Nalanda and Purnea and Hardoi and Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh.

According to the study on an average 60 per cent of enrolled students receive Mid-Day Meal per day.
The report, however, said that gap could be due to the fact that many enrolled students did not come to school when the survey was done.

Not only that, the report says that the number of meals served, as recorded in the MDM register, is actually higher than the number of students who attend schools.

In Nalanda 62 per cent, while in Purnea 63 per cent of enrolled students ate mid-day meal. In Hardoi 62 per cent of students while in Jaunpur 65 per cent got Mid-Day Meal.

Besides, there was on an average a 40-day gap between the number of working days and the number of days on which MDM was actually served in Bihar.

However, the performance of UP school was much better as there was barely a 10-day gap between working days and the days on which meals were served.

In Purnea, it was served on only 169 days out of the total working days of 239. In Nalanda, food was served on 163 days whereas schools in the district functioned for 232 days. In Hardoi and Jaunpur, food was served on 218 days and 210 days, respectively.

PAISA study also said that foodgrain availability per student in primary and upper primary classes was less than the stipulated norm. For example in Nalanda only 75 gram of foodgrain was available for primary school students whereas as per norm it should be 100 gram. In upper primary schools 144 gram per student was available against the norm of 150 gram.

While UP lifted 82% of its annual grain allotment, Bihar lifted only 52%.