TEAM HERALD
PANJIM/DELHI: Children in the age group of 6 to 14 years entitled for the midday meal in their schools will be compensated with cash if not served with the promised meal on any given day or days.
The legal entitlement to the cash allowance in lieu of the midday meal is the fall out of the National Food Security Bill that was passed by the Lok Sabha last Monday and slated to be considered by the Rajya Sabha on this Monday.
The Human Resources Development Ministry, which funds the midday meal cost to the state government, is in the process of calculating the amount that will have to be paid to students for meals missed.
Preliminary estimate of the ministry is that a student in the primary school (class I to IV) will get around Rs 5 per meal, while one in the middle school (class V to VIII) will get Rs 7.50.
“These are preliminary estimate considering the current sanctioned cooking cost paid to schools at the rate of Rs 3.34 per child in primary schools and Rs 5 per child in the middle schools. Cash allowance would, however, have to factor in other costs,” a ministry official said.
He said a similar cash allowance will have to be paid to children in the age group of 6 months to 6 years if they do not get the meal free of cost in the local anganwadi under the existing Integrated Child Development Services Scheme(ICDS).
However, Goa government which is in the midst of a cash crunch has reasons to believe that this provision will not materialise as the Midday Meal Scheme has no such clause for cash compensation against MDMS and also feels that there is a long drawn process before the Food Security Bill is converted into a legislation. The Director of Education Anil Powar when contacted for his views said, “What guarantee is there that money given in compensation for MDMS to parents will be used for providing meals of nutritional value as required under the MDMS scheme?”
Powar said that there may have been suggestions from PTAs in the recent past for cash but said that this demand does not fit within the guidelines of the midday meals scheme.
If one recalls, there was a demand from a PTA to give cash as compensation in lieu of cooked food. However teachers themselves have opposed this idea on the same grounds that the money may not be spent on food needed for the child.
In fact the education department has commissioned a report on how many children actually consume the mid day meals and the quantum of wastage. A report in this regards would be submitted by next week, sources say.
According to the Union government, the food security bill meant for subsidized food grains vis a vis cash allowance, a provision overlooked in the bill clearly states that “in case of non-supply of the entitled quantities of food grains or meals to entitled persons under the Bill, such persons shall be entitled to receiving such food security allowance from the state government concerned to be paid to each person within such time and manner as may be prescribed by the Central Government.”
