Context: According to a new study, the school children of beneficiaries are benefiting from the national school meal programme in India.
About the Study

• The study, which was recently published in journal Nature Communications, is titled 'Intergenerational nutrition benefits of India’s national school feeding program'. 
• It has been co-authored by University of Washington’and International Food Policy Research Institute’s (IFPRI’s) researchers.
• The study used nationally representative data on mothers and their children from 1993 to 2016 to assess whether mid-day meals support intergenerational improvements in a child’s linear growth.

Importance of this study: School meals benefit education and nutrition in participants, but no studies have examined whether benefits carry over to their children.
Key Findings

Women who received free meals in primary school have children with improved linear growth.

• It can make important contributions to reducing future child stunting, particularly given the cumulative exposure that is possible through school feeding programs.

Girls who had access to the free lunches provided at government schools, had children with a higher height-to-age ratio than those who did not.

• It show that school meals may contribute to education, later fertility decisions, and access to health care, reducing the risk of undernutrition in the next generation.
• It found that the midday meal scheme was associated with 13-32% of India’s improvement in height-for-age z-scores (HAZ) between 2006 and 2016.

National Sample Survey (NSS)-consumer expenditure survey (CES) data from 1999 shows that only 6 per cent of all girls aged 6–10 years received mid-day meals in school.

• However, between 1999 and 2004, the programme’s coverage increased in many states, largely due to an order from the Supreme Court of India. The apex court directed state governments to provide cooked mid-day meals in primary schools.
• In 2004, 32 per cent of Indian girls aged 6–10 years were covered by the programme, which rose to 46 per cent by 2011, as substantial sums were allocated to the scheme. Coverage among boys was similar throughout this period.

School feeding programs such as India’s MDM scheme have the potential for stimulating population-level stunting reduction as they are implemented at scale and target multiple underlying determinants of undernutrition in vulnerable groups.

• Importantly, further research is required to understand whether improving the quality or quantity of meals provided and extending the program beyond primary school might further enhance its benefits.

About Mid-Day Meal Scheme

• The Midday meal scheme (under the Ministry of Education) is a centrally sponsored scheme which was launched in 1995.
• It is the world’s largest school meal programme aimed to attain the goal of universalization of primary education.
• Provides cooked meals to every child within the age group of six to fourteen years studying in classes I to VIII who enrolls and attends the school.

Nutritional Standards: Cooked meal having nutritional standards of 450 calories and 12 gm of protein for primary (I-V class) and 700 calories and 20 gm protein for upper primary (VI-VIII class)

• Coverage: All government and government aided schools, Madarsa and Maqtabs supported under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA).

Objective: Address hunger and malnutrition, increase enrolment and attendance in school, improve socialisation among castes, provide employment at grassroot level especially to women.

• Quality Check: AGMARK quality items are procured, tasting of meals by two or three adult members of the school management committee.
• Food Security: If the Mid-Day Meal is not provided in school on any school day due to non-availability of food grains or any other reason, the State Government shall pay food security allowance by 15th of the succeeding month.
• Regulation: The State Steering-cum Monitoring Committee (SSMC) oversees the implementation of the scheme including establishment of a mechanism for maintenance of nutritional standards and quality of meals.

Issues and Challenges

• Corrupt Practices: There have been instances of plain chapatis being served with salt, mixing of water in milk, food poisoning etc.
• Caste Bias and Discrimination: Food is central to the caste system, so in many schools, children are made to sit separately according to their caste status.
• Covid-19: Covid-19 has posed serious threats to children and their health and nutritional rights. The nationwide lockdown has disrupted access to essential services, including Mid-Day Meals.
• Menace of Malnutrition: According to the National Family Health Survey-5, several states across the country have reversed course and recorded worsening levels of child malnutrition.
• India is home to about 30% of the world’s stunted children and nearly 50% of severely wasted children under the age of five.
• It was intended to cover all government schools under the National Programme of Nutritional Support for Primary Education. However, due to institutional challenges, only a few states scaled up the programme immediately.

Additional Importance
Menace of Malnutrition

• According to the National Family Health Survey-5, several states across the country have reversed course and recorded worsening levels of child malnutrition.
• India is home to about 30% of the world’s stunted children and nearly 50% of severely wasted children under the age of five.

Global Nutrition Report-2020: As per the Global Nutrition Report 2020, India is among 88 countries that are likely to miss global nutrition targets by 2025.
Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2020: India has been ranked at 94 among 107 countries in the Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2020. India has a level of hunger that is “serious”.