Give pvt players tax breaks to aid midday meal scheme: Plan panel

The Plan panel also argued that “cumbersome procedures for releasing funds and substantial delays in central assistance to cover cooking costs are affecting its implementation adversely.” In the course of the MTR,it found that “lack of quantity and quality controls for meals,irregular and uncertain supply of meals and poor quality of grains in some states and inadequate monitoring,supervision and management structures” too were doing little good to the programme.

Suggesting a slew of remedial measures,the Commission pitched for web-based monitoring for transparency and periodical third-party evaluation to assess both the impact and actual number of beneficiaries under MDMS. Pitching for roping in private participation in MDMS,the Plan panel said,“Fiscal incentives like tax exemptions may be considered to encourage the private sector or private individuals to participate in MDMS. MDMS cooks’ job-chart should be standardized for a half day’s work under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act.”

To do away with the cumbersome system of releasing funds,it said “a system of monthly central authorization and electronic transfer of cooking cost through banks for implementing agencies would help ensure regular and timely availability of funds as in the case of Saakshar Bharat. Periodic review meetings by the Development Commissioner or the Chief Secretary at the state level would help in sorting out the problems of delayed release of funds by the Finance Department of the states concerned.”

The scheme was launched in 1995 to support the universalisation of primary education by seeking to improve the nutritional status of primary school children and it was subsequently universalised in September 2004. It was extended to upper primary children in 3,479 educationally backward blocks and is the biggest programme of its kind in the world. The 11th Plan outlay for MDMS was Rs 48,000 crore and the allocation during the first four years is Rs 32,123 crore and the anticipated expenditure during the first three years of the Plan period is Rs 19,882.46 crore. The programme,which seeks to eliminate “classroom hunger” is likely to cover 11.77 crore children during 2009-10 and engages nearly 15.7 lakh cooks. So far the central assistance has been released for 8.07 lakh schools for construction of kitchen sheds and 11.10 lakh schools for kitchen devices,the MTR said.