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CAG finds financial irregularity, poor quality blight mid-day meal scheme -Akshaya Mukul

-The Times of India

NEW DELHI: CAG's performance audit report of Mid-Day Meal has not only found financial mismanagement by the HRD ministry but it has also discovered states having indulged in diversion of funds to the tune of Rs 123.29 crore meant for the scheme.

But what the CAG found most disturbing is the total disregard to quality of meal being given to children. The system of involving mothers in the process of cooking has not worked. In Andhra Pradesh, 86 out of 120 schools test checked found no involvement of mothers; in Odisha in 103 schools mothers were not involved to supervise preparation of meals. To add to this, CAG said sanctioned calorific value was not being maintained in meals. In Chhattisgarh, Meghalaya, Sikkim, Tripura and Andaman no record was maintained to ensure minimum calorie and protein content.

In Delhi, Sri Ram Institute for Industrial Research tested samples of cooked food of 37 service providers and 89% of them failed to meet the prescribed standards. In nine states, shortfall in supply of foodgrains in the meals served to children against prescribed quantity was noticed in selected districts. In Karnataka, CAG says, ISKCON which supplied mid-day meals to children of 304 schools in two taluks of Bellary district "used 1.04 lakh kg less rice than the prescribed norms in preparing MDM".

CAG also discovered excess payment has been made to few a non-governmental organizations. It mentions how ISKCON, Mumbai lifted only 21,511.6 quintals of rice against the requirement of 68,561.18 quintals but "it was seen that payment for cooking cost was made to ISKCON at full rate during 2010-14 resulting in excess payment of Rs 11.67 crore to ISKCON." CAG said test results of 187 meal samples prepared by ISKCON during 2010-14 revealed that meals failed to meet the prescribed standards.