INTRODUCTION:

“Food is the moral right of all who are born into this world” - Norman Borlaug

The right to food is a vital right for all human beings. Food is the basic necessity of life for survival and livelihood for a healthy and productive life. It is an essential element without which human beings cannot survive.Everyone have a right to adequate food and a fundamental right to be free from hunger. In many of developing countries including India, greatest challenge is to overcome from Hunger and poverty. These are big enemies for national development, as especially the children represent the future and ensuring their healthy growth and development ought to be a prime concern of all the societies. Children’s rights are the human rights of children with particular attention to the rights of special protection and care afforded to the young including their, for food. Hundreds of millions of undernourished children suffer from political and social exclusion while their right to food is violated. The causes of undernourishment and of death from hunger and malnutrition of children are immensely complex, primarily due to social injustice, to political and economic exclusion and to discrimination.

“Every day, more than 840 million people go hungry in a world of plenty. Two billion people suffer from the “hidden hunger” of malnutrition. Poor nutrition also means some 1.4 billion people are overweight, with about one-third obese and at risk of coronary heart disease, diabetes or other health problems. The key to better nutrition, and ultimately to ensuring each person’s right to food, lies in better food systems – smarter approaches, policies and investments encompassing the environment, people, institutions and processes by which agricultural products are produced, processed and brought to consumers in a sustainable manner.”- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on World Food Day, 16^th October, 2013. In this context, Right to food in India, is most desirable landmark in relation to the right to development of children.Right to food for children is a basic right as it is not only essential for human development but also necessary for the proper functioning of a democratic State.

Food must be nutritionally filling and contribute to their physical and intellectual development.Every aspect of the food system has an effect on the final availability and accessibility of diverse, nutritious foods and on consumers’ ability to choose a healthy diet. Children are at a high risk of becoming malnutrition and malnutrition has severe effects on children’s development both physical and mental. Therefore, addressing their malnutrition requires integrated action and complementary interventions in the food system, in health and education, and in broader policy domains.

India’s Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2008 score is 23.7, which gives it a rank of 66th out of 88 countries. This score indicates a continued poor performance in reducing hunger in India. The GHI aims to capture three interrelated aspects of hunger - inadequate consumption, underweight children, and child mortality. The extensive hunger and malnutrition has placed the country at seventy out of 107 nations in Global Food Security Index (The Economist, 2013). As today’s children are the citizens of tomorrow’s world,their nutritional status plays important role in deciding future of any country. Child malnutrition has risen in recent years in India (Chaterjee, 2007). Malnutrition in children is the lack of availability of adequate food. Right to Food and nutrition as interlinked concepts, must have profound effects on children’s health and their development. The right to food is an inclusive right; not simply a right to a minimum ration. The right to food places legal obligations on States to overcome hunger and malnutrition and realize food security for all. It is a right to all nutritional elements that a person needs to live a healthy and active life, and to the means to access them. In this backdrop, the Mid Day Meal Scheme (MDMS) in India emerged as children’s right to food, covering primary and upper primary school children is premised on expectations of significant gains in schooling and nutritional outcomes. In this study, the focus is on issues related to the right to food and the way the State has been looking at it through implementing MDMS. This study tries to portray on how this scheme is being fruitful for children on their nutritional outcome.

RIGHT TO FOOD:

Right to food refers to the ensuring of food for all at all times. It is the most important step to eradicate absolute mass poverty and lay a foundation for growth and development of a society. The right to adequate food is realized when every man, woman and child, alone or in community with others, has physical and economic access at all times to adequate food or means for its procurement.

The right to food entitles every person to an economic, political, and social environment that will allow them to achieve food security with own dignity through their own means. Individuals or groups who do not have the capacity to meet their food needs for reasons beyond their control, such as illness, discrimination, age, unemployment, economic downturn, or natural disaster, are entitled to be provided with food directly. The obligation to ensure a minimum level necessary to be free from hunger is one of immediate effect.

To be able to enjoy the right to food fully, people need access to healthcare and education, respect for their cultural values, the right to access and posses property and the right to organize themselves economically and politically. Without adequate food, people cannot lead healthy active lives. They are not employable, cannot care for their children, and their children cannot learn to read and write. Hence the right to food cuts across the entire spectrum of human rights.

Four important elements of right to food:

• Food must be available: Availability refers to production and / or availability in the market. There must be of food sufficiency in quantity for the entire population.

• Food must be accessible:Accessibility requires economic and physical access to food. Each person must be able to procure nourishment, either through his/her own initiation or through state initiation.

• Access to food must be stable and continuous: Food must be available and accessible for all under all circumstances (wars, natural catastrophes etc.). Food entitlements should be legally enforceable.

• Food must be adequate and healthy: Regular in-taking food must be consumable, hygienic, particularly for water and must satisfy dietary needs.

Access to Food: A Basic Human Right

The right to food as a human right is a relatively recent invention. The evolution of the right to food is derived from the movement towards international human rights at universal level in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and in subsequent treaties such as the 1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) or the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Article 25 (1) of UDHR asserts that, ‘Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and wellbeing of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services and that mothers and children are entitled to special care and assistance’. The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) of 1966 developed these concepts more fully, stressing ‘the right of everyone to adequate food’ and specifying ‘the fundamental right of everyone to be free from hunger’. In Article 11 the ICESCR are obliged to implement the right to food domestically, ensuring that it becomes part of their national legal system. Convention on the Rights of the Child (193 States Parties) states the right to the highest attainable standard of health (article 25) and the right to an adequate standard of living which includes food and nutrition (article 27). United Nations Millennium Declaration, 2000 States committed themselves to remove the proportion of people suffering from hunger by 2015.

In the United Nations Guidelines for Consumer Protection (UNGCP, 1985), right to food was mentioned as the first need under the Right to Basic Needs. In 1996, the formal adoption of the Right to Adequate Food by the World Food Summit paved the way for the possibility of a rights-based approach to food security. In 2000, the Human Rights Commission appointed a Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Jean Ziegler, on the premise that “the right to food should be used as an instrument to deal with a totally unacceptable situation” of global hunger and malnutrition (Ziegler, 2001, pp.3, 10, 11).

Over the past decade, a series of events in India have brought the question of food security into sharp focus. Vast famine-affected areas versus surplus production and stocks of grains, the impact of globalization and World Trade Organization Laws on agriculture and farmers, the media‘s spotlight on starvation deaths and, finally, the Supreme Court of India‘s strong reaction to the plight of the hungry - all make a case for recognizing the right to food. The people at large have Right to enjoy meaningful and dignified life which depends upon food. The Right to food has great concern with population of State. As there is population growth in all over the Globe, cases of violations are also increased. The role of state is important to make and implement various schemes for effective enforcement of right to food.

In India, Article 47 of the Constitution of India, inter alia, provides that “the State shall regard raising the level of nutrition and standard of living of its people and the improvement of public health as among its primary duties”.The Apex Court has recognized the right to food under the right to life stipulated in article 21 of the Indian Constitution, also with reference to the Directive Principle of State Policy concerning nutrition, contained in article 47. The Supreme Court of India has established itself as a champion of food security and committed itself to the realization of the right to food in India. The Government of India has introduced the National Food Security Act, 2013 which was also called as ‘Right to Food Act’, aimed to provide subsidized food grains to two third of India’s 1.2 billion people.

Right to food is being strengthened under legislation of Food Security Act, 2013. The National Food Security Act (NFSA) passed by the Indian Parliament in September 2013. The NFSA, 2013, was notified on 10 September 2013 and was retrospectively implemented since 5 July 2013.The right to food legislation in India is an innovative new social security scheme being introduced by the UPA government. A food security act has the potential to change the face of poverty and hunger in India. The national food security bill followed from the national food security ordinance, 2013 that was promulgated by the government of India on 5^th July. After being introduced in both house of the parliament, the national Food Security Act, 2013 was passed in 10^th September, 2013 with the objective to provide for food and nutritional security in human life cycle approach, by ensuring access to adequate quantity of quality food at affordable prices to people to live a life with dignity. It was signed into law on September 12, 2013, retroactive to July 5, 2013.

India’s ongoing effort to realize a constitutional right to food began with a petition brought in July, 2001 on behalf of the poor in the state of Rajasthan who had not been receiving the required employment and food relief mandated by the Rajasthan Famine Code of 1962. Filed in response to the failure of the federal and state governments to address acute hunger and starvation deaths at a time when India was producing a grain surplus, the PUCL petition sought enforcement of a constitutional right to foodunder Article 21 of the Constitution of India. Through its landmark decision in the public interest litigation Petition (Civil) No. 196/2001, People’s Union for Civil Liberties v.Union of India and Others (PUCL), the Supreme Court explicitly established a constitutional human right to food and determined a basic nutritional floor for India’s impoverished millions. The latest manifestation of government action on the right to food is the proposed National Food Security Act, 2013. Drawing on constitutional precedent defining the Article 21 right to life is “the right to live with human dignity and all that goes with it, namely, the bare necessaries of life such as adequate nutrition.”

In April 2001 a landmark case emerged regarding the right to food with broad implications for economic and social rights (Guha-Khasnobis and Vivek, 2007, p.322). Indian democracy is trapped in a vicious circle of exclusion and elitism. Yet he also has reasons for optimism as “the tools of participation are getting more diverse” and there is concerted public awareness, social mobilisation and legal action taking place on the right to food (Dreze, 2005). In April 2001 a landmark case emerged regarding the right tofood with broad implications for economic and social rights. A livelihoods and hunger crisis sparked by several years of drought in Rajasthan led the People’s Union for Civil Liberties, Rajasthan and Colin Gonsalves of the Human Rights Law Network to petition the state government for remedies. The Supreme Court accepted the petition and extended its judgment to all parts of the country, issuing an interim order that sought enforcement of eight central government schemes that already existed to alleviate hunger (Dréze, 2005, p.54.)

It is noted that India is now “an economic powerhouse” but is still “a nutritional weakling” (Haddad and Zeitlyn, 2009).The World Food Summit’s Plan of Action with General Comment 12, by urging state parties to take “immediate and urgent steps” ensured “the fundamental right to freedom from hunger and malnutrition” (UNCESCR,1999). It clarified the right to food in relation to hunger and malnutrition and helped to define how the right could be included in the implementation of other cross-cutting international agreements, such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), the Johannesburg Sustainable Development agreement (2002), and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (1981). For example, Articles 24 and 27 of the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child recognised the right of every child to sufficient nutrition and an adequate standard of living and oblige states to take appropriate measures.

Dréze noted that the right to food is more complex than the right to education or the right to information because food entitlements are linked to both culture and nutrition, yet these considerations are central to the fundamental right to life and human dignity (Dréze2005, p.54).

MDMS (Mid-Day MealScheme) and Its Ideology -

The MDMS aims to serve in India for enhancing enrolment, retention and attendance and simultaneously improving nutritional levels among children studying in Government, Local Body and Government-aided primary and upper primary schools and the Centres run under Education Guarantee Scheme (EGS), Alternative and Innovative Education (AIE) and National Children Labour Project (NCLP) schools of all areas across the country.

The dual aim of the 'Mid-Day Meals Scheme' is to ensure nourishment of children and encourage school attendance. Central government provides the food grains and state governments are expected to meet the costs of non-food expenses including cooking, transport and delivery of food grain to schools as well as arranging for cooking, serving and supplying micronutrients.

In keeping with the Constitutional provisions to raise the level of nutrition of children and enable them to develop in a healthy manner, the National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education (NP-NSPE) was launched as a centrally sponsored scheme in 1995. Popularly named as MDMS, this was expected to enhance enrolment, retention, attendance of children in schools apart from improving their nutritional levels. In 2002, the Supreme Court directed the Government to provide cooked mid day meals (as opposed to providing dry rations) in all Government and Government aided primary schools. It was revised in September 2004 and in September 2006. In 2004, the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) and Department of Elementary Education and Literacy revised the guidelines for the scheme prescribing supply of meal with 300 calories and eight to twelve grams of protein. The Ministry again revised the scheme in September 2006 to provide cooked mid-day-meal with 450 calories and twelve grams of protein content to all children of primary classes (I-V) in the country. In October 2007, the scheme was expanded to cover children in upper primary classes of VI to VIII and the name of the Scheme was changed from ‘National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education’ to ‘National Programme of Mid Day Meal in Schools’. The nutritional norm for upper primary stage was fixed at 700 Calories and twenty grams of protein. The Scheme was extended to all areas across the country from 1.4.2008.

The MDMS was introduced in all Government and Government-assisted primary schools in the form of a country-wide “Day of action on mid-day meals” according to the guidelines given by the Union Ministry of HRD, Department of Elementary Education and Literacy with prescribed supply of meal of content calories and Proteins. The details contents are given below in the following tables.

Table – 1: Prescribed per head Nutritional Content for Mid-Day Meal:

Item	Primary	Upper Primary
Calories	450	700
Proteins (Gms)	12	20
Per head price	Rs. 3.59 per meal	Rs. 5.38 per meal

(Source :http://mdm.nic.in/)

The above nutritional content is ensured through a package consisting of the following ingredients per child per day per school –

Table – 2: prescribed Ingredients of School Meal for school children

Item	Primary	Upper Primary
Rice/ Wheat	100gms	150gms
Pulses	20gms	30gms
Vegetables	50gms	75gms
Oil	5gms	7.5gms
Micro-nutrients	Adequate quantities of micro nutrients like Iron, Folic Acid, Vitamin-A etc.

(Source :http://mdm.nic.in/)

The Central Government notified ‘Mid Day Meal Rules, 2015’ on September 30^th 2015 under right to food. The National Food Security Act, 2013 (NFSA, 2013) contains provisions related to welfare schemes including Mid Day Meal Scheme. In accordance with the provisions of the Act, the Ministry of HRD has finalized the MDM Rules after consultation with the States and other related Central Ministries. The rules will be known as Mid Day Meal Rules, 2015 and will be in effect from the date of notification in the Gazette of India. The Rules inter alia provide for temporary utilization of other funds available with the school for MDM, in case school exhausts MDM funds for any reason. Food Security Allowance to be paid to beneficiaries in case of non-supply of meals for specified reasons; and monthly testing of meals on a random basis by accredited labs to check its quality. Further, the Rules also provide that concerned State Governments shall fix responsibility on the person or agency if meals are not provided on 3 consecutive school days or 5 days in a month. These rules and their effective compliance by implementing agencies in the States will ensure better regularity in serving mid day meals in schools and also improve quality of the meals as well as overall implementation of the Mid Day Meal Scheme in the country.

OBJECTIVES:

1. To study the role of the MDMS in ensuring right to food for the school children in India.

2. To assess the impact of the scheme on overall nutritional status of school children.

3. To portray profile of beneficiaries of MDMS and provide the suggestion for improvement of the scheme.

HYPOTHESES:

On the basis of the objectives following hypotheses is being drawn in this present study –

1) MDM is needed for the school children as their one time food security,

2) The MDMS intervention encourage child’s attendance in the school,

3) Girls are less nutrient than boys due to sex based discriminatory practices in the home,

4) Continuation of MDM have long term impacts on child socialization,

5) MDM has sustainable effects on nutrition in its long run through its need based and well balanced promotion.

MATERIALS AND METHOD OF THE STUDY:

Here the present study was conducted on the materials comprised on school attending children belonging 6-13 age groups from class I standard to class VIII standard in the two adjoining blocks of Ramnagar, Purba Medinipur district, West Bengal, India. 736 children as sample between 6-13 years of age were found around fifteen primary and upper primary government aided schools where as Right to food for children, the MDMS was functional and were examined through anthropometric devices. Total sample have been divided equally from Class I to class VIII standard and also equally have been divided between two sexes.

The data were collected from both the primary and secondary sources. The field study was based on the interviewing and examining the children with the help of concerned class teacher. Primary data were collected by framing pre-structured questionnaire. School data on weekly menu, number of cooks etc. were collected from the headmasters. Care was taken to ask questions in a non-suggestive manner, and whenever possible, the accuracy of responses was checked by asking the same question repeatedly and comparing them with pre- observation. The information regarding the Mid Day Meal Scheme was also obtained through discussions with the officials of the school inspectors of concerned blocks.

This study also contains secondary data. The secondary data is collected through reputed journals, books, internet, periodicals, government reports, working papers, Department of food and public Distribution, etc. Relevant secondary data like revised guidelines for Mid Day Meal Scheme, and office orders and reports, etc. were collected from the Official site of the Mid Day Meal Scheme.

First hand data on age, sex, height and weight were collected through structured questionnaire following interview and examination. Children's age was recorded as reported by school office. Height and weight were recorded through the means of a measuring tape and weighing scale respectively. Here, also BMI for age as a measure of Body Mass Index has been calculated.

Anthropometric Measurements -

Anthropometry is the single most universally applicable, inexpensive, and non-invasive method available to assess the size, proportion and composition of human body (WHO, 1995). To do the anthropometric measurement, four variables need to be collected: age, weight, height and gender. Height and weight of each child was measured by means of a measuring tape and weighing scale respectively. Here, also BMI for age as a measure of Body Mass Index has been calculated. It is calculated dividing the weight in kilograms (kg), by the height squared (2) in meters (m). Low BMI indicates the low weight of the children. In this study, nutritional state indicators used are Body Mass Indices (BMI) for age, weight for age, height for age.

The study design was descriptive, statistical and cross sectional type. To assess the nutritional status of the children, age and sex specific mean height, weight and BMI of the children were compared with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) standards, 1990. Below mentioned table shows the standard ICMR height and weight of per age and per sex.

ICMR Standard Height / Weight Chart

Table – 3: Height and weight of boys at 6-13 ages

AGE	WEIGHT (kg)	HEIGHT (cm)
6years	20.7	116.1
7 years	22.9	121.7
8 years	25.3	127.0
9 years	28.1	132.2
10 years	31.4	137.5
11 years	32.2	140.0
12 years	37.0	147.0
13 years	40.9	153.0

Table – 4: Height and weight of girls at 6-13 ages

AGE	WEIGHT (kg)	HEIGHT (cm)
6years	19.5	114.6
7 years	21.8	120.6
8 years	24.8	126.4
9 years	28.5	132.2
10 years	32.5	138.3
11 years	33.7	142.0
12 years	38.7	148.0
13 years	44.0	150.0

(Source: Nutrient Requirements and Recommended Dietary Allowances for Indians, I.C.M.R., 1990).

Both descriptive and inferential statistics is being employed in analyzing the data gathered for this study. Here, for detail analysis, single and bivariate table has been made on the basis of physical measurements according to age and sex wise.

FINDINGS:

MDMS has been converted as right to food for children on that premise where nutrition for health and education are interconnected. In 2015, MDMS is accepted as Right to Food for children under Food Security Act 2013. Now the findings try to analyse how far MDMs may prove the promise to minimise the children’s malnutrition status. The impacts of this scheme on the school attended children in rural set up from the right to food perspectives for children are being discussed.

v Age and Sex Wise Children’s Height, Weight and BMI -

The present study was conducted on 736 school attending children where boys’ and girls’ ratio are same. From every age group, the boys and girls are taken equally and the number is 46. The variables i.e., weight, height and BMI on their age and sex wise are being summarised in the following single table. These variables are being categorised as taller, under and low of height, weight and calculated BMI as compared to ICMR standard, respectively. In comparison to ICMR standard, the deficit measured in the weight for age corresponds to the biological state of being underweight and simultaneously the measured value of height is taller for age and deficit is being measured in the calculated BMI, i.e. the BMI is low. Because, the field data results that the height of child is taller than the ICMR standard, weight is under than the standard and therefore calculated BMI is low than the standard in every age group irrespective of sex and data are being exhibited in percentage through drawing single table.

Table – 6: Comparison of mean height, weight and BMI of school boys with ICMR standard on the basis of age Boys

AGE	HEIGHT			WEIGHT			BMI
AGE	Mean	ICMR Standard	Difference	Mean	ICMR Standard	Difference	Mean	ICMR Standard	Difference
6	1.22	1.161	0.059(+)	17.93	20.7	2.77 (-)	11.87	15.33	3.46 (-)
7	1.24	1.217	0.023(+)	18.94	22.9	3.96 (-)	11.95	15.68	3.73 (-)
8	1.35	1.27	0.08 (+)	21.25	25.3	4.05 (-)	10.61	15.71	5.1 (-)
9	1.38	1.322	0.058(+)	22	28.1	6.1 (-)	12.32	16.15	3.83 (-)
10	1.41	1.375	0.035(+)	23.10	31.4	8.3 (-)	12.79	16.70	3.91 (-)
11	1.49	1.40	0.09 (+)	23.89	32.2	8.31 (-)	13.10	16.43	3.33 (-)
12	2.13	1.47	0.66 (+)	24	37	13 (-)	14	17.13	3.13 (-)
13	2.74	1.53	1.21 (+)	24.83	40.9	16.07 (-)	15.13	17.48	2.35 (-)

(Source : Field data and compiled by the author); (+ indicates taller/over than ICMR standard, - indicates shorter/under than ICMR standard)

Table – 7: Comparison of mean height, weight and BMI of school Girls with ICMR standard on the basis of age Girls

AGE	HEIGHT			WEIGHT			BMI
AGE	Mean	ICMR Standard	Difference	Mean	ICMR Standard	Difference	Mean	ICMR Standard	Difference
6	1.213	1.146	0.067 (+)	18.43	19.5	1.07 (-)	11.83	14.84	3.01 (-)
7	1.29	1.206	0.084 (+)	18.06	21.8	3.74 (-)	10.83	14.93	4.1 (-)
8	1.33	1.264	0.066 (+)	20.81	24.8	3.99 (-)	11.79	15.6	3.81 (-)
9	1.43	1.322	0.108 (+)	23	28.5	5.5 (-)	11.35	16.38	5.03 (-)
10	1.51	1.385	0.125 (+)	23.69	32.5	8.81 (-)	12.10	17.11	5.01 (-)
11	1.62	1.42	0.2 (+)	24.11	33.7	9.59 (-)	12.89	16.68	3.79 (-)
12	1.73	1.48	0.25 (+)	25	38.7	13.7 (-)	13.10	17.67	4.57 (-)
13	2.14	1.50	0.64 (+)	26.39	44	17.61(-)	14.12	18.33	4.21 (-)

(Source : Field data and compiled by the author); (+ indicates taller/over than ICMR standard, - indicates shorter/under than ICMR standard)

In calculating BMI, the results are showing the same as weight chart due severe deficit at weight as compared to ICMR standard. In the BMI chart, Muslim boys i.e., 90.22 percent are seen as maximum low, after the other backward Hindu community boys i.e., 88.04 percent, next the Scheduled caste category i.e., 81.52 percent and then general community i.e., 80.44 percent are belonging to low category.

Here, in girls section, Muslim girls are severely in low BMI i.e., 96.44 percent, next 90.22 percent of other backward Hindu girls, just after 88.04 percent of general community girls and lastly 83.69 percent of SC girls are belonging in low BMI.

The pattern of gain in height was more among girls but boys had gained more weight in comparison to girls. The study shows that the mean height of both boys and girls are higher than ICMR standard. Statistically, mean height is higher and mean weight and calculated BMI are seen as under and low respectively than ICMR standard value in the present study. So, they are not suffered in chronic malnutrition. In another side, the mean weight of both boys and girls are much lower than ICMR standard. So, it is being claimed that side by side the child are suffered from acute malnutrition and it can be claimed that their malnutrition can be overcome through conscious and humanitarian efforts.

CONCLUSION:

The MDMS as right to food have positive, protective effects, particularly for growing children in rural scenario. In the holistic manner, it helps in protecting children from classroom hunger, addressing malnutrition. As per findings of this study, the sample children are suffering in under-nutrition which is not chronic due to the prevalence of taller height in comparison to ICMR standard. But the West Bengal rural scenario is different according to measuring the height of the children. Because, the famous economist, Jean Dreze (2012) told that in West Bengal, it is a great misery to say that rate of low height children is 69 percent, which is highest in our country. For that, the findings of this study are praiseworthy. Due to severe deficit of weight of the children in comparison to ICMR, children are in acute under-nutrition which may be overcome through the short term planned efforts. Statistically the mean weight and calculated BMI of the children are lower than ICMR standard. The results clearly indicate that the prevalence of severe underweight is much higher among school going children. The findings of present study indicate that malnutrition of children was mainly due to recent causes. Therefore, this malnutrition must be overcome through immediate calculative steps. The prevalence of under nutrition in this study is in the category of not so high. Underweight is used as a composite indicator to reflect both acute under nutrition and lower height is an indicator of chronic or long-term nutritional deficiency and/or disease or illness.

In the implementation of MDMs, this scheme in rural scenario faces certain constraints. As per school children’s report, the menu quality is monotonous. Also concerned teachers comment that it is difficult to provide proper nutritious meal as provided for per children with per head allocation due to hike of market price. There is also the lack of regular training and skill up gradation for all the staffs for proper handling of all these things related to it, i.e., time management, latest information, managing the expenses, proper hygiene, need based collaboration etc. especially to disseminate messages of health and nutrition.

Policy Implications

There is a great need to focus the attention of implementing agencies on the better execution of MDMS where right to food for the children as one of the main indicators of development and as a precondition for the socioeconomic advancement of societies in the long term.

1. Periodic monitoring and evaluation of the scheme is necessary.

2. Fruits and other nutritious food should be included in the food menu to overcome malnutrition among children.

3. Inter-sectoral coordination is needed between various ministries of government such as Ministry of Women and Child Health, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Finance etc.

4. Implementing agencies should be encouraged to develop new products and reformulate existing products so that, they meet nutritional standards based on the Dietary Guidelines and must be appealing to the children.

5. Department of Education should collaborate with states to increase the availability and consistency of nutrition education in schools.

6. Students should encourage engaging at school gardens to educate them about healthy eating.

7. Scarcity of funds could be resolved by sharing the burden with corporate world. As the Corporate Social responsibility, they could share apart of financial burden and help in monitoring as well the execution of the MDMS in a desired manner.

8. To overcome malnutrition, routine medical check up is necessary. It must strive to ensure healthy environment in schools, environmental sanitation and provision of safe drinking water.

9. To strengthen scheme, the internal controls as well as the inspection and monitoring mechanism is needed at all levels. Accountability for maintenance of records at various levels should be prescribed and monitored.

10. Teachers should become enthusiastic participants rather than as bystanders.

11. Comprehensive, periodical and systematic orientation is mandatory to sensitize all stakeholders including the policy makers, implementers, teachers, central level officials and community people to make them understand this scheme well. This would help them to become more efficient and be active partners in the programme that will certainly enhance MDMS performance.

As right to food for children, MDMS are indeed a good attempt to combat malnutrition among school-age children but more needs to be done. Addressing acute malnutrition, supporting and protecting nutrition in emergencies need appropriate policy development, coordination, monitoring, evaluation and capacity development. These functions should go hand in hand with well balanced programming, and are necessary for a longer term and have more sustained impact on nutrition.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:

This article is the part of the Minor Research Project. Here, the author is indebted to the University Grants Commission for sanctioning and funding this project.

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12. United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, (1999). General Comment 12, The Right to Adequate Food, E/C.12/1999/5, 12 May.

13. WHO, (1995). Physical Status - The Use and Interpretation of Anthropometry. WHO Technical Report Series, 854, Geneva.

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Received on 27.07.2017 Modified on 11.08.2017

Int. J. Ad. Social Sciences. 2017; 5(3):155-164.

AGE	SEX	HEIGHT (Percentage) (Taller than ICMR)	WEIGHT (Percentage) (Under than ICMR)	BMI (Percentage) (Low than ICMR)
6	BOYS	71.74	60.87	54.35
6	GIRLS	58.69	78.26	63.05
7	BOYS	84.78	54.35	76.09
7	GIRLS	86.95	69.56	93.48
8	BOYS	47.83	73.91	91.30
8	GIRLS	65.22	69.56	78.26
9	BOYS	52.17	86.96	91.30
9	GIRLS	50.00	91.30	95.65
10	BOYS	71.74	91.30	93.47
10	GIRLS	69.56	97.82	51.69
11	BOYS	69.57	82.61	89.13
11	GIRLS	65.22	73.91	93.48
12	BOYS	93.48	95.65	93.48
12	GIRLS	91.31	100	97.82
13	BOYS	84.78	86.96	91.31
13	GIRLS	82.61	93.48	95.65

CATEGORY	BOYS in (Percentage)			Total	GIRLS in (Percentage)			Total	Grand Total
CATEGORY	Under	Over	Proper	Total	under	over	proper		Grand Total
GEN	71 77.18	12 13.04	9 9.78	92	77 83.69	13 14.13	2 2.18	92	184
SC	73 79.35	13 14.13	6 6.52	92	76 82.61	14 15.21	2 2.18	92	184
OBC (Hindu)	69 75	13 14.13	10 10.87	92	69 75	16 17.39	7 7.61	92	184
OBC (Muslim)	78 84.78	13 14.13	01 1.09	92	88 95.65	0	4 4.35	92	184
TOTAL	291 79.08	51 13.86	26 7.06	368	310 84.24	43 11.68	15 4.08	368	736

CATEGORY	BOYS in %			Total	GIRLS in %			Total	GrandTotal
CATEGORY	Shorter	Taller	Proper	Total	Shorter	Taller	Proper	Total	GrandTotal
GEN	9 9.78	62 67.39	21 22.83	92	17 18.48	63 68.48	12 13.04	92	184
SC	10 10.87	74 80.43	8 8.7	92	13 14.13	71 77.17	8 8.7	92	184
OBC (Hindu)	20 21.74	64 69.57	8 8.69	92	13 14.13	62 67.39	17 18.48	92	184
OBC (Muslim)	19 20.65	65 70.65	8 8.7	92	26 28.26	66 71.44	0	92	184
TOTAL	58 15.76	265 72.01	45 12.23	368	69 18.75	262 71.20	37 10.05	368	736

CATEGORY	BOYS in Percentage			Total	GIRLS in Percentage			Total	Grand Total
CATEGORY	Low	High	proper		Low	High	proper	Total	Grand Total
GEN	74 80.44	12 13.04	6 6.52	92	81 88.04	9 9.78	2 2.18	92	184
SC	75 81.52	10 10.87	7 7.61	92	77 83.69	11 11.96	4 4.35	92	184
OBC (Hindu)	81 88.04	9 9.78	2 2.18	92	83 90.22	8 8.69	1 1.09	92	184
OBC (Muslim)	83 90.22	4 4.35	5 5.43	92	89 96.44	3 3.26	0	92	184
TOTAL	313 85.05	35 9.51	20 5.44	368	330 89.68	31 8.42	7 1.90	368	736