Mid Day Meals and Food Security among Children: Assuring Nutritional Security of Tamil Nadu

Background/Objectives: MDM Programme has opened a new initiative to safeguard children from hunger and to curtail drop-out rate and malnutrition. The study analyse the proposal and progress of MDM scheme in Tamil Nadu.

Methods/Statistical analysis: The study is based on secondary data. The data has been collected from the website of Ministry of Human Resource Development.

Findings: Tamil Nadu is the pioneering state to implementing a feeding programme to children outside the home. In 2001-02, the nutritious meal scheme for school children aged 5 to 15 years covered 6.46 million beneficiaries in Tamilnadu. But in 2010-11, there were 42, 824 meal centres covering 5.77 million children. The benefits of MDM are not limited to enrolments only. It has significant impact on class room activities, intellectual capacity and social development. Tamil Nadu has also covered high school students under the mid-day meal scheme. The proposal of the scheme is capable of curving malnutrion and ensuring food security of children. The contribution of the state is outstanding and coverage of the scheme across the state is expanding year by year.

Application/Improvements: A comprehensive and elaborate mechanism for monitoring and supervision of the MDM Scheme is essential for complete eradication of malnutrition and an emphasis must given for facilitating safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene facilities within the school premises.