Inflation eats away nutrition from MDM plate in Odisha

The hike notwithstanding, the approved cost still appears a mismatch given the sharp rise in prices of every ingredient needed to put a decent meal on the school children’s plates and fuels a debate.
Post revision, the spending per meal stands at Rs 7.64 for primary and Rs 10.94 for upper primary students.
Post revision, the spending per meal stands at Rs 7.64 for primary and Rs 10.94 for upper primary students.
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7 min read

In November last, the Odisha government injected an additional Rs 1 to cover the material cost of mid-day meals served to students across primary and upper primary grades. Next month, the Centre followed suit and effected a hike.

In MDM, the material cost accounts for purchase of oil, vegetables, eggs, pulses, fuel (wood in a majority of schools) as well as spices. Post revision, the spending per meal stands at Rs 7.64 for primary and Rs 10.94 for upper primary students.

This revision came after a gap of two years to help schools absorb the shock of rising prices of essential commodities and was lauded by teachers and principals who implement the scheme. The hike notwithstanding, the approved cost still appears a mismatch given the sharp rise in prices of every ingredient needed to put a decent meal on the school children’s plates and fuels a debate.

Supplementing Nutrition

PM-POSHAN aims to supplement nutritional needs of school-going children till Class VIII (age 6 to 13). The scheme provides nutritional support through MDM under the National Food Security Act, 2013. The Centre has fixed the nutritional norm for primary school students at 450 kcal and 12 gram of protein and for upper primary level, it is 700 kcal and 20 gram of protein.

The MDM menu offers a simple plate. Children are served rice with ‘dalma’ on Mondays and Thursdays, soya bean curry is offered on Tuesdays and Fridays while Wednesdays and Saturdays have egg curry.

The PM-POSHAN guidelines envisage use of 100 gram food grains, 20 gram pulses, 50 gram vegetables and 5 gram oil per meal per child in primary and 150 gram food grains, 30 gram pulses, 75 gram vegetables and 7.5 gram oil to be used per child at upper primary stage.

As per the Ministry of Education, mid-day meals were provided to 41.24 lakh students (24.80 lakh in primary level and 16.43 lakh at upper primary level) in 2023-24. The number could be in the region of 43 lakh, as per state government records.

Self-help groups (SHGs) and school management committees (SMCs) manage the MDM under the guidance of school teachers and principals in a majority of schools whereas centralized kitchens have been engaged for providing meals to 3.22 lakh students in 3,081 schools in eight districts.

The scheme is implemented on a cost sharing basis of 60:40 between the Centre and the State. The Centre contributes Rs 3.71 and state adds Rs 3.93 to serve meals to a primary student. Likewise, for an upper primary student, Centre contributes Rs 5.57 and the state,Rs 5.37. The Centre provides the food grains (rice) while the state has to procure the remaining food materials for the meals.

Inflation & Cost Worry

The ingredients are available but at some cost. With Odisha logging an inflation rate higher compared to many other states, the quality of cooked food and in turn, nutritional value, has become increasingly difficult to manage.

In November last year, the rate of inflation in Odisha was 6.78 pc, third highest in the country after Chhattisgarh and Bihar, as per Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. The same month, the national inflation rate stood at 5.48 pc. This is when the state government revised the material cost of MDM by Rs 1 (across grades). In December, Centre further increased it by 74 paise for primary and Rs 1.12 for upper primary grades. That month, the inflation in the state was 6.96 pc, fourth highest in the country after Manipur, Chhattisgarh and Bihar.

The food inflation has directly impacted all the items the MDM plate needs. Currently, a piece of egg retails at Rs 7.50; at wholesale points it costs Rs 6.50-Rs 6.70. School teachers say they procure eggs from wholesale points if the enrollment in school is higher. Similarly, prices of vegetables have increased by an average of 30 pc in the one year including potato, the most commonly used item which sells at Rs 35 to Rs 40 per kg. According to general secretary of Byabasayi Mahasangha Sudhakar Panda, in the last two years, the cost of edible oil has increased by 45 pc in the state and ‘dal’ is costlier by 40 pc to 50 pc.

That’s not all. The inflation in rural areas of the state where most of the public schools are located is higher than the urban areas, points out Amarendra Das, secretary of Odisha Economic Association.

The Statistics and Programme Implementation Ministry’s CPI report for December, 2024, shows inflation rate in rural Odisha touched 7.79 pc in December 2024 compared to 4.75 pc in urban areas. “The reason is lack of production. Starting from vegetables to eggs and dal, rural areas now procure everything from urban markets. This entails huge transportation costs. Since vegetables growing is labour-intensive and fraught with hazards of weather, farmers are increasingly shifting to paddy which ensures them a minimum support price,” Das added.

Fuel Expenses

Apart from eggs, dal and oil, firewood cost has emerged as a major pressure point, particularly for schools in the rural areas. Though the state government has provided stoves and LPG (domestic) connections to some schools, a majority depends on firewood for cooking the meals.

The state government introduced the use of LPG for preparation of mid-day meals almost a decade back. Official sources said there is a standing instruction by the government to the schools to use domestic LPG cylinders in cooking. Each school has to secure a connection and 12 subsidised refills from local LPG agencies. The cost of refill has to be, however, borne from the MDM material cost. Depending on the expenses incurred towards fuel, the schools choose between cooking gas and firewood, whichever is available cheaper.

“A domestic LPG cylinder does not last beyond two or three days considering the amount of food cooked. Hence, firewood is an easy option. But that isn’t the case anymore,” said a teacher, requesting anonymity. Now, firewood is neither easily available nor affordable. In fact, firewood cost is also the reason why providing MDM in schools having low enrolment is difficult, she points out.

A quintal of firewood costs on an average Rs 660. Cooking MDM for 100 students requires at least 25 kg to 30 kg of firewood every day, said Rukmani Panda, a member of All Odisha Pachika Mahasangha, the body of MDM cooks.

In the revised material cost, the state government provided Rs 1 for firewood for primary and Rs 1.50 for upper primary, per student. So, a school with 100 primary students gets Rs 100 towards firewood and Rs 150 for as many upper primary students. “However, the expense towards firewood is anywhere between Rs 150 and Rs 200. The problem worsens in case of schools having less than 100 students because their consumption of firewood is the same as that of a school with higher enrolment whereas the funds allocation is low,” Panda said.

Impact on Nutrition

Educators feel the MDM material cost hike is a major respite as it makes the scheme manageable to some extent now. But does that guarantee nutrition? No, replies secretary of All Utkal Primary Teachers’ Federation Charulata Mohapatra. “Meeting MDM cost was a struggle till the government revised it last month. Now, we can at least manage the cost. But expecting this to help provide nutritious meals to children is far-fetched,” she said.

To shield rising costs, schools are forced to opt for a cheaper variety of lentils, soya beans, small sized eggs and skip nutritious vegetables to manage the budget. On Mondays and Thursdays, the ‘dalma’ is runny with stray bits of vegetables. The soya chunk and egg curries on the other days are no better either.

This does not augur well when it comes to meeting the nutritional norms of MDM. Former deputy director of National Institute of Nutrition (ICMR-NIN) Dr Veena Shatrugna feels Odisha’s MDM menu is grossly inadequate as far as nutrition is concerned. While 100 gram of rice for primary and 150 gram for upper primary supplies plain calories, it is too much of cereal carbohydrate for children. “The volume of rice is too bulky for the small stomach sizes. Besides, soybeans should be completely removed from the meals as they are allergogenic and do not offer good protein,” she said.

Dr Shatrugna suggests meal should have vegetables and more eggs, milk and local nuts like sesame, groundnuts to meet protein and calcium needs. Besides, the allocation of 20 gram and 30 gram of dal for primary and upper primary students respectively, is not sufficient protein for these age groups of students.

While the quantity of rice can be reduced, oil needs a higher dose. A child’s 40 pc energy requirement comes from oil which translates to about 10-15 gram of oil in this meal. Five gram of oil is insufficient to meet the fat requirement of a child’s body, she said.

Samples of mid-day meals are collected from across the state and tested at the food safety laboratory in Bhubaneswar at regular intervals to ensure quality but no nutritional audit is conducted to check if the food meets the nutrition norms.

State nodal officer for PM-POSHAN Raghuram R Iyer said the recent hike in allocation was aimed at cushioning the MDM implementation cost amidst the high inflation scenario. “Besides, to improve the quality of mid-day meals in the state, a five-member committee of nutritionists and experts has been formed. The committee, which includes a scientist of ICMR-NIN, would suggest changes in the MDM menu, recipes to bring in more nutrition,” he said. The committee has met twice since November last year.

Way Forward

Right to Food activist Sameet Panda said improvement in the quality of MDM will need provisioning of more eggs, inclusion of fruits and milk. Earlier this month, Fisheries and Animal Resources Development minister Gokulananda Mallik announced the state government will add milk to the MDM menu under which each student will get 200 ml of milk fortified with vitamins A and D. The announcement, though, is yet to come from the School and Mass Education department which implements MDM.

On the other hand, members of All Utkal Primary Teachers’ Federation have been demanding an upward revision of the MDM ration. The demand includes raising the numbers of eggs from two to four, vegetables from 50 gram (primary) and 75 gram (upper primary) to 100 gram and 150 gram respectively and oil to 10 gram. Besides, they demand doubling of the MDM material cost to meet nutritional norms prescribed by the Centre. The body submitted a memorandum in this regard to the SME department some time back.

Hrudananda Dwivedi, former advisor of the federation said the government should look at the Aahar expenditure to find some lessons. While people pay Rs 5 for an Aahar meal, the actual cost is Rs 20 and the government extends a subsidy of Rs 15. “In the current set up, teachers are at the receiving end if there’s any anomaly in MDM. However, instead of blaming them, government should look into ways for improving the cost component,” he said.

Economist Das agrees. He said the MDM cost should actually be revised twice a year as per the consumer price index. Citing the example of DA allowance hike for government employees, he said the government should look at price rise of essential commodities and improve the allocation accordingly.

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