Centre begins allocation of pulses for mid-day meal

The Centre has initiated process for allocation of pulses from its buffer stock for midday meal (MDM) in schools across the country.

The Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry has called for a detailed annual demand and estimates from each of the state governments and the Union Territory (UT) administrations for the supply.

The pulses will be supplied by the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd (NAFED) from the Department of Consumer Affairs (DoCA) central buffer stock of 19.20 tones for the mid-day meal scheme.

As the NAFED's supply of the pulses will come "in kind," the HRD Ministry will have to deduct the cost of the pulses from the funds allocated to the states on the head of "cooking cost" for the purchase of various pulses under the mid-day meal scheme.

"Due to the supply of pulses in kind, cost of pulses will need to be deducted from the cooking cost. How do you propose to manage the rest of the components of the cooking cost as per norms?" the Ministry has also asked the States and UT administrations.

All the state Government and UT administration have also been asked to tell the ministry as to how would they like to get supply of the pulses from the central buffer stock of the DoCA.

"They have choose from any of the three options-lift the pulses from the NAFED godowns, ask NAFED to keep pulses at FCI godowns along with the food grains (meant for mid-day meal) or request the NAFED to deliver pulses at the state civil supplies corporation godowns," a Ministry official said.

As the lifting of the pulses would involve additional spending, the state government and the UT administrations have been asked to tell the ministry as to how they would meet the "additional cost" to be incurred on logistics and transportation.

At present, the states directly procure the pulses for mid-day meal utilising the funds allocated on the head of "cooking cost" under the scheme.

The ministry has begun reaching out to the states for supply of the pulses from the central buffer stock as it has to officially apprise the DoCA with the total requirement of supply by February 9.

"The DoCA has asked the HRD Ministry to also undertake necessary amendments in the mid-day meal scheme and guidelines to ensure compliance with the Cabinet's decision (on supply of pulses from the buffer stock) by February 9 to ensure a seamless supply of the pulses for mid-day meal across the country," a ministry official said.

The Ministry has asked the states to hold a consultations with the NAFED officials in this regard, the official added.