One of the objectives of the Scheme is to increase the enrolment of students. Figure 1 presents the combined enrolment in primary and upper primary classes in schools that provide MDM.

Figure 1: Number of Students Enrolled for MM

• In contrast to the scheme’s objective, the number of students enrolled seen a decline in Durg district during the four-year period analysed. However, the state also reported a decline in the enrolment of students during this period.
• The overall decline of enrolment is reported to be 8 %.  Enrolment declined more in the upper primary section (12%) compared to primary classes (5%).
• While a part of the decrease in 2020-21 was on account of the Covid-19 pandemic, the decline had started even before that.
• Most educationists were of the view that in many government schools, owing to a shortage of study materials, engagement of teachers in other work, as well as for other reasons, parents enroll their children in private schools.
• Due to decline in enrolment many schools merged with other schools or are closed by authorities as it is not economically viable to run them.

Each year, a Project Approval Board (PAB) approves the number of students who are likely to avail of the MDM scheme in institutions that serve these meals. Generally, of the enrolled students, some do not opt for MDM for various reasons. The following figure shows the relationship among the total enrolment in the schools, the number of students approved for MDM, and the number of students who availed of the benefit of MDM scheme.

 Figure 2: No of students enrolled, approved and availing of MDM

• On average, 92.5% of the enrolled students were approved for MDM. The lowest approval level was in 2017-18 (88%). Thereafter, there was a continuous increase to 98% in 2020-21.
• At the state level, on average, 94.4% of students were cleared for the MDM scheme, with the lowest approval level in 2018-19 and the highest in 2020-21.
• The number of students who availed of the scheme as a percentage of approvals is better in the district as compared to the state.

Figure 3 presents information on the difference between the number of days approved for MDM and number of days on which meals were served at the state and district levels. The number of days was estimated by averaging the primary and upper primary days for both variables. 

Figure 3: Number of working days: approved and meals served (In days)

• The number of days approved and number of days on which MDM was served saw little difference for the years from 2017-18 to 2019-20. 
• However, for 2020-21, there was no difference between days approved and meals served because it was during the Covid period, and instead of meals at schools, students received direct benefit transfers (DBT). 

There are several components of MDM Scheme and each component of the Scheme has its own budget to deliver the required services. These components are:

1. Food grain cost which is paid to the Food Corporation of India (FCI)
2. Cooking cost, which includes expenditure on all items used to prepare food, except food grains.
3. Honorarium to cooks-cum-helpers cost (HCC)
4. Transportation cost of food grains
5. Management, monitoring and evaluation (MME)
6. Construction of kitchens
7. Procurement and replacement of kitchen equipment

Of these, the first four are regular while the last two are irregular and more need-based. Data on MME is available at the state level, not at the district level. Because of these reasons, only the first four components have been analysed in this fact sheet. In all of the subsequent analyses, total funding available and total expenditure refers to the sum of these four components.
Figure 4 presents the trend of the total funds available as well as expenditure in the district of Durg.  

Figure 4: Trends in Funds Available and Expenditure for MDM in Durg (Rs lakh)

• Availability of funds has been fluctuating over the time. Between 2017-18 and 2020-21, there was an increment of 17%.
• Similarly, total expenditure shows an uneven trend. Over these four years, there was an increase of 25%.
• The extent of fund utilisation (total expenditure out of the funds available) for the district reported to be more than 85 % [except for the year 2018-19 (76 %)]. 

Figure 5 presents the per capita availability of funds and per capita expenditure for Durg district and Chhattisgarh under MDM Scheme. Per student expenditure has been calculated as total expenditure (Food grain + cooking + Honorarium to cook-cum-helpers (HCC) + Transportation) divided by the number of students who availed of MDM.  Per student funding availability has been calculated as the total available funds divided by the number of students approved for availing of MDM. 

Figure 5: per-student funds available / expenditure between the State and District (In Rs)

• Per student fund availability is higher in the state compared to the district, excluding the year 2018-19. Similarly, the per-student expenditure has always been higher in the state compared to the district. There is a marginal gap on both per student fund availability and expenditure between the district and state has been noticed over these four years. 

Figure 6 presents the distribution of total expenditure across the four components.

Figure 6: Component wise Distribution of Expenditure under MDM (%)

• The largest share of expenditure went towards cooking cost, which includes expenditure on all items required to prepare the food except cost for foodgrains. The cooking cost has ranged between 74-79%.
• The share of the transportation cost in expenditure increased by 1 percentage point whereas, the food grain cost has no change.
• The share of honorarium to cook-cum-helpers declined 17% in 2017-18 to 14% in 2020-21.

Food grains for cooking (rice in the case of Durg) comes from the Food Corporation of India (FCI). The following figure shows the trend of funding availability and expenditure on food grains component of MDM, which is the payment made to FCI.

Figure 7: Payment to FCI for Food Grains and Extent of Utilisation

• Except for the year 2020-21, the availability of funds for foodgrains component of MDM reported higher than the expenditure incurred by the district.
• The lowest utilisation of funding was in 2018-19, i.e., 78 % of the funding available was utilised and 22 % remained unspent by the district.
• However, the extent of utilisation of funds available under foodgrains component was more than 85 percent through out the period of analysis. 

Figure 8 shows the allocation and expenditure for cooking as an absolute amount, while figure 10 shows the utilisation rate for the district compared to the state.

Figure 8 Trends of Fund Utilisation under the Component- Cooking Cost (%)

• The gap between availability of funding and expenditure on cooking was substantial except for the year 2020-21.
• Almost the entire funding got utilised (99 percent) in 2020-21 at both the state as well as the district level due to direct benefit transfers (DBT) during the school closure amid the Covid-19 pandemic. 
• In 2018-19, 27 percent of the total available funding remained unspent in Durg, and 20 percent in Chhattisgarh.
• In 2017-18, 11 percent of total available funding remained unspent in Durg, and 7 percent in Chhattisgarh.

One CCH is required in a school with up to 25 students, two CCHs for schools with 26 to 100 students, and one CCH for every additional 100 students, according to the norm. For ten months, a CCH will receive an honoraria of Rs 1,000 each month. Figures 11 and 12 below show expenditure and availability of funds towards honoraria to cooks-cum-helpers and their utilisation at the state and district level.

Figure 9: Extent of Fund Utilisation under the Component- Honoraria for CCH (%)

• The funding available was almost the same in 2020-21 and 2017-18. In 2018-19, it increased substantially, as did expenditure. A similar pattern also reported in the number of CCHs engaged in the state and district both. 
• Utilisation for the state and district differed in 2017-18 and 2018-19, but was at the same level in 2019-20 and 2020-21. However, the utilisation rate was 89 % in both the years for the district.
• There was a significant surge in utilisation of funds available for honoraria to cooks-cum-helpers in 2019-20 in Durg District.

Figure 10 shows the share of the district in the state in terms of the number of institutions that serve MDM, number of students enrolled, total funds available and expenditure under MDM.

Figure 10: Share of Durg District in the State on various Parameters (%)

• The district has only 2.2 % of total institutions that severs MDM in the state, whereas the enrolment share in the district was 3.8%. This likely indicates that the average number of students in an institution is much higher at the district level than at the state level.
• The share of total students availed of MDM in the district was 3.6 % out of total number of students availed of MDM at the state. The ratio of funds available and expenditure reported were almost at par with the share of total number of students availed of MDM in the district.

Given the importance of the scheme in providing nutrition and helping in overall enrolment and hence in the education for students, data/information about the scheme should be readily available and accessible to the common masses. 
In the following table, a list of essential data points/information regarding MDM has been compiled. It will be useful to various stakeholders. The current level of information available has been evaluated for these indicators.
The data points /information regarding MDM have/has been taken from the Annual Work Plan and Budget (AWP&B) for the years from 2017-18 to 2020-21. These documents were accessed at https://pmposhan.education.gov.in/

Transparency and Accountability Parameters

Availability of Information and Comprehensiveness

• Information on funds available
  • Yes
• Information on funds utilized
  • Yes
• Information on number of students enrolled
  • Yes
• Information on number of students availing of MDM
  • Yes
• Information on number of meals served
  • Yes
• Gender-wise disaggregation of beneficiary data
  • No
• Caste-wise disaggregation of beneficiary data
  • yes
• Geographical granularity of the fiscal indicator
  • District wise
• Information on number of schools
  • Yes

Accessibility

• Language of availability of information
  • English only
• Compatibility on devices
  • Phone, tablet, laptop friendly

Timeliness

• How frequently are data updated
  • Real-Time

Relevance

• How relevant would users find it
  
  • The data available in the MDM website can be used by researchers, scholars and policy makers. While the information on the website is vast, further disaggregation of data based on gender can help understand the ways MDM affects education and the nutritional status of girl children.

Reliability

• Are the data reliable?
  • Relevant audit reports are not available on the MDM website, hence reliability on the data accuracy has remained an issue.

Accountability and Citizen’s Participation

• Availability of information on social audit
  • Social auditing is mandated for all districts. While the account for the number of schools covered, organisations/institutions conducting the audit and expenditure is available, the reports on the website are not up to date for all the states and years. 
• Availability of information on Grievance Redressal
  • Contact details to lodge complaints are listed on the website for every state. Details on the number of complaints, status of complaints and action taken are also available. States follow different mechanisms for grievance redressal.