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The scheme was launched in the state from September 1, 2004. However as per the report of Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India, it has failed to achieve the desired results with enrolment in schools having decreased for the last four years in the state.
As per the CAG report the main objective of the scheme was to increase the enrolment of students at the primary level, however despite the increase in attendance rate in schools, the enrolment of students decreased from 10,01,081 students in 2005-06 to 9,75,954 students in 2006-07 and further declined to 9,32,972 students in 2007-08. As per the CAG the decrease in the enrolment ranged between 6-32 per cent.
While the implementation of the scheme has resulted in the increase in the rate of attendance of students in schools, the actual enrolment has declined from 2004-08 in the schools in the state after the launch of the scheme.
The CAG report points out that the department of school education which is the nodal agency for the implementation of the scheme has not prepared an annual comprehensive work plan and budget in the execution of the mid day meal scheme in the state. The annual work plan and budget should contain the details of management structure, implementation process and the monitoring process for the implementation of the programme.
In fact the CAG report also points out that the enrolment figures which were communicated to the central government were far in excess of the actual enrolment during 2004-07. However the details of the actual number of children covered and the food grains lifted during 2004-05 under the programme launched with an initial coverage of one lakh children were not available with the school education department. However for all other years it was seen that an excess allocation of 2,234 metric tons of food grains was made by the government of India after the figures were inflated.
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