Centre questions Kerala Govt’s claim nearly 100% benefited from midday meals
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New Delhi: The Central government has questioned the Kerala government’s claim of nearly all children enrolled in primary and upper primary schools across 14 districts having availed the midday meals on a daily basis in 2022-23.
Calling the claim “improbable”, the Centre has announced the formation of a joint team comprising officials from the Ministry of Education and the Kerala government to investigate the alleged exaggerated claims.
During a recent meeting of the Programme Approval Board (PAB) of PM Poshan, the ministry's senior officials and representatives from Kerala, including Union School Education Secretary Sanjay Kumar and Kerala General Education Department Principal Secretary Rani George, raised doubts about the state's assertion that nearly 100% of enrolled children in primary and upper primary schools across 14 districts received meals daily in the 2022-23 academic year.
According to the meeting's minutes, the central officials found it highly unlikely that all enrolled students in primary (class 1-5) and upper primary (6-8) schools in the mentioned districts availed of meals on every working day.
As an immediate step, the state government has been instructed to verify the authenticity of the data and provide an Action Taken Report by July. Additionally, a joint team of officials from both the central and state governments will conduct a thorough on-site assessment to verify the reported coverage by cross-referencing data from various levels such as schools, blocks, and districts.
The minutes revealed that the Kerala government claimed that out of the 16,91,216 children enrolled in primary schools (government and government-aided), 16,69,135 (99%) availed of midday meals on all working days. Similarly, in upper primary grades, the corresponding figures were 11,45,178 and 10,85,129 (95%). However, central officials found these numbers highly questionable.
The formation of the joint team was prompted by a similar case in West Bengal, where the state government also claimed nearly 100% coverage under the midday meal scheme. A subsequent joint review team discovered alleged inflation of numbers and possible fund diversion. The West Bengal government, however, contested these allegations.
The midday meal scheme, now called PM Poshan, is a government initiative where the costs are shared between the Union government and the states/UTs, with a higher ratio for the northeastern states, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand.
