Madhyan Bhojan Yojana: Madhyan Bhojan Yojana has been launched by the government to provide free mid-day meal to the children of classes 1 to 8 with the support of the Government of India and the Government of Gujarat. In which a grant is allocated for food expenses in this scheme with the help of Central Government and Gujarat Government.

In our state of Gujarat, midday meal scheme was started in the year 1984. The cost of Mid Day Meal Scheme is borne by the State Government and the Central Government, in which 75% of the total cost of the scheme is borne by the Central Government and 25% by the State Government. Thus, free meals are provided to the students of government primary schools.

Benefits under Madhyan Bhojan Yojana:
Free meals are provided to children of classes 1 to 8 of all government primary schools in the state.

The benefit of this scheme is given according to the group of students in the age group of class-1 to 4 and class-5 to 8.

Adequate attention is given under this scheme to ensure that the children of urban as well as rural areas get nutritious food along with education.
For the children of class 1 to 5, 80 grams of grains, 50 grams of vegetables per day, and incidental expenses for cooking are paid by the government to ensure that the children get nutritious food.

Children are given sweets in the form of sweets once a week on Mondays. Also pulses are given four times a week.

Arrangements are made in the school itself so that children can have lunch during recess during school hours. So that the children can be fed in the ongoing school. That is why this scheme has been named as “Madhyahan Bhojan Yojana”.

Sarkarshree has set up mid-day meal centers as per the convenience of schools and nearby schools for the purpose of preparing meals in schools and serving them to children. In this scheme, the materials, grains, cooking utensils, fuel etc. provided by the government are preserved.
At each of these midday meal centers, midday meal center managers and cooks are recruited by the government on contract basis through honorarium.
Often the managers and cooks recruited in this way are from the village or locality and are determined to prepare and provide good food for the children in accordance with the local conditions.
These administrators get monthly Rs. 1400/- as an honorarium and a monthly allowance of Rs. 1200/- as per the number of school children Honorary salary is paid by Sarkarshree.

The responsibility of the management of the midday meal scheme running in the state has been determined by the Mamlatdarshree. So, the Mamlatdarshree of the concerned taluk has decided the responsibility of seeing that the midday meal center in his taluk runs properly.
Mamalatdarshree estimates the food grains and other materials required for the whole month by taking into account the average number of children who eat at this midday meal center every month.

According to this estimate the required permit for the quantity of grain required for that center for the month is issued by the Mamlatdarshree. According to the permit, the quantity of grain is obtained from the government warehouse by the central administrator. A stock register is to be maintained by that administrator regarding this grain. In which the quantity of grains consumed daily and the final stock details have to be maintained.
Apart from this, advance amount is given by Mamlatdarshree for expenses incurred for cooking food like vegetables, pepper, spices, fuel, cooking oil, other cooking materials.
Out of this advance amount, the expenses incurred in running the mid-day meal center for the entire month are to be met. For this, taking into account the instructions issued by the Government from time to time, taking into account the number of children and spending within the daily limit, the vouchers of the expenditure incurred at the end of the month should be presented to the Mamlatdar.

A certificate is given by the principal of that school about the number of children taking meals daily. Also the quality of food served in the center is checked by the school teachers. So that the food provided to the children is verified daily to be clean and nutritious.

Mamalatdarshree during his tour program visits the midday meal scheme centers and checks the quality of food, the number of children taking meals, the regularity of the manager and the cook etc.
Apart from this, the school level S.M.C. A committee (School Management Committee) also checks the quality of food served to the children.
Thus, in all the primary schools of the Gujarat government, with the joint effort of the state government and the central government, a wonderful scheme has been implemented to ensure that children get free, nutritious, healthy meals at school during school hours. In which around one crore children are getting food under this scheme every day across the state. In which the children of our area also get school meals everyday.