Boom Live (Indian) published an article stating that the veto comes months after the National Family Health Survey reported an alarming drop in the nutrition levels of children.
The government has dropped the breakfast at school scheme and the extension of mid-day meal schemes despite the National Education Policy’s findings that children are unable to learn optimally when they are undernourished or unwell. A recent study by IFPRI has brought to light the long-term consequences of the mid-day meal scheme. A statement released by IFPRI, Harold Alderman, co-author of the study, had said that the findings from previous evaluations of India’s MDM scheme have “shown a positive association with beneficiaries’ school attendance, learning achievement, hunger and protein-energy malnutrition, and resilience to health shocks such as drought—all of which may have carryover benefits to children born to mothers who participated in the program.” The study had also noted that the effects of the MDMS on health were multi-generational; children born to young women who had received school meals in 2004 were less likely to be stunted.