Jaipur: Rajasthan's mid-day meal nutrition initiative, the Pannadhay Bal Gopal Yojana, is facing a severe supply crisis. Internal records show the state is dealing with a 58% deficit in skimmed milk powder supply under the said scheme, leaving thousands of students in approximately 65,000 government schools without guaranteed nutrition.
Milk powder supply shortage
The additional chief secretary of the education department, Rajesh Yadav, in his recent letter to the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairy, has expressed his displeasure over the short supply of the skimmed milk powder despite the demand raised by the schools well in time.
His letter clearly states that against the demand of 37,56,430 Kg of milk powder, only 15,73,815 Kg (41.90%) has been supplied to the school until the first week of August. As many as 17 districts out of 41 received no supply of the milk powder. This includes Bharatpur, the home district of CM Bhajan Lal Sharma, and several others.
“It is a matter of concern that even though more than three months elapsed since the allocation was made, the progress report indicates that the supply of the milk powder to many districts has not met the requisitioned demand," said the letter of Rajesh Yadav.
Concerns over old stock
The delayed supply of fresh powder has resulted in schools holding onto old stocks, causing food safety concerns.
Looking at the short supply, the education department has formed block-level committees to conduct school-wise verification of stock registers, student attendance records, manufacturing dates, and expiry dates of skimmed milk powder supplied to the schools.
Alleged diversion of supplies
The major reason for the short supply of milk powder is siphoning. Large quantities of milk powder meant for students are being siphoned off to the private mawa and sweet shops, where the subsidised milk powder is being used to make mawa and sweets.
The Rajasthan Cooperative Dairy Federation (RCDF), the agency responsible for supplying milk powder to schools, recently filed an FIR after nearly 3,000 kg of milk powder was allegedly diverted and sold in the open market. The alleged diversion came to light in the Samod area of Chomu in Jaipur district, prompting police to act on a tip-off. During a raid in Chithwadi village, officers intercepted a pickup truck carrying government-supplied milk powder and detained three suspects.
According to officials, the seized consignment was meant for distribution to students in government schools but had allegedly been diverted from the welfare scheme before reaching its intended beneficiaries.
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Scheme faces political heat
The FPJ tried to contact the MD of RCDF, Shruti Bharadwaj, to get the current status and other reasons behind the delay and short supply of skimmed milk powder under the scheme, but she didn't take the call.
The Pannadhay Bal Gopal Yojana is meant to benefit over 6.9 million primary and upper-primary students of some 65,000 government schools in Rajasthan. The scheme is part of the mid-day meal scheme under which the students are given 150-200 ml of hot milk made of skimmed milk powder every day.
The scheme was first launched by the Vasundhara Raje-led BJP government, which used to provide milk supplied by the RCDF. After the change of regime, the Ashok Gehlot government introduced skimmed milk powder in place of milk. The incumbent government continued Gehlot's scheme with a name change.
Former chief minister Ashok Gehlot has targeted the state government over the disruption and alleged deliberate throttling of welfare programmes. Gehlot has claimed that children have been waiting for milk while government supplies are being sold in the open market. He has demanded a high-level probe into the alleged black-marketing network.
