Published By: Sukanya Nandy
Last Updated: September 16, 2023, 09:45 IST
The funds are meant to be distributed across schools in order to alleviate the mid-day meal expenses incurred by schools for the months of June and July, as well as the first instalment for August (Representative image)
For the past few months, several schools in Kerala have been in debt because they have not received any funds for the erstwhile mid-day meal programme, currently known as PM Poshan
In a bid to assist the mid-day meal crisis in the state, the Government of Kerala has released Rs 210 crore. These funds are meant to be distributed across schools in order to alleviate the mid-day meal expenses incurred by schools for the months of June and July, as well as the first instalment for August. Moreover, the state honorarium for mid-day meal cooks for the months of June, July, and August has been distributed, as per the Kerala General Education Department.
Talking about the crisis, since the past few months, several schools in Kerala have been in debt because they have not received any funds for the erstwhile mid-day meal programme, currently known as PM Poshan.
It is to be noted that the Kerala Education Minister V Sivankutty, on September 7, criticised the Centre for failing to release its fair share of funds. However, the Education Ministry, on September 8, retorted that Kerala had not followed the guidelines for PM Poshan.
According to the ministry, the state was ‘ineligible’ for further funding since it had yet to transfer the central share of funds to the Single Nodal Account (SNA) of the department. In addition to that, the Union education ministry stated that it transferred Rs 132.90 crore to the Kerala Government to fulfil its contractual liabilities and the fund of Rs 210 crore for the mid-day meal scheme, which was disbursed on Wednesday, was transferred to the SNA.
In a statement issued on Thursday, the Kerala General Education Department further stated that the Rs 132.90 that the government claims to have disbursed is actually part of the central share of mid-day meal instalment for the fiscal year 2021-22. The state alleged that this instalment was transferred one day before the financial year of 2021-22 concluded.
The Kerala General Education Department also revealed that the Rs 210 crore released by the state on Wednesday includes the Rs 132.90 crore from the centre. The state also stated that it has transferred payments to mid-day meal cooks, excluding the Rs 1,000 that it is yet to receive from the central government. The department informed that PM Poshan, mid-day meal scheme, funding is split 60:40 between the union and state governments, with the union providing 60 per cent of the funding. The central government distributes its share in two instalments, that is, 60 per cent and 40 per cent of the shares.
