FUNDS ALLOCATION UNDER MID-DAY MEAL PROGRAM: A STATE-LEVEL ANALYSIS

With the twin objective of improving the health of poor children and imparting formal education to these children, the Government of India started the Mid-Day Meal Scheme in the government primary schools. The purpose of the government to a great extent has been an initiative to increase the attendance rate and also promote socialization values. Despite all achievements, many problems have been encountered in the implementation of this scheme. Some major drawbacks have also been identified. This paper attempts to analyse the results and factors that are highly responsible for creating discrepancies in its process of attaining the major objectives and goals, and tries to identify the sole factors that are responsible for the allocation of funds in the top five and bottom five major Indian states.Keywords: Mid-Day Meal, Primary school children, Funds allocation.JEL Classifications: O1, O100, O120