Rs 4000 Crore Paid Toward Mid-day Meal Bill

New Delhi, Jan 10 (UNI) The centre has disbursed Rs 4,095 crore and nearly 2.5 million metric tonnes of foodgrains to States and Union Territories under the Mid-Day Meal Scheme, the Human Resource Development Ministry reported today.

The scheme was allocated Rs 7,324 Crore in the 2007-08 Union Budget-- 37 per cent more than in 2006-07, an HRD Ministry statement said.

The programme, the world's largest, covers 97 million primary school children and is being extended to 17 million upper primary school children across India, it said.

The foodgrain quantity in metric tonnes released: Andhra Pradesh 142760.31, Bihar 225026.64, Chhattisgarh 77029.30, Goa 1640.45, Gujarat 75513.52, Haryana 35021.82, Himachal Pradesh 13679.62, Jammu and Kashmir 22909.00, Jharkhand 95495.43, Karnataka 111166.13, Kerala 38285.22, Madhya Pradesh 221670.18, Maharashtra 188138.89, Orissa 120389.08, Punjab 33239.43, Rajasthan 194173.58, Tamilnadu 82219.25, Uttarakhand 17630.93, Uttar Pradesh 404919.37, West Bengal 218464.79, Delhi 21900.26, Puducherry 1092.90, Andaman and Nicobar islands 669.17, Chandigarh 1222, Dadar and Nagar Haveli 993.61, Daman and Diu 294.38, Lakshadweep 157.92, Arunachal Pradesh 5541.24, Assam 89242.94, Manipur 6009.97, Meghalaya 13804.82, Mizoram 2071.23, Nagaland 4261.38, Sikkim 2026.88 and Tripura 9930.74, totalling 2478592.41.

Central assistance released in lakhs of rupees: Andhra Pradesh 24176.23, Bihar 37188.92, Chhattisgarh 12430.55, Goa 275.68, Gujarat 12307.43, Haryana 5029.06, Himachal Pradesh 2681.12, Jammu and Kashmir 3072.20, Jharkhand 10994.42, Karnataka 21679.48, Kerala 6770.75, Madhya Pradesh 34628.27, Maharashtra 32058.23, Orissa 22916.27, Punjab 6315.25, Rajasthan 32781.69, Tamil nadu 15659.58, Uttarakhand 2478.47, Uttar Pradesh 66347.52, West Bengal 36473.77, Delhi 2622.87, Puducherry 206.78, Andaman and Nicobar islands 122.85, Chandigarh 270.17, Dadar and Nagar Haveli 166.20, Daman and Diu 52.84, Lakshadweep 0.00, Arunachal Pradesh 962.88, Assam 11539.69, Manipur 946.32, Meghalaya 2755.18, Mizoram 416.36, Nagaland 1001.20, Sikkim 321.70, Tripura 1803.75, totalling 409453.67.

The meals served are required to supply children 450-700 Calories and 12-20 gm of Protein, not to mention micro-nutrients such as Iron, Folic Acid and Vitamin-A.

UNI MJ PK AS2038