7 Million NE Kids Partake Of Mid-day Meal

New Delhi, Sep 1 (UNI) Close to seven million children in India's northeast are among 120 million 6-to-14-year-olds served nationwide under the Mid-Day Meal Scheme, the Human Resource Development Ministry said today.

More than 6.81 million kids in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura were served mid-day meals during 2005-06 under the National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education.

Of Rs 334.50 crore allocated on the count, Rs 167.96 crore was released by March 31.

The Indian programme is the world's largest covering some 120 million children in almost a million primary schools and centres run under the Education Guarantee Scheme and the Alternative and Innovative Education.

They include 2,18,905 in Arunachal Pradesh, 47,95,759 in Assam, 2,95,096 in Manipur, 5,97,555 in Meghalaya, 1,04,300 in Mizoram, 1,73,598 in Nagaland, 98,000 in Sikkim and 5,25,645 in Tripura.

UNI MJ RP RS1927