Over 8 lakh children benefited under Mid-day Meal scheme across J&K: Govt

Over 8 lakh children benefited under Mid-day Meal scheme across J&K: Govt

Mid-day Meal scheme: over 8.30 lakh children have been benefitted by Mid-day Meal scheme across Jammu and Kashmir, officials said on Monday.

According to the officials, the Jammu and Kashmir Government is on the course to ease the life of its citizens through the efficient and optimal implementation of Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS).

The officials said that from the days of being under achievers to achieving front runner status, the statistics reveal that the growing population is being significantly covered under the centrally sponsored schemes in J&K.

“The Mid-day Meal scheme programme of the Government of India designed to better the nutritional standards of school-age children nationwide, over 8.30 lakh children have been benefitted by this scheme across Jammu and Kashmir,” the officials said.

Similarly, the officials added that under Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan, a pioneering programme in the education sector of the country, 1588 Information Communication Technology labs, 1423 Computer-aided Labs, 803 Vocational Labs have been established in J&K besides uniforms and textbooks worth Rs 67 crore were provided to 7.8 lakh children. The Scheme is a major catalyst to bridge the digital divide amongst students of various socio-economic and other geographical barriers.

Mid-day Meal scheme

As per the officials press release, around 8.96 lakh beneficiaries were covered under Poshan Abhiyan, an overarching umbrella scheme to improve the nutritional outcomes for children, pregnant women and lactating mothers to prioritize the efforts of all stakeholders on a comprehensive package of intervention and services targeted on the first 1,000 days of a child’s life.

To accord high priority to water conservation and its management, 54304 Hectares have been covered under Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY).

The scheme has been formulated with the vision of extending the coverage of irrigation ‘Har Khet ko pani’ and improving water use efficiency ‘More crop per drop’ in a focused manner with end to end solution on source creation, distribution, management, field application and extension activities.

Mid-day Meal scheme: Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) , a multidimensional programme, is providing guaranteed wage employment, creating durable assets and strengthening the livelihood resource base of the rural households across the rural people here. Natural Resource Management and water conservation measures are changing the landscape of rural India. The livelihood thrust in MGNREGS has been brought in to raise incomes and improve skills for diversification of earning opportunities of poor households. According to the official documents 405.38 Lakh person-days under the scheme were generated in 2021-22.

Mid-day Meal scheme: Notably, Jammu and Kashmir was declared the state open defecation free (ODF) and launched the “Swachhta Hi Seva” – a fortnight-long cleanliness campaign for public awareness and involvement of the community. At the launch of the “Swachhata Hi Seva” campaign at the Sher-i-Kashmir International Conference Centre (SKICC), J&K was self-declared as ODF. With the sustained efforts of all the stakeholders, Jammu and Kashmir has achieved 100 per cent toilet coverage and became ODF “one year in advance”.

All the 22 districts, 4,171 gram panchayats and 7,565 villages in the state are self-declared ODF as per Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen) SBM (G) guidelines.

Mid-day Meal scheme: An official said that apart from constructing 1.1 million individual household toilets (IHHLs) and 1,350 community sanitary complexes in J&K, the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan has played a vital role in bringing about behavioural change in the people.

Moreover, 105 projects were completed under Smart City Projects aimed at transforming Jammu and Srinagar into modern, sustainable and economically vibrant cities with a dedicated focus on improving infrastructure and services besides increasing mobility.

Mid-day Meal scheme: The ambitious project, on completion, would strengthen urban infrastructure, improve city services, public aesthetics, ease of living, and provide a clean and sustainable environment besides enhancing administrative machinery in both the capital cities of Jammu and Srinagar.