CALORIE INTAKE AND MID-DAY-MEAL SCHEME IN TAMILNADU, INDIA

It focuses on health of school children of Tamil Nadu. It assumes calorie intake as a proxy for health of a student. Here an attempt has been made to study separately for rural and urban students¿ up to the secondary school level. This study also tries to throw some light about the extent of effect of mid-day-meal scheme of schools with students¿ health. Overall, there is enough evidence of malnourishment of school children in Tamil Nadu in both rural and urban areas. The mid-day-meal scheme has little impact on health of school children.Second part of this study focuses on mid-day-meals provided freely by schools in rural and urban sectors of Tamil Nadu. Here an attempt has been made to see the effectiveness of the mid-day-meal scheme in terms of the beneficiaries who avail the scheme on the basis of some socio-economic characteristics. This study looks separately for rural and urban sectors for the children up to the secondary school level. Overall, there is enough evidence that school meals are not disbursed to those who need it most for rural and urban sectors of Tamil Nadu. School meals should be provided to only the needy students to raise the impact of mid-day-meal scheme.