Chennai served first mid-day meal ever

Tamil Nadu government is currently following the ‘Puratchi Thalaivar MGR Nutritious Meal Programme’, started in the year 1982 but the predecessor to this was started way back, in 1920, by the Government of Madras Presidency, then ruled by the Justice Party. Members of the Justice Party, known for radical social reforms, were also the first set of politicians, arguably anywhere in the world, to think that literacy rate can be improved by providing food to the students. They did not stop with just the idea but went on to implement it.

In 1920, based on the idea of P Theagaraya Chetty, the then President of the Justice Party, A Subbarayalu Reddiar, the first Chief Minister of Madras Presidency, implemented the mid-day meal scheme in a Corporation school in Thousand Lights area. Author R Kannan, in his book Anna:The Life and Times of C N Annadurai, had called Theagaraya Chetty the father of mid-day meal program.

Initially, only breakfast was provided and the government decided that the total cost of the meal should not exceed one ‘anna’, equal to Rs 0.06. The scheme paid off. More students joined schools which prompted the British government to discontinue the scheme. However, in 1925 the scheme was re-implemented.

Former Chief Minister, K Kamaraj, started a noon meal scheme. The scheme was a success. In 1951, the total literacy rate in the state was just 20.8 per cent. By 1971, it crossed 45 per cent which was more than double when compared to 1951. In the same period female literacy rate got tripled from 10.10 to 30.92 per cent which was an indication that more number of girls were going to school.

MGR, in 1982, expanded the scheme. The objective shifted from merely increasing the enrolment to providing nutritious meal to the students to maintain their health.