The Indian government has directed states and union territories (UTs) to conduct a social audit of the mid-day meal scheme in each district by November 30. The National Food Security Act of 2013 requires a social audit.
According to the report, several states have fallen behind schedule in conducting the audit. Furthermore, several states have informed the centre that the process was initiated in the past, and that final reports were not submitted to the Ministry of Education in several cases.
The social audit is important in detecting irregularities such as fund syphoning and in providing the authorities with feedback on the scheme from the local community.
The Meghalaya government has yet to submit its audit report for 2019-20, while Assam’s 2020-21 reports are still pending. In 2021-22, nine states and four UTs have not even begun social audits.
“During the PAB-PM POSHAN meetings also the states and UTs have been directed to conduct a social audit in all schools covering all districts for the year 2021-22 and also advised to conduct a social audit of the scheme in all the districts every year. You are therefore requested to initiate action to conduct a social audit of PM POSHAN in all districts in your state/UT for the year 2021-22 on a priority basis and as per MoE guidelines and conclude it with a mandatory Public hearing by 30th November 2022,” the ministry told states.
States which have not carried out social audits in 2021-22 include Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Uttarakhand, Telangana, Punjab, Odisha, Haryana, and Chhattisgarh. In the UTs of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Puducherry, Ladakh and Lakshadweep.
Also, in the states that have conducted regular audits, proper guidelines were not followed. This includes Gujarat.
