Soon, over 16 lakh government school students enrolled across 66 talukas will get high-nutrition mid-day meals (MDMs) of a uniform quality.ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW VIDEOThe Gujarat government is set to launch a “centralised kitchen” scheme aimed at addressing the severe issue of malnutrition in the state. The project will be kicked off with an estimated capital expenditure of Rs 900 crore, and an additional annual operational expenditure of Rs 200 crore.“The centralised kitchens have been planned keeping the taste and quality of food given in the MDMs in focus. This is aimed at addressing the nutrition as well as attendance of government school students. Also, with the recent introduction of breakfast in these schools, the combination of nutritious breakfast and lunch is expected to have a major impact on their health,” Principal Secretary, Education, Mukesh Kumar told The Indian Express.Sources said that according to the recent data from Gujarat’s Department of Women and Child Development, the worst-affected districts with highest number of malnourished children in the state are Narmada, Panchmahal, Vadodara, Chhota Udepur, Surat, Mehsana, Dang, Tapi and Bharuch. Of these, Narmada has the highest number of such cases.For these centralised kitchens, cluster mapping has been carried out in a scientific manner with the aim that meals reach each school within 90 minutes of cooking.The cluster mapping of 66 talukas — 46 tribal and 20 non-tribal developing talukas — was done in such a manner that the centralised kitchen covers maximum number of schools in the radius, taking into account the students enrolled, geographical condition of the area, for instance forest, desert, coastal areas, and other factors.The state government has also given a nod to nearly 15 non-government agencies that had applied for the project through a tender process. “These also include those from other states like Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh,” revealed a government official.Story continues below this adUnder the project, the centralised kitchens would be constructed by the state government on its own land and assets, which will be handed over to these agencies for management and operations.“A monitoring authority will check the quality of food being served. Also, allotment to two or more agencies rather than a single in the same district will also help in creating a competition among themselves,” authorities stated.At present, only 10 such centralised kitchens are operating in the state, covering 3,003 government primary schools and over 6.81 lakh students. Akshaya Patra operates the highest number – seven – centralised kitchens to cover nearly 1,900 schools in certain pockets of municipal corporation areas of Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat, Bhavnagar, Jamnagar and Gandhinagar.Similarly, Stree Shakti is catering to 333 municipal schools in Ahmedabad east areas while Nayak foundation is looking after 670 schools in Navsari district. Paras Agro is active in 91 municipal schools in Rajkot city. One centralised kitchen is being run by each of these non-profit agencies.Story continues below this adAs per the data tabled in the Rajya Sabha on July 23 by the Ministry of Women and Child Development to a question asked by MP Saket Gokhale, percentage of stunted children is 32.72 per cent, according to the state-wise malnutrition indicators for children in the age group of 0-5 years from Poshan Tracker data for the month of June.Further, 7.28 per cent children are wasted and 18.41 per cent are underweight, the response stated.The June 2024 data, as per the Poshan Tracker, revealed 39.73 per cent stunted, 9.16 per cent wasted, and 21.39 per cent underweight children. Though these numbers have improved in the last few years, the number of children suffering from malnutrition is still high in Gujarat.While stunting, a form of malnutrition, is characterised by a child being too short for their age, indicating impaired growth and development, wasting indicates the child to be too thin for their height and is considered to be a dangerous form of malnutrition.