The central government today clarified that the children will not be denied mid-day meals even if they do not have the Aadhar card.
Responding to a question raised by Congress leader Motilal Vohra during the Zero Hour in Rajya Sabha, HRD minister Prakash Javadekar clarified that all beneficiaries will get mid-day meal and the government will ensure that all the beneficiaries get the 12-digit unique identification number also.
Vora had alleged that the government seemed to have taken the decision to take away the free food scheme from school children.
He reminded the government that about 12 crore children in the country were enrolled under the scheme.
“I want to tell this House that no one will be deprived of mid-day meals. Everybody will get mid-day meal and they will get Aadhaar card as well,” Prakash Javdekar said.
He said a large number of beneficiaries already have the Aadhaar and facilites will be made to enroll the remaining students as well.
Javadekar said in cases where facilities for Aadhaar cannot be created, the state governments will provide the unique numbers to the students.
He said that since the linking of Aadhaar with mid-day meal scheme has been started, leakages have come down. In her Zero Hour mention, Kahkashan Perween (JD-U) drew the attention of the House towards rampant female foeticide across the country.
Referring to the arrest of a gang involved in sex determination test from Delhi, she said female foeticide was prevalent even in the national captial. To further her point, she said there were 3,456 new births in a particular nursing home in Delhi, of which only about 300 were girls and rest boys.
Congress member Narendra Budania expressed concern over almost negligible representation of OBC community in all fields, including executive, legislative and judicary. He made a case of removal of creamy layer criteria in OBC reservation.
(With PTI inputs)
