CONTENTS
- VEER SAVARKAR
- MID-DAY MEAL SCHEME
VEER SAVARKAR
Focus: GS I- Important Personalities
Why In News?
On 28th May, India paid tribute to the freedom fighter, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar on his birth anniversary.
Vinayak Damodar Savarkar
- Period: 28 May 1883 – 26 February 1966
- Cause of Death: Fasting (Sallekhana Prayopavesa)
- He was commonly known as Veer Savarkar (“brave” in his native Marathi language)
- He was an Indian independence activist, politician, lawyer and writer.
Nationalism and social reforms:
- Savarkar formed a youth organization known as Mitra Mela, this organization was put into place to bring in national and revolutionary ideas.
- He was against foreign goods and propagated the idea of Swadeshi. In 1905, he burnt all the foreign goods in a bonfire on Dussehra.
- He championed atheism and rationality and also disapproved orthodox Hindu belief. In fact, he even dismissed cow worship as superstitious.
- He also worked on abolishment of untouchability in Ratnagiri. Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar also compared his work to Lord Buddha.
- In Pune, Savarkar founded the “Abhinav Bharat Society”.
- He was also involved in the Swadeshi movement and later joined Tilak’s Swaraj Party. His instigating patriotic speeches and activities incensed the British Government. As a result, the British Government withdrew his B.A. degree.
- He founded the Free India Society. The Society celebrated important dates on the Indian calendar including festivals, freedom movement landmarks, and was dedicated to furthering discussion about Indian freedom.
- He believed and advocated the use of arms to free India from the British and created a network of Indians in England, equipped with weapons.
Related Organisations and Work:
- Founded a secret society called Abhinav Bharat Society.
- Went to the United Kingdom and was involved with organizations such as India House and the Free India Society.
- Involved in the formation of Hindu Mahasabha.
- He was the president of Hindu Mahasabha from 1937 to 1943.
- Savarkar wrote a book titled ‘The History of the War of Indian Independence’ in which he wrote about the guerilla warfare tricks used in 1857 Sepoy Mutiny.
- He also wrote the book ‘Hindutva: who is hindu?’.
Abhinav Bharat Society (Young India Society)
- It was a secret society founded by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar and his brother Ganesh Damodar Savarkar in 1904.
- Initially founded at Nasik as Mitra Mela, the society was associated with several revolutionaries and political activists with branches in various parts of India and London.
Hindu Mahasabha
- It was a political party formed in 1933.
- It was founded by Veer Damodar Savarkar, Lala Lajpat Rai, Madan Mohan Malviya.
- The organisation was formed to protect the rights of the Hindu community, after the formation of the All India Muslim League in 1906 and the British India government’s creation of separate Muslim electorate under the Morley-Minto reforms of 1909.
Free India Society
- It was a political organization of Indian students in England, committed to obtaining the independence of India from British rule.
- Initially an intellectual group, it became a revolutionary outfit under its founding leader, Madam Bhikaji Cama.
MID-DAY MEAL SCHEME
Focus: Government Policies and Interventions
Why in news?
The Union Minister for Education has approved the proposal to provide monetary assistance to 11.8 Crore students (118 Million Students) through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) of the cooking cost component of the Mid-Day-Meal Scheme, to all eligible children, as a special welfare measure.
About Mid-Day meal scheme:
The scheme covers all government and government aided schools and also Madarsa and Maqtabs supported under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA)
Students up to Class VIII are guaranteed one nutritional cooked meal at least 200 days in a year.
- The Scheme comes under the Ministry of HRD.
- It was launched in the year 1995 as the National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education (NP – NSPE), a centrally sponsored scheme. In 2004, the scheme was relaunched as the Mid Day Meal Scheme.
- The government provides financial support to the eligible schools/implementing agencies in the form of free food grains and by bearing cooking related costs
The last Mid Day Meal Rules were notified in the year 2015 under the National Food Security Act, 2013 but amendments have been made from time to time.
- The place of serving meals to the children shall be school only.
- The meal shall be prepared in accordance with the Mid Day Meal guidelines issued by the Central Government from time to time.
- The latest guidelines provide instructions on procuring AGMARK quality items for preparation of midday meals, tasting of meals by two or three adult members of the school management committee, including at least one teacher, before serving to children.
- If the Mid-Day Meal is not provided in school on any school day due to non-availability of food grains or any other reason, the State Government shall pay food security allowance by 15th of the succeeding month.
- The School Management Committee mandated under Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 shall also monitor implementation of the Mid-day meal Scheme.
- The State Steering-cum Monitoring Committee (SSMC) shall oversee the implementation of the scheme including establishment of a mechanism for maintenance of nutritional standards and quality of meals.
Nutritional norms:
- In terms of calorie intake, as per the MDM guidelines, the children in primary schools must be provided with at least 450 calories with 12 grams of protein through MDM while the children in upper primary schools should get 700 calories with 20 grams of protein, as per MHRD.
- The food intake per meal by the children of primary classes, as provided by MHRD is 100 grams of food grains, 20 grams of pulses, 50 grams of vegetables and 5 grams of oils and fats. For the children of upper-primary schools, the mandated breakup is 150 grams of food grains, 30 grams of pulses, 75 grams of vegetables and 7.5 grams of oils and fats.
