[5] In post-independent India, the Midday Meal Scheme was first launched in Tamil Nadu, pioneered by the former Chief minister K. Kamaraj in the early 1960s.

On 28 November 2001 the Supreme Court asked all state governments to begin this programme in their schools within 6 months.

[15] A midday meal scheme was introduced in Kerala in 1984, and was gradually expanded to include more schools and grades.

[18] The government of India initiated the National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education (NP-NSPE) on 15 August 1995.

Initially, the scheme was implemented in 2,408 blocks of the country to provide food to students in classes one through five of government, government-aided and local body run schools.

Under this programme, a cooked midday meal with 300 calories and 12 grams of protein is provided to all children enrolled in classes one to five.

The scheme came into force with the supreme court order dated 28 November 2001,[22] which requires all government and government-assisted primary schools to provide cooked midday meals.

[24] Some examples are:[23] The nutritional guidelines for the minimum amount of food and calorie content per child per day are:[3] In the case of micronutrients (vitamin A, iron, and folate) tablets and de-worming medicines, the student is entitled to receive the amount provided for in the school health programme of the National Rural Health Mission.

In total, the MDM Scheme employs over 2.5 million cooks/food preparers (referred to as cooks-cum-helpers), usually providing a small honorarium for their work (equal to approximately US$14 per month).

[37] In the centralised model, an external organisation cooks and delivers the meal to schools, mostly through public-private partnerships.

Centralised kitchens are seen more in urban areas, where density of schools is high so that transporting food is a financially viable option.

The Ministry of Human Resource Development reported that 95% of tested meal samples prepared by NGOs in Delhi did not meet nutritional standards in 2010–12.

[1] Tithi Bhojan is a concept designed to ensure greater public participation under the Midday Meal Programme, that started out in the state of Gujarat.

It is voluntarily served by the community/family among school children in several forms such as sweets and savoury snacks, along with regular MDM, full meals, supplementary nutritive items like sprouted beans, and contributions in kind such as cookware, utensils, dinner sets or glasses for drinking water.

The concept has been adopted by 10 other states, some with local nomenclatures like "Sampriti Bhojan" in Assam, "Dham" in Himachal Pradesh, "Sneh Bhojan" in Maharashtra, "Shalegagi Naavu Neevu" in Karnataka, "Anna Dhanam" in Puducherry, "Priti Bhoj" in Punjab and "Utsav Bhoj" in Rajasthan.

In the North Indian states of Uttarakhand, Haryana and the Union territory of Chandigarh, the scheme retains its original name of Tithi Bhojan.

The positive effect on enrollment of disadvantaged children (Dreze and Kingdon), on attendance (by Chakraborty, Jayaraman, Pande),[45] on learning effort (by Booruah, Afridi and Somanathan), on improving nutritional inputs (Afridi), and on improving nutritional outcomes (by Singh, Dercon and Parker).

However, policy inputs by Dr Edmond Fernandes suggested that it would be wise to address the problem through a cross sectoral perspective as cascading risks globally is affecting food security & healthy nutrition.

[47] Sukhdeo Thorat and Joel Lee found in their 2005 study that caste discrimination was occurring in conjunction with the Mid Day Meals programme.

Media reports have also highlighted several implementation issues, including irregularity, corruption, hygiene, caste discrimination, etc.

From 2015 to 2018, the number of children receiving food through the MDM scheme declined in many states, a pattern that may at least partly reflect the rising popularity of private schools in the country.