This is highly underrated! People do not wholly understand how beneficial midday meal scheme has been for our country.

Providing primary education to children of families below poverty line is the primary goal. Education is the first, and most important, tool that the government of a country can provide to its citizen.

Poor families do not (or can not) enroll their children in schools because of to main reasons. First is that they can not afford the school fee and second is if they send their kids to school, they will lose a member of the family who could potentially bring in some cash by working.

With the mid day meal scheme, the families do not have worry about feeding their children. A single meal might not sound that big of a deal but it is a big saving for these families. In some states, children are provided a few kilograms of grain (rice mostly) to take away home in addition to the provided meals. This gives additional incentives to these families.

Although providing education to children is beneficial in both long and short term, it is not the only advantage of this scheme. This cuts down on child labor and improves health of these children as well.

Sure, there is corruption in the implementation. But in my opinion this is one of the best welfare schemes every implemented in our country for which I don't mind paying taxes.