<Tr> <Th> Launched </Th> <Td> 1995 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Status </Th> <Td> Active </Td> </Tr> <P> The Midday Meal Scheme is a school meal programme of the Government of India designed to improve the nutritional status of school - age children nationwide . The programme supplies free lunches on working days for children in primary and upper primary classes in government, government aided, local body, Education Guarantee Scheme, and alternate innovative education centres, Madarsa and Maqtabs supported under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, and National Child Labour Project schools run by the ministry of labour . Serving 120,000,000 children in over 1,265,000 schools and Education Guarantee Scheme centres, it is the largest such programme in the world . </P> <P> Under article 24, paragraph 2c of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which India is a party, India has committed to providing "adequate nutritious foods" for children . The programme has undergone many changes since its launch in 1995 . The Midday Meal Scheme is covered by the National Food Security Act, 2013 . The legal backing to the Indian school meal programme is similar to the legal backing provided in the US through the National School Lunch Act . </P>

Mid day meal scheme comes under which ministry