raipur the chhattisgarh government has issued a show cause notice to district education officers of 12 districts for violating a state government order regarding the serving of millet dishes in schools under the midday meal scheme the state government directed schools in these districts to cook millet dishes inhouse instead of buying millet chikki and other readymade food materials from markets this directive was issued for the 12 districts selected under the pradhan mantri poshan shakti nirman yojanapreviously soya chikki was served in the midday meal under the pms supplementary nutrition program for children until the central government approved the use of millet dishes the millet mission was established and both prime minister narendra modi and chhattisgarh chief minister bhupesh baghel took a keen interest in the mission the chhattisgarh chief minister requested that the centre replace soya dishes with millet dishes in schools for better results as millet has higher protein valuesas millets are readily available in chhattisgarh the state government proposed to the government of india on december 16 2022 to distribute dishes made of millet to children in place of soya chikki followed by a reminder letter on january 27 2023 the chief minister sent a letter to the union school education minister urging for the approval of millet dishes for school children the government of india granted its approval on february 10 2023initially millet dishes were to be distributed to students in seven districts but the number was later increased to 12 and an action plan was developed accordinglythe state government issued an order to procure millets at the district level from forest department institutions or cmart but not to purchase cooked millet material from markets raw millet should be purchased from markets and cooked through selfhelp groups for distribution to children the order also specified that the millet dishes should be prepared at the school level as the midday meal cooking at the school level is done by selfhelp groups the state government banned the purchase of readymade food items available in the market milletbased food items should be distributed four days a week in the proposed 12 districts according to the state government the state office should issue allotments according to the district education officers demandshowever district education officers in some districts issued orders to buy dishes chikki in particular made of millet from markets contrary to the state governments directive the directorate of public instructions chhattisgarh took note of the matter and issued a show cause notice to the district education officers of durg gariaband koriya surajpur balrampur raigarh baloda bazar narayanpur kanker kondagaon bastar and dantewada for violating the order and directed them to cancel the order at the earlieston march 20 2023 a central share of rs 179720 lahks was received for serving dishes made of millet in schools