This report of a conference held at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study on special economic zones raises doubts about their desirability on different counts. It is centred around three themes: (1) SEZs and economic development; (2) SEZs and distributive implications; and (3) SEZs and the legal issues.

The mid-day meal programme was initiated as a means of achieving universal primary education of satisfactory quality for all schoolchildren below the age of 14 by increasing enrolment, improving attendance and retention, and simultaneously improving nutritional status. This paper attempts to investigate some of these aspects based on primary data collected from Khurda district of Orissa. Data was collected from schools as well as from a sample of households of schoolchildren.