It seems the state Government has made a total mess of the Central funds meant for children under the Supplementary Nutrition Programme (SNP). According to the latest CAG report, the SNP has been nothing but a story of not just diversion of funds and materials, but also of shortfall of coverage, the latter ranging from an alarming 75 to 83 per cent. The report further reveals that the state Government diverted a whopping Rs 135.86 crore available as additional central assistance for children below three years of age during 2002-03 and 2004-05 even as the state Government failed to provide funds for the SNP programme during those three years. And, as if that was not enough, the state Government provided a sum of Rs 236.73 crore for the programme against a requirement of Rs 1345.30 crore, which itself speaks volumes about the state of affairs as far as providing supplementary nutrition to children in the age group of 0-6 years is concerned besides pregnant and nursing mothers during 2002-03 and 2006-07. Even as the state Government prepared its estimates for covering over 54.37 lakh children besides pregnant and nursing mothers during the period, what it actually covered was just about 47 per cent of the total targeted eligible beneficiaries. "Even to feed this reduced target at the prescribed rate for 300 days per year, around Rs 628.83 crore was required during 2002-07. However, the actual funds provided was only Rs 236.73 crore