Asianet NewsableAsianet Newsable

Mid-day meal scheme now ‘PM Poshan’, to cover pre-primary students

The Centre announced that it would spend Rs 1,30,795 crore on the scheme in the next five years. The scheme will replace the existing national programme for mid-day meal in schools or Mid-day Meal Scheme.

Mid-day meal scheme now PM Poshan,  to cover pre-primary students-dnm
Author
New Delhi, First Published Sep 30, 2021, 12:01 PM IST

With the Centre initiating a major political push pivoted around ‘child nutrition’, the mid-day meal scheme will now be known as PM POSHAN for providing one cooked hot meal in government and government-aided schools.

The Centre announced that it would spend Rs 1,30,795 crore on the scheme in the next five years. The scheme will replace the existing national programme for mid-day meal in schools or Mid-day Meal Scheme.

The decision was taken at the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) meeting that was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Union Minister Anurag Thakur said in a press conference that the scheme will span 5 years and Rs. 1.31 lakh crore will be spent on the same and cover 11.8 crore students enrolled in classes 1 to 8 in over 11.2 lakh schools across the country.

Also read: Delhi government implements 'Deshbhakti Curriculum' in schools from today; all details here

“The scheme is for the five-year period 2021-22 to 2025-26 with the financial outlay of Rs 54061.73 crore from the Central government and Rs 31733.17 crore from state governments and UTs administration. The Central government will also bear the additional cost of Rs 45,000 crore on food grains. Therefore, the total budget of the scheme will be Rs 130794.9 crore,” the government said in a statement.

Under PM Poshan Shakti Nirman or PM POSHAN scheme, hot cooked food is provided currently to students from Classes 1 to 8. Now 24 lakh more children in pre-primary classes, currently covered under the ICDS, will also be brought in. Last year, the government had opened pre-schools called Balvatikas attached to angandwadis.

The government will not decide items which will be served under the scheme and states can decide on their own, officials said. “States will be allowed to include their local nutritional items as well. Earlier the provision was not there... Special provisional has been made to for providing supplementary nutrition items to children in aspirational districts and districts with high prevalence of anaemia,” an official was quoted by Hindustan Times, adding involvement of farmers and women self-help groups will be encouraged under the scheme.

Follow Us:
Download App:
  • android
  • ios