The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 29, 2021, approved a new meal scheme known as 'Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman' scheme (PM Poshan Scheme) for government and government-aided schools for the next five years (from 2021-22 to 2025-26) with the financial outlay of Rs 1.31 trillion, and the existing 'Mid Day Meal' scheme will also be included in this programme.
The central government will bear an additional cost of nearly Rs 45,000 crore on providing subsidised foodgrains from the food ministry over the years amounting to a total outlay of Rs 1.31 trillion. During 2020-21, the Centre invested more than Rs 24,400 crore in the scheme, including nearly Rs 11,500 crore on foodgrains.
Features
The centrally-sponsored PM Poshan scheme will provide hot-cooked meals to students of elementary classes in schools and it is expected to benefit about 118 million children studying in classes 1 to 8 across the country, as per the government.
The national mid-day meal scheme will now be known as PM Poshan Scheme and also cover students of balvatikas (children in the 3-5 year age group) from pre-primary classes.
Earlier, the scheme was known as the ‘National Scheme for Mid Day Meal in Schools’, popularly known as the 'Mid Day Meal' scheme.
The social audit of the scheme has been made mandatory in all the districts of the country and a special provision is made for providing supplementary nutrition items to children in districts with a high prevalence of Anemia and other health-related ailments.
The Centre has directed the states and the UTs to switch to Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) system for providing compensation to the cooks and helpers working under the scheme.
Use of locally-grown nutritional food items will be encouraged from "school nutrition gardens" for boosting the local economic growth, cooking competitions will be conducted to promote ethnic cuisine and innovative menus and will also include involvement of Farmers Producer Organizations (FPO) and Women Self Help Groups in the implementation of the scheme.
Tithi Bhojan
Under the PM Poshan Scheme, the concept of Tithi Bhojan will be promoted extensively which is a community participation programme where people provide special food to children on special occasions and festivals.
What is mid-day meal?
The mid-day meal scheme was launched by the central government in 1995 to provide free cooked meals to children in primary schools (classes 1-5; age 6–10 years).
Initially, states did not participate in the scheme, but between 1999 and 2004, the programme's coverage increased manifold, largely due to an order from the Supreme Court of India directing state governments to provide cooked mid-day meals in primary schools, according to a study.
Centre asks States, UTs to conduct social audit for mid-day meal scheme
