Midday meal scheme PM Poshan rolled out

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 29

The Cabinet today approved the rollout of the “PM POSHAN in Schools” scheme that will provide hot cooked meal to students of elementary classes in government and government-aided schools across the country.

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

The existing midday meal scheme will be subsumed into the PM Poshan Shakti Nirman scheme with the addition of several new components in it, Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur said after the meeting.

“The CCEA has approved the continuation of ‘National Scheme for PM POSHAN in Schools’ for five years (2021-22 to 2025-26) with a financial outlay of Rs 54,061.73 crore from the Central government and Rs 31,733.17 crore from the state governments and union territory administrations,” according to an official statement.

The Centre will also bear the additional cost of Rs 45,000 crore on foodgrain. Therefore, the total scheme budget will amount to Rs 1,30,794.90 crore, the statement added.

The scheme will cover all schoolchildren studying in Classes I-VIII of government and government-aided schools. The scheme will cover about 11.8 crore children studying in 11.2 lakh schools across the country, officials said.

Officials said the concept of TithiBhojan, a community participation programme in which people provide special food to children on special occasions, will be encouraged.