PM-POSHAN Scheme, Ministry, Launch Date, Aims, Latest News

Q: What is the primary objective of the PM-POSHAN (Pradhan Mantri Poshan Kaurvi Abhiyan) Scheme?

To provide mid-day meals to school-going children

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PM-POSHAN Scheme Latest News

Recently, a total of 22 states and Union Territories that responded to the Education Ministry’s call for suggestions on the PM-POSHAN scheme have asked the centre to hike the honorarium for PM-POSHAN scheme cooks and helpers.

About PM-POSHAN Scheme

It was formerly known as the Mid-Day Meal Scheme, is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme.
It is implemented by the Ministry of Education.
The Scheme is implemented across the country covering all the eligible children without any discrimination of gender and social class.
It aims to provide one hot cooked meal per school day to children studying in Balvatikas (pre-primary), and Classes 1 to 8 across government and government-aided schools.
Objectives:
- Enhancing nutritional status of school-going children
- Improving enrollment, retention, and attendance in schools, especially among disadvantaged children
Nutritional norms under PM-POSHAN
- For Balvatika and Primary classes: 20g pulses, 50g vegetables, and 5g oil
- For Upper Primary classes: 30g pulses, 75g vegetables, and 7.5g oil
  - The Labour Bureau collects monthly price data from 600 villages in 20 states to calculate inflation for the PM POSHAN basket, using the Consumer Price Index for Rural Labourers (CPI-RL).
Funding Pattern under POSHAN Abhiyan:
- 60:40 between Centre and States/UTs with legislature
- 90:10 for the Northeastern and Himalayan States
- 100% central funding for UTs without legislature