National

PM – POSHAN Scheme

Cabinet has approved the Prime Minister POSHAN scheme or PM-POSHAN for providing one hot cooked meal in Government and Government-aided schools. It has been launched for an initial period of five years (2021-22 to 2025-26). The scheme will replace the existing national programme for mid-day meal in schools or Mid-day Meal Scheme.

Mid-day Meal Scheme

  • The Mid-day Meal Scheme (under the Ministry of Education) is a centrally sponsored scheme which was launched in 1995.
  • The scheme has been providing cooked meals to every child within the age group of six to fourteen years studying in classes I to VIII who enrolls and attends the school.

PM – POSHAN

  • The scheme will be extended the benefit of Mid-day Mean Scheme to students studying in pre-primary or Balvatikas running in government and government aided primary schools.
  • The new scheme has a provision for supplementary nutrition for children in aspirational districts and those with high prevalence of anaemia. It does away with the restriction on the part of the Centre to provide funds only for wheat, rice, pulses and vegetables. Currently, if a state decides to add any component like milk or eggs to the menu, the Centre does not bear the additional cost. Now that restriction has been lifted.
  • The concept of TithiBhojan will be encouraged extensively. TithiBhojan is a community participation programme in which people provide special food to children on special occasions/festivals.
  • The central government will ensure Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) from states to schools, which will use it to cover cooking costs.
  • A social audit of the scheme has also been mandated for each school in each state.
  • Vocal for Local for Atmanirbhar Bharat: Involvement of Farmers Producer Organizations (FPO) and Women Self Help Groups in implementation of the scheme will be encouraged. Use of locally grown traditional food items for a fillip to local economic growth will be encouraged.

Why this scheme?

  • As per the Global Nutrition Report 2020, India is among 88 countries that are likely to miss global nutrition targets by 2025.
  • India has been ranked at 94 among 107 countries in the Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2020. India has a level of hunger that is “serious”.
  • India is home to about 30% of the world’s stunted children and nearly 50% of severely wasted children under the age of five.