Renamed PM-POSHAN mid-day meal program, extended to preschools

New Delhi: The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) renamed the midday meal program to “National Program for PM-POSHAN in Schools” or PM POSHAN program on Wednesday 29 September. The cabinet which was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the continuation of the midday meal program for five years until 2026. According to Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, the midday meal program has has now been extended to preschool children in addition to children studying in grades 1-8 in public and government-subsidized schools across the country.

Read also: What’s wrong with the midday meal program in India?

The Education Minister further stated that Prime Minister POSHAN will cover around 11.80 crore of children who study in 11.20 lakh schools. He said on the microblogging site, Twitter,

To improve nutritional status, encourage education and learning, increase enrollment in schools and promote overall growth of children, PM Narendra Modi approved the PM POshan SHAkti Nirman program for the next 5 years with collective expenditure from ₹ 1,31,000 crore.

To improve nutritional status, encourage education and learning, increase school enrollment, and promote the overall growth of children, PM Shri @Narendra Modi ji approved the PM POshan SHAkti Nirman program for the next 5 years with a collective expenditure of 1.31,000 crore. pic.twitter.com/S1S8HEMgi0

– Dharmendra Pradhan (@dpradhanbjp) September 29, 2021

Under the #PMPOSHAN, the midday meals were extended to the children of Balvatika in addition to the children of classes I to VIII of the government. and government subsidized schools across India. This will benefit approximately 11.80 crore of children who study in 11.20 lakh schools. https://t.co/Nh1LO0C9ZD

– Dharmendra Pradhan (@dpradhanbjp) September 29, 2021

According to the Union Cabinet, the government has committed a down payment of Rs. 1,30,794.90 crore of which Rs 54,000 crore will be spent by the central government and Rs 31,733.17 crore by the states and territories of The union.

The Cabinet also decided to promote the concept of “Tithi Bhojan”, which is a community participation program that allows community members to provide special food to children at occasions and festivals. It is recommended that the food for ‘Tithi Bhojan’ be prepared using the harvest from the nutritious gardens in the schools. In its press release, the cabinet stressed that in order to encourage school nutrition gardens, children will benefit from first-hand experience of nature and gardening. He said that school nutrition gardens have already been developed in more than 3 lakh schools.

Read also: National Nutrition Month: 10 things you need to know about India’s midday meal program, the world’s largest school feeding program

The nutritional content prescribed per meal and per child on PM POSHAN will remain the same as MDM

Similar to the Mid-Day Meal Plan (MDM), hot cooked meals will be provided to children and the prescribed nutritional content per meal and per child will also remain the same, namely:

– at least 450 calories with 12 grams of protein for elementary school children
– 700 calories with 20 grams of protein for children in the second cycle of elementary school

As under the MDM, PM POSHAN will continue to provide 100 grams of food grains, 20 grams of legumes, 50 grams of vegetables and 5 grams of oils and fats to children in primary classes. Children in upper primary schools, on the other hand, are entitled to 150 grams of food grains, 30 grams of legumes, 75 grams of vegetables and 7.5 grams of oils and fats.

Read also: Here are tips on how to tackle ‘hidden hunger’ in children caused by lack of micronutrients.

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