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Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman - PM POSHAN
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Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman - PM POSHAN (Mid Day Meal) in schools has had a long history in India. In 1925, a Mid Day Meal
Programme was introduced disadvantaged children in Madras Municipal Corporation.
By the mid 1980s three States viz. Gujarat, Kerala and Tamil Nadu and the UT of
Pondicherry had universalized a cooked Mid Day Meal Programme with their own resources
for children studying at the primary stage By 1990-91 the number of States implementing
the mid day meal programme with their own resources on a universal or a large scale
had increased to twelve states.
1. With a view to enhancing enrollment, retention and attendance and simultaneously
improving nutritional levels among children, the National Programme of Nutritional
Support to Primary Education (NP-NSPE) was launched as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme
on 15th August 1995, initially in 2408 blocks in the country. By the year 1997-98
the NP-NSPE was introduced in all blocks of the country. It was further extended
in 2002 to cover not only children in classes I -V of Government, Government aided
and local body schools, but also children studying in EGS and AIE centres. Central
Assistance under the scheme consisted of free supply of food grains @ 100 grams
per child per school day, and subsidy for transportation of food grains up to a
maximum of Rs 50 per quintal.
2. In September 2004 the scheme was revised to provide cooked mid day meal with
300 calories and 8-12 grams of protein to all children studying in classes I – V
in Government and aided schools and EGS/ AIE centres. In addition to free supply
of food grains, the revised scheme provided Central Assistance for (a) Cooking cost
@ Re 1 per child per school day, (b) Transport subsidy was raised from the earlier
maximum of Rs 50 per quintal to Rs. 100 per quintal for special category states,
and Rs 75 per quintal for other states, (c) Management, monitoring and evaluation
costs @ 2% of the cost of foodgrains, transport subsidy and cooking assistance,
(d) Provision of mid day meal during summer vacation in drought affected areas.
3. In July 2006 the scheme was further revised to provide assistance for cooking
cost at the rate of (a) Rs 1.80 per child/school day for States in the North Eastern
Region, provided the NER States contribute Rs 0.20 per child/school day, and (b)
Rs 1.50 per child/ school day for other States and UTs, provided that these States
and UTs contribute Rs 0.50 per child/school day.
4. In October 2007, the scheme has been further revised to cover children in upper
primary (classes VI to VIII) initially in 3479 Educationally Backwards Blocks (EBBs).
Around 1.7 crore upper primary children were included by this expansion of the scheme.
From 2008-09 i.e w.e.f 1st April, 2008, the programme covers all children studying
in Government, Local Body and Government-aided primary and upper primary schools
and the EGS/AIE centres including Madarsa and Maqtabs supported under SSA of all
areas across the country. The calorific value of a mid- day meal at upper primary
stage has been fixed at a minimum of 700 calories and 20 grams of protein by providing
150 grams of food grains (rice/wheat) per child/school day.
5.From the year 2009 onwards the following changes have been made to improve the
implementation of the scheme:-
a) Food norms have been revised to ensure balanced and nutritious diet to children
of upper primary group by increasing the quantity of pulses from 25 to 30 grams,
vegetables from 65 to 75 grams and by decreasing the quantity of oil and fat from
10 grams to 7.5 grams.
b) Cooking cost (excluding the labour and administrative charges) has been revised
from Rs.1.68 to to Rs. 2.50 for primary and from Rs. 2.20 to Rs. 3.75 for upper
primary children from 1.12.2009 to facilitate serving meal to eligible children
in prescribed quantity and of good quality .The cooking cost for primary is Rs.
2.69 per child per day and Rs. 4.03 for upper primary children from 1.4.2010.The
cooking cost will be revised prior approval of competent authority by 7.5% every
financial year from 1.4.2011.
c) The honorarium for cooks and helpers was paid from the labour and other administrative
charges of Rs.0.40 per child per day provided under the cooking cost. In many cases
the honorarium was so little that it became very difficult to engage manpower for
cooking the meal. A Separate component for Payment of honorarium @ Rs.1000 per month
per cook- cum-helper was introduced from 1.12.2009. Honorarium at the above prescribed
rate is being paid to cook- cum-helper. However, in some of the states the honorarium
to cook-cum-helpers are being paid more than Rs.1000/- through their state fund.
Following norms for engagement of cook-cum-helper have been made: i. One cook- cum-helper
for schools up to 25 students. ii. Two cooks-cum-helpers for schools with 26 to
100 students. iii. One additional cook-cum-helper for every addition of upto 100
students. More than 25.70 lakhs cook-cum-helper are engaged by the State/UTs during
2013-14 for preparation and serving of Mid Day Meal to Children in Elementary Classes.
d) A common unit cost of construction of kitchen shed @ Rs.60,000 for the whole
country was impractical and also inadequate .Now the cost of construction of kitchen-cum-store
will be determined on the basis of plinth area norm and State Schedule of Rates.
The Department of School Education and Literacy vide letter No.1-1/2009-Desk(MDM)
dated 31.12.2009 had prescribed 20 sq.mt. plinth area for schools having upto 100
children. For every additional upto 100 children additional 4 sq.mt plinth area
will be added. States/UTs have the flexibility to modify the Slab of 100 children
depending upon the local condition.
e) Due to difficult geographical terrain of the Special category States the transportation
cost @ Rs.1.25 per quintal was not adequate to meet the actual cost of transportation
of foodgrains from the FCI godowns to schools in these States. On the request of
the North Eastern States the transportation assistance in the 11 Special Category
States (Northern Eastern States, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir and Uttarakhand)
have been made at par with the Public Distribution System (PDS) rates prevalent
in these States with effect from 1.12.2009.
f) The existing system of payment of cost of foodgrains to FCI from the Government
of India is prone to delays and risk. Decentralization of payment of cost of foodgrains
to the FCI at the district level from 1.4.2010 allowed officers at State and National
levels to focus on detailed monitoring of the Scheme.
8.41 cr in Primary and 3.36 cr Upper Primary children i.e a total of 11.77 cr children
were estimated to be benefited from MDM Scheme during 2009-10. 11.04 Crore children
were covered under MDM Scheme during 2009-10. During 2010-11, 11.36 Cr children
i.e 7.97 Cr. children in primary and 3.39 Cr. children in upper primary had been
covered in 12.63 lakhs institutions. During 2011-12 total coverage of children against
enrollment was 10.52 Crore (i.e. Prymary- 7.71 crore and Upper Primary 3.36 crore
children). During 2012-13, 10.68 Cr. children (Elementary level ) had been covered
in 12.12 lakh Schools. 10.45 Cr. children were covered in 11.58 lakh Schools during
2013-14.
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