‘Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman (PM POSHAN)’ is a centrally sponsored scheme for providing one hot cooked meal in Government and Government – aided Schools from 2021-22 to 2025-26. The Scheme is being implemented by the Ministry of Education. Under the Scheme, there is provision of hot cooked meal to children of pre-schools or Bal Vatika (before class I) in primary schools also in addition to the 11.80 crore children of classes I to VIII studying in 11.20 lakh schools. The Scheme is implemented across the country covering all the eligible children without any discrimination of gender and social class.
The main objectives of the PM POSHAN Scheme (earlier known as Mid-Day Meal Scheme) are to address two of the pressing problems for majority of children in India, viz. hunger and education by improving the nutritional status of eligible children in Government and Government-aided schools as well as encouraging poor children, belonging to disadvantaged sections, to attend school more regularly and help them concentrate on classroom activities.
Nutrition and food norms under the scheme are as under:
S. No.
Items
Primary
Upper Primary
Nutrition norm per child per day
1.
Calorie
450
700
2.
Protein
12 gms
20 gms
Food norms per child per day
1.
Food grains
100 gms
150 gms
2.
Pulses
20 gms
30 gms
3.
Vegetables
50 gms
75 gms
4.
Oil & fat
5 gms
7.5 gms
5.
Salt & condiments
As per need
As per need
2. Targets and Objectives of PM Poshan Scheme
Government launched POSHAN Abhiyaan (Prime Minister's Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nutrition) on 8th March 2018 to address the problem of malnutrition in the country. The goals of POSHAN Abhiyaan are to achieve improvement in nutritional status of Children from 0-6 years, Adolescent Girls, Pregnant Women and Lactating Mothers, in a time bound manner with fixed targets as under:
S.No
Objective
Target
1.
Prevent and reduce Stunting in children (0- 6 years)
@ 2% p.a.
2.
Prevent and reduce under-nutrition (underweight prevalence) in children (0-6 years)
@ 2% p.a.
3.
Reduce the prevalence of anaemia among young Children (6-59 months)
@ 3% p.a.
4.
Reduce the prevalence of anaemia among Women and Adolescent Girls in the age group of 15-49 years
@ 3% p.a.
5.
Reduce Low Birth Weight (LBW)
@ 2% p.a.
The Abhiyaan aims to reduce malnutrition in the country in a phased manner, through a life cycle approach, by adopting a synergized and result oriented approach.
3. Various additional implementations under PM Poshan
Apart from providing hot cooked meal/Food Security Allowance (FSA), Department of School Education and Literacy has taken several steps as mentioned below:
Hot cooked meal/FSA is being provided during drought (districts declared drought) and during Pandemic period.
Setting up of School Nutrition (Kitchen) Gardens in every school, for the inclusion of nutritious green leafy vegetables and fruits in the diet of the school children.
Provision of supplementary nutrition viz. eggs, fruits, chikkis etc. in the aspirational districts and districts with higher prevalence of anemia (as per NFHS data) under flexi component of the scheme.
Inclusion of millet's in the meal under PM POSHAN. (Advisory has been issued to States and UTs)
Inclusion of ‘Ayurvedic products/items’ in the meal of PM POSHAN.
Provision of full meal/additional items under ‘Tithi Bhojan’ (An initiative in which the community provides meal/additional food items etc. on birthdays, anniversary, days of National importance etc.).
Health check-up of school children are being carried out under Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram of Ministry of Health & Family Welfare. Provision of Deworming medicines biannually under National Deworming day, and provision of Iron and Folic Acid tablets under WIFS (Weekly Iron & Folic Acid Supplementation). These activities ae being carried out in convergence with Ministry of Health & Family Welfare.
Apart from these some of the States and UTs are also providing additional food items viz., eggs, fruits, milk etc. from their own State/UT budgets.
