New Delhi, July 21 (IANS) The Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman (PM POSHAN) Scheme, earlier known as the mid-day meal scheme, covers about 11 crore children in more than 10.35 lakh schools across India, said Union Minister of Education Dharmendra Pradhan in Parliament on Monday.

PM POSHAN scheme is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme implemented in partnership with the States and UTs for providing one hot cooked and nutritious meal to all children studying in Bal Vatika (just before class I) and classes I to VIII of government and government-aided schools.

It aims to provide nutritional support and enhance the school participation of students.

“The scheme serves 29,22,160 students studying in Balvatika; 6,58,16,610 students in classes I to V; and 4,12,07,772 students in classes VI-VIII,” said Pradhan, in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha.

“The Budget Estimates of the Scheme are about Rs 12,500 crore, and 100 per cent foodgrains to the tune of 26 lakh MTs at an approximate cost of Rs 9,000 crore have been supplied by the Government of India through Food Corporation of India (FCI),” he added.

In addition, the Centre in April announced enhancing the ‘Material Cost’ of the PM POSHAN Scheme by 9.50 per cent. Under the new rates, applicable across all the states/UTs from May 1, the Central government bears the additional cost of approximately Rs 954 crore in FY26.

Further, Pradhan also informed that more than 24 lakh Cook-cum-Helpers (CCHs) are engaged under the Scheme. Of these, over 90 per cent are women.

“Under the Scheme, 9.11 lakh (97 per cent) Kitchen-cum-Stores (KCS) have been constructed against the sanctioned 9.41 lakh KCS all over India,” the Union Minister said.

The Scheme also grants a provision of 5 per cent of the total recurring budget as the flexi component to be used by the States/UTs as per their requirement. It may be used for setting up School Nutrition Gardens and provision of Supplementary Nutrition interventions viz., chikki, eggs, milk, fruits, and additional food items, etc., in identified districts.

Pradhan noted that more than 6.28 lakh schools have set up School Nutrition Gardens.

–IANS

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