Cabinet approves Rs 1.31 lakh crore PM POSHAN Scheme for school students

Representational Image (Reuters)

The cabinet on September 29 approved a Rs. 1.31 lakh crore nutrition-focussed scheme for students.

The Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman Yojana is expected to benefit 11.80 crore students from over 11.20 lakh government and government aided schools in the country.

PM POSHAN will have a financial outlay of 54,061 crore from the Central government and Rs. 31,733.17 crore form the states and union territories have been approved. The Central government will bear additional cost of Rs. 45,000 crore on food grains.

Addressing the briefing, Union Minister Sports, Youth Affairs and Minister of Information and Broadcasting said that the scheme will be operational for 5 years from 2021-22 to 2025 -26.

Under the scheme, mid day meals will be provided in the schools.

PM-POSHAN scheme will subsume the existing Mid-day meal scheme. It will be run in partnership with state governments, Thakur said.

The government will also promote School Nutrition Gardens in schools to give children first hand experience with nature and gardening.

"Special provision is made for providing supplementary nutrition items to children in aspirational districts and districts with high prevalence of Anemia," Ministry of Education said in a statement.

Farmers Producer Organizations and Women Self Help Groups will be involved in the implementation of scheme under Aatma Nirbhar Bharat, the ministry said.

Social audit will be made mandatory for all the districts under the scheme.