Lok Sabha Question No. 39 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-02-03
Subject: Enhancement of Material Cost under PM POSHAN Scheme
Ministry: EDUCATION
Asked by: Shri Bhartruhari Mahtab, Shri Bidyut Baran Mahato, Smt. Kriti Devi Debbarman, Shri Naba Charan Majhi, Shri Manish Jaiswal, Smt. Shobhanaben Mahendrasinh Baraiya, Shri Pradeep Kumar Singh, Dr. Rajesh Mishra, Smt. Kamlesh Jangde, Shri Praveen Patel, Shri Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri, Shri Dilip Saikia, Shri Yogender Chandolia, Shri P P Chaudhary, Shri Lumbaram Choudhary, Shri Suresh Kumar Kashyap, Shri Anurag Singh Thakur, Shri Khagen Murmu, Shri Sunil Kumar, Shri Arun Govil, Shri Balabhadra Majhi, Shri Anurag Sharma, Shri Dineshbhai Makwana, Shri Parshottambhai Rupala

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION & LITERACY

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 39 ANSWERED ON 03.02.2025

## Enhancement of Material Cost under PM POSHAN Scheme

† 39. Dr. Rajesh Mishra:

Shri Sunil Kumar:

Shri Lumba Ram:

Shri Praveen Patel:

Smt. Kriti Devi Debbarman:

Shri Manish Jaiswal:

Shri Yogender Chandolia:

Shri Anurag Sharma:

Shri Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri:

Shri Dilip Saikia:

Shri P P Chaudhary:

Shri Pradeep Kumar Singh:

Shri Bidyut Baran Mahato:

Shri Anurag Singh Thakur:

Shri Suresh Kumar Kashyap:

Shri Bhartruhari Mahtab:

Shri Naba Charan Majhi:

Shri Khagen Murmu:

Shri Parshottambhai Rupala:

Smt. Kamlesh Jangde:

Shri Balabhadra Majhi:

Shri Dineshbhai Makwana:

Smt. Shobhanaben Mahendrasinh Baraiya:

Shri Arun Govil:

Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state:

- (a)  the objective behind increasing the material cost under the Prime Minister Poshan Shakti Nirman (PM POSHAN) Scheme;

- (b)  whether the increased material cost improve the quality of meals served to students under the PM POSHAN Scheme;

- (c)    whether  the  Government  plans  to  monitor  and  ensure  that  increased  material  cost  is effectively utilized in improving quality of meal;

- (d) the steps being taken by the Government to improve the level of education across the country including Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Assam and North-Eastern States under the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan and the PM POSHAN (erstwhile Mid-Day Meal) Scheme; and

(e) whether the Government proposes to formulate any Committee for the proper implementation of these schemes?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION (SHRI JAYANT CHAUDHARY)

- (a) to (c) : Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman (PM POSHAN) Scheme is implemented in partnership with States/ UTs for providing one hot cooked and nutritious meal to children studying  in  Balvatika  (just  before  class  I)  and  the  classes  I  to  VIII  of  Government  and Government-aided schools on all school working days. The objective behind increasing the material cost under PM POSHAN Scheme is to factor in inflation in the cost of ingredients e.g.  pulses,  vegetables,  cooking  oil,  other  condiments  and  fuel.  The  existing  rates  of material cost have been revised by based on Consumer Price Index- Rural Laborers (CPIRL) index by 13.70% to Rs. 6.19 per child per day for Bal Vatika & Primary Classes and Rs. 9.29 per child per day for Upper Primary Classes w.e.f. 1st  December, 2024. It will help the schools to provide all the nutrients as prescribed to students and improve quality of food.  The  Government  of  India  has  issued  detailed  guidelines  on  quality,  safety  and hygiene to ensure serving of good quality nutritious meal under the Scheme.  All the States/ UTs were advised to adhere to these Guidelines. These guidelines are available on official website https://pmposhan.education.gov.in.  The  guidelines  of  the  PM  POSHAN  Scheme, inter-alia, provides for instructions to schools to procure Agmark quality and branded items for  preparation  of  meals,  training  to  Cook-cum-Helpers,  tasting  of  meals  by  members  of School Management Committee including at least one teacher before serving the hot meal to  children.  In  addition,  the  States  and  UTs  are  advised  to  do  testing  of  meals  through NABL accredited laboratories. Section 28 of National Food Security Act, 2013 inter-alia envisages that every local authority, or any other authority or body, as may be authorized by the State Government, shall conduct or cause to be conducted, periodic social audits on the functioning of the scheme and cause to publicize its findings and take necessary action, in such manner as may be prescribed by the State Government. The States/UTs are required to  conduct  Social  Audit  in  all  districts  in  at  least  20  schools  or  2%  of  the  schools, whichever  is  higher  for  each  district.  The  responsibility  for  taking  action  and  ensuring complaisance  on  the  Social  Audit  findings  rests  with  the  State/UT  Nodal  Department implementing the PM POSHAN Scheme. The Food Corporation of India (FCI) is given responsibility for issue of food grains of best available quality, which will in any case be at least of Fair Average Quality (FAQ). The FCI appoints a Nodal Officer for each State to take care of various problems in supply of food grains under the PM POSHAN Scheme. The District Collector/CEO of Zila Panchayat ensures that food grains of at least FAQ are lifted after joint inspection by a team consisting of FCI and the nominee of the Collector and/or Chief Executive Officer, District Panchayat, and confirmation by them that the grain conforms  to  at  least  FAQ  norms.  Training  of  Cook-cum-Helpers  are  done  on  nutrition, cooking processes, health and hygiene, preparation of raw grains and vegetables, recipes, serving skills etc. in collaboration with Ministry of Tourism, Government of India through their Institutes of Hotel Management and Food Craft Institutes, FSSAI, State Agricultural Universities etc.

(d) :  Education  is  a  subject  in  the  concurrent  list  of  the  Constitution  and  the  majority  of schools are under administrative control of the respective State Government/UT administration. To  improve  quality  of  education,  learning  outcomes  and  better  nutrition  of  students,  the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 is implemented by Department of School Education & Literacy with States/UTs in a synchronized and systematic manner. The major initiatives and achievements of NEP 2020 includes:

- Samagra Shiksha: The Department of School Education & Literacy, Ministry of Education is implementing Samagra Shiksha from 2018-19 across the entire country. The scheme has been aligned with the recommendations of the National Education Policy (NEP), 2020. It aims  to  ensure  that  all  children  have  access  to  quality  education  with  an  equitable  and inclusive  classroom  environment  which  should  take  care  of  their  diverse  background, multilingual  needs,  different  academic  abilities  and  make  them  active  participants  in  a continuous learning process.
- National Initiative for Proficiency in Reading with Understanding and Numeracy (NIPUN BHARAT) launched on 5 th July 2021.
- 4-year integrated Teacher Education Programme (ITEP) has been notified by NCTE vide gazette notification dated 22.10.2021. For academic session 2024-25, 23 institutions have been recognized by NCTE for Phase 2 Piloting of ITEP.
- National  Curriculum  Framework  for  Foundational  Stage (NCF  FS) launched  on  20th October, 2022.
- Based on NCF, Learning Teaching Material (Jadui Pitara) and Textbooks for classes I and II launched on 20th February, 2023 and 5th July, 2023 respectively. Digital version of the Jadui Pitara also launched on 10th February, 2024.
- National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCF-SE) released on 23 rd August 2023. Textbooks for classes 3 and 6 for the academic year 2024-25 as per NCF-SE (2023) have been released.
- PARAKH: In pursuance of the recommendation  of  the NEP  2020,  the  National Assessment  Centre,  PARAKH  (Performance  Assessment,  Review,  and  Analysis  of Knowledge  for  Holistic  Development),  was  established  on  8th  February,  2023  by  the Ministry of Education under the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT)  to  establish  norms,  standards,  and  guidelines  for  student  assessment  and evaluation across all recognized school boards in the country and to ensure equivalence of academic standards among learners across all school boards.
- For Competency Based Assessment for Holistic Development, the Holistic Progress Card (HPC) for the Preparatory, Foundational, Middle and Secondary stage have been prepared and shared with all states and UTs.
- National Professional Standards for Teachers (NPST) document outlines the competencies that teachers should possess to effectively perform their roles released on 9th March 2024.
- National Mission for Mentoring (NMM)- 'Bluebook on NMM' released on 9 th  March 2024, talks  about  the  creation  of  a  large  pool  of  outstanding  professionals  willing  to provide mentoring to school teachers.
- Under PM eVIDYA , DIKSHA is one nation, one digital education infrastructure . All states/UTs  have  been  onboarded  in  DIKSHA.  DIKSHA  provides  quality  e-content  for school  education  in  States/UTs  and  QR  coded  Energized  Textbooks  for  all  grades (one

nation, one digital platform). DIKSHA currently hosts 7,080+ textbooks energized with QR codes, including 374 NCERT textbooks and ETBs. The e-Content is available in 108 Languages (101 Indian languages +7 Foreign Languages).

- DIET-  Centre  of  Excellence: The  NEP  2020  recognises  reinvigoration  of  DIETs  to change the capacity and work culture of these institutions and develop them into vibrant institutions  of  excellence.  Financial  assistance  under  Samagra  Shiksha  is  provided  to States/UTs for physical upgradation of all 613 functional DIETs in the country in a phased manner in the next five years. In the FY 2023-24, 125 DIETS across 33 States/UTs with an approximate budget of Rs. 92,320.18 Lakhs was approved.
- Pradhan  Mantri  Poshan  Shakti  Nirman (PM  POSHAN) Scheme  is  revamped  and extended  to  cover  students  of  Balvatika  in  addition  to  students  of  Classes  I-VIII  in Government and Government-aided Schools. It encourages setting up of School Nutrition Gardens (SNG) and strengthening of community participation through ' Tithi Bhojan' .
- Tithi  Bhojan :  Tithi  Bhojan  is  a  community  participation  programme  in  which  people provide special food to children on special occasions/festivals in addition to regular meal. Shiksha Saptah was conducted in Government and Government aided Schools across the entire  country  in  which  Tithi  Bhojan  was  provided  in  more  than  2  lakh  schools  to  more than 1.6 crore students.
- School Nutrition Gardens (SNGs) : Under the Scheme, development of School Nutrition Gardens in schools is being promoted, to give children first hand experience with nature and gardening. In 5.16 lakh schools, SNGs have been set up across the country.
- PM SHRI (PM Schools for Rising India) scheme launched on 07th Sep 2022. PM SHRI Schools are set up by strengthening the existing schools from amongst schools managed by Central Government/State/UT/local bodies. These schools are to showcase all the initiatives of National Education Policy 2020 and emerge as exemplar schools over a period of time, and also offer leadership to other schools in the neighbourhood. Under the scheme, there is a  provision  of  setting  up  of  more  than  14500  PM  SHRI  Schools  by  strengthening  the existing schools from amongst schools managed  by Central Government/State/UT Government/local bodies out of which 12,084 PM SHRI Schools have been selected so far.

(e):    In  order  to  improve  performance  and  extent  of  implementation,  the  PM  POSHAN Scheme  inter-alia  provides  elaborate  monitoring  mechanism  inter-alia  State  Steering-cumMonitoring Committee under the Chairpersonship of Chief Secretary, District level Committee  under  the  Chairpersonship  of  senior-most  MP  of  Lok  Sabha,  District  level Steering-cum-Monitoring Committee under the Chairpersonship of District Collector, Block Steering  cum  Monitoring  Committee under  the  chairpersonship  of  Sub  Divisional  Officer. For  ascertaining  and  ensuring  the  judicious  use  of  funds  released  under  Samagra  Shiksha there  are  inbuilt  checks,  counter-checks  and  internal  control  system  as  prescribed  in  the Manual on Financial Management and Procurement of Samagra Shiksha. Besides, there is an internal audit, statutory audit, concurrent audit and audit by State Accountant General. In the PRABANDH (Project Appraisal, Budgeting Achievements and Data Handling) System, the expenditure incurred under the difference interventions of the Samagra Shiksha is updated. A data  visualization  Dashboard  has  been  created  in  the  PRABANDH  system  for  display  of monthly status of physical and financial progress under the major interventions of Samagra Shiksha.

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