Lok Sabha Question No. 46 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-12-01
Subject: Students Covered under PM POSHAN Scheme
Ministry: EDUCATION
Asked by: Shri Selvam G, Shri C N Annadurai

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

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO-46

ANSWERED ON- 01/12/2025

## Students Covered under PM POSHAN Scheme

## 46. Shri Selvam G:

Shri C N Annadurai:

Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state:

(a) the number of Government and Government-aided schools and total number of students covered under the PM POSHAN Scheme in the districts of Kanchipuram and Tiruvannamalai in Tamil Nadu;

(b) whether the Government has conducted any evaluation to assess the impact of the PM POSHAN Scheme on attendance, enrolment and nutritional status of children in said districts and if so, the details thereof;

(c) whether School Nutrition Gardens have been established and social audits conducted in all schools under the scheme in these districts, if so, the details thereof;

(d) the details of steps taken to ensure the use of locally grown and nutritious food items under the 'Vocal for Local' initiative in Kanchipuram; and

(e) the measures taken/proposed to be taken by the Government to improve meal quality, infrastructure and monitoring under the PM POSHAN Scheme in rural and disadvantaged areas of these districts?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION

## (SHRI JAYANT CHAUDHARY)

(a):  Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman (PM POSHAN) Scheme is one of the foremost rights  based  Centrally  Sponsored  Scheme  implemented  in  partnership  with  the  States  and Union  Territories  (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.  The Scheme covers about 11 crore children in more than 10.35 lakh schools in all the States/ UTs. The overall responsibility for providing hot cooked and nutritious meal to the eligible children lies with the State Governments and Union Territory (UT) Administrations. For FY 2025-26, budget allocation for the PM Poshan Scheme is Rs. 12,500 crore by Government of India and the State/ UT share as per the sharing pattern is around Rs. 8,500 crore including additional funds for Honorarium to Cook-cum-Helpers and Supplementary Nutrition items. The foodgrain allocation by Government of India is 24.15 lakh MTs which costs around Rs. 9000 crore. Thus overall allocation for the PM Poshan Scheme for FY 2025-26 is more than Rs. 30,000 crore including more than Rs. 21,500 crore made by Government of India.

The  number  of  Government  and  Government-aided  schools  and  total  number  of students covered under the PM POSHAN Scheme are:

| District       |   Government Schools |   Government-Aided Schools | Total Students   |
|----------------|----------------------|----------------------------|------------------|
| Kanchipuram    |                  586 |                         79 | 51,556           |
| Tiruvannamalai |                 1960 |                        178 | 1,46,446         |

(b): Government of Tamil Nadu informed that they have conducted an Evaluation study through  Department  of  Evaluation  and  Applied  Research,  Tamil  Nadu  and  based  on  the recommendations of the evaluation the menu was revised. Government of India through NITI Aayog has also conducted assessment of the Scheme.

(c) & (d): To give firsthand experience with nature, gardening and to inculcate the habit of eat right among the students School Nutrition Gardens (SNGs) have been set up under the Scheme. In Kanchipuram district 413 school kitchen garden and in Tiruvannamalai district 1399  kitchen  garden  have  been  established.  Social  Audit  was  conducted  in  20  schools  of Kanchipuram and 41 schools of Tiruvannamalai districts.

In  order  to  improve  the  efficiency  and  effectiveness  of  the  scheme,  Government approved  several  initiatives  including  'Vocal  for  Local'  under  which  States  and  UTs  are encouraged to decide menu suitable to the local conditions within the prescribed nutrition and food norms and to procure locally grown food items like millets, vegetables, condiments etc. from Farmers' Producers Organizations, Federation of Women's Self-Help Groups etc. so as to  promote  local  employment  generation  and  economic  development  while  simultaneously improving  the  nutrition  standards.  Government  of  Tamil  Nadu  has  informed  that  District Collectors have the authority to select and include locally available iron-rich vegetables such as drumstick, moringa leaves, spinach and other green leafy vegetables, alongside the fixed menu.

(e): The Government of India has issued detailed guidelines to improve the implementation of  the  scheme  to  all  the  States/UTs.  These  guidelines  are  available  on  official  website https://pmposhan.education.gov.in . These guidelines, 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 (SMC) including at least one teacher before serving the hot meal to children. Further, it provides for testing of food samples by Government Food Research Laboratory or any laboratory accredited or recognized by law to ensure that the meals meet nutritional standards and quality. The Food Corporation of India (FCI) is given responsibility for making available food grains of best available  quality,  meeting  the  parameters  of  Fair  Average  Quality  (FAQ).  Under  the  PM POSHAN  Scheme, inspection by State officials is mandatory to ensure effective implementation, quality, and hygiene. States and  UTs have established specific monitoring mechanisms.

The  Scheme guidelines  provides  for  construction  and  repair  of  Kitchen-cum-Stores (KCS). Funds for construction and repair of KCS are released to States/ UTs based on the proposal received from the State Governments and UTs.

The scheme also provides elaborate monitoring mechanism i.e. Empowered Committee under the Chairpersonship of Hon'ble Union Education Minister, Programme Approval Board (PAB)  under  the  Chairpersonship  of  Secretary  (DoSE&L),  State  Steering-cum-Monitoring Committee  under  the  Chairpersonship  of  Chief  Secretary,  District  level  Steering-cumMonitoring  Committee  under  the  Chairpersonship  of  District  Collector.  The  PM  Poshan Guidelines  provides  a  District  Level  Committee  under  the  Chairmanship  of  senior  most Member of Parliament (MP) of the district to monitor the scheme on quarterly basis.

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