Lok Sabha Question No. 2725 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2026-03-09
Subject: Poor Quality of Mid-Day Meals in Bihar
Ministry: EDUCATION
Asked by: Shri Kaushalendra Kumar, Shri Dinesh Chandra Yadav

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO2725

ANSWERED ON- 09.03.2026

## Poor Quality of Mid-Day Meals in Bihar

†2725. Shri Kaushalendra Kumar: Shri Dinesh Chandra Yadav:

Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state:

- (a) the amount of fund released to Bihar for Mid-Day Meal during the last ten years, year-wise;
- (b) whether the Government proposes to take any steps to maintain the quality of mid-day meals as there are complaints of poor quality of mid-day meals being provided in the said State; and
- (c) if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION

## (SHRI JAYANT CHAUDHARY)

- (a)  to  (c):  The  central  assistance  released  to  Bihar  during  last  ten  years  under  PM  Poshan  is  as follows:

| Year    |   Central Assistance Released (Rs in lakh) |
|---------|--------------------------------------------|
| 2014-15 |                                   136532   |
| 2015-16 |                                   120013   |
| 2016-17 |                                   114257   |
| 2017-18 |                                    97871.6 |
| 2018-19 |                                   112449   |
| 2019-20 |                                   109313   |
| 2020-21 |                                   139248   |
| 2021-22 |                                   103016   |
| 2022-23 |                                    76399.1 |
| 2023-24 |                                    92323.5 |
| 2024-25 |                                   142911   |

Education  is  part  of  the  Concurrent  list  of  the  Constitution  and  most  of  the  Government Schools  and  School  Boards  are  under  the  administration  of  the  State/  UT  Government.  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  overall responsibility  for  providing  hot  cooked  and  nutritious  meal  to  the  eligible  children  lies  with  the State Governments and Union Territory Administrations.

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 are advised to adhere to these Guidelines. 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 Cookcum-Helpers, tasting of  meals by members of School Management Committee 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).  The  Guidelines,  inter-alia,  provides  for  training  of Cook-cum-Helpers on nutrition, cooking processes, health and hygiene, preparation of raw grains and vegetables, recipes, serving skills etc. States/ UTs provide training to CCHs in collaboration with  Institutes  of  Hotel  Management,  Food  Craft  Institutes,  FSSAI,  State  Universities  etc.  Many States/ UTs conduct Cooking Competitions and also give cash prizes to the winners to encourage them  to  cook  varied  and  nutritious  meals.  The  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. The guidelines also envisage for all children in the school to wash their hands with soap.

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-cum- Monitoring 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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