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PM POSHAN — The Mid-Day Meal That Keeps 11.80 Crore Children in School
Last verified: May 2026 · 8 min read · JaBaSu Knowledge Commons
At a Glance
| Parameter |
Detail |
| Full Name |
PM POSHAN Shakti Nirman (PM POSHAN) |
| Previous Name |
Mid-Day Meal Scheme (MDM) — renamed and reformed 2021 |
| Launched |
29 August 2021 (current form); Mid-Day Meal programme since 1995 |
| Nodal Ministry |
Ministry of Education, Dept. of School Education and Literacy |
| Status |
Active — Central scheme with state implementation |
| National Beneficiaries |
11.80 crore children (pre-primary/Balvatika to Class 8) |
| Schools covered |
Government and government-aided schools |
| Budget 2024-25 |
Rs. 12,467 crore (Central share); state shares additional |
| Cost Sharing |
60:40 Centre:State (general states); 90:10 (NE/special category) |
| Cooking Cost (Primary) |
Rs. 5.45/child/day (Odisha: state may top up) |
| Cooking Cost (Upper Primary) |
Rs. 8.17/child/day (Odisha: state may top up) |
| Official Portal |
mdm.nic.in |
| Odisha Implementation |
Department of School Education and Mass Education (DSEME) |
Name clarity: PM POSHAN Shakti Nirman is the current official name for what everyone calls the Mid-Day Meal (MDM) scheme. The content, structure, and beneficiary base are the same. The 2021 reform expanded it to include Balvatika (pre-primary classes) at primary schools and added a focus on millet inclusion and local food procurement. In Odisha, Mission Shakti SHGs are the primary cooking agents — this is a specific and well-documented state implementation feature.
What Is It?
PM POSHAN Shakti Nirman is India's school feeding programme — providing one hot cooked meal every school day to every child in government and government-aided schools from pre-primary (Balvatika) through Class 8. It is the largest school feeding programme in the world. It is also the most powerful tool available in India's arsenal against school dropout: multiple studies confirm that the meal is the single most effective driver of school enrolment and attendance among children from food-insecure households.
The numbers explain the scale: 11.80 crore children eat a government-provided hot meal at school every day that school is open. This is more than 2.5 times the population of Australia. For the majority of these children — whose families live below or near the poverty line — the mid-day meal is the most nutritionally adequate meal of their day.
The 2021 reform that renamed the programme "PM POSHAN" also made two significant expansions: extending coverage to Balvatika (pre-primary classes at primary schools, aligned with POSHAN 2.0's early childhood focus) and mandating local and seasonal procurement, including millets where appropriate, to improve nutritional quality and create market linkages for local tribal farmers.
What PM POSHAN Provides — the Entitlement
Every school day, every child in PM POSHAN-covered schools is entitled to:
- One hot cooked meal (not a dry ration take-home) prepared on school premises
- The meal must meet prescribed nutritional norms: minimum 450 calories and 12g protein (primary); 700 calories and 20g protein (upper primary)
- Cooked using clean fuel (LPG preferred; no biomass cooking in classrooms)
- Prepared by a cook-cum-helper employed specifically for this purpose
- Served in a clean, child-friendly space — ideally a separate kitchen and dining area
Components funded through PM POSHAN:
- Food grain (rice and wheat) — provided free by Food Corporation of India under NFSA entitlement
- Cooking cost (to cover vegetables, pulses, spices, oil, fuel) — the Central and state government contribution
- Cook-cum-helper salary (typically state funded)
- Kitchen devices (utensils, equipment, LPG connections)
- Kitchen-cum-store building construction
Odisha-Specific Implementation — the Mission Shakti Model
Odisha's implementation of PM POSHAN through Mission Shakti SHGs is one of the most significant and documented state-level innovations in the scheme's history — and a model that the national programme has pointed to for replication.
How it works: Mission Shakti Women's Self-Help Groups have been given the contract for cooking and serving the mid-day meal at government primary schools across Odisha. SHG members are employed as cook-cum-helpers, receive a stipend through the SHG, and the SHG receives the cooking cost payment as a collective income.
The dual impact: School nutrition improves because community women — who know the local food environment, can source local vegetables, and have a community accountability stake in the quality of food their children eat — cook better meals than contractors. SHG income increases because the cooking contract provides a reliable monthly revenue stream that builds the SHG's financial base for other activities.
The millet integration: Odisha's OMM (Odisha Millets Mission) has specifically integrated millet-based foods into the school mid-day meal in districts where OMM operates — ragi ladoos, millet porridge, and other millet-based preparations are included in the school menu. SHGs trained under both OMM and Mission Shakti serve as the processing and cooking link between tribal millet farmers and the school feeding system.
For NGOs: the Mission Shakti-PM POSHAN convergence is the clearest available example of how JaBaSu's three-way bridge model works in practice. The government scheme (PM POSHAN) + the women's institution (Mission Shakti SHG) + the agricultural programme (OMM) + the market mechanism (school procurement from SHGs) = community nutrition + women's income + tribal farmer market + child retention in school — simultaneously.
Who Is Covered?
All children enrolled in:
- Pre-primary classes (Balvatika) at government primary schools — newly added under 2021 reform
- Classes 1-5 (primary level) in government and government-aided schools
- Classes 6-8 (upper primary level) in government and government-aided schools
No means testing, no application, no beneficiary list. Every child present in school on a school day receives the meal. The programme is universal within its target school type — if the school is government or government-aided, the meal is available to all enrolled children.
Special provisions:
- Malnourished children (severe or moderate acute malnutrition) are entitled to additional nutritional supplements alongside the regular meal — convergence with POSHAN 2.0's SAM/MAM protocol
- Children with disabilities receive the meal without additional barriers — schools must accommodate their needs
- Children in tribal areas should receive meals with local and culturally appropriate foods where the state and school management committee choose to implement this provision
What NGOs Need to Know — the Practical Reality
1
Quality monitoring is the most critical NGO entry point. PM POSHAN's biggest implementation failure is quality. Food that meets the calorie requirement on paper (rice + dal once a day) is nutritionally adequate by official standards but is monotonous, unappetising, and insufficient in micronutrients. NGOs can conduct simple meal quality assessments — observing what is actually served, testing whether it meets the prescribed menu, checking ingredient quality — and share findings formally with Block Education Officers and School Management Committees (SMDCs).
2
The SMDCs are the community accountability mechanism — they are rarely functional. Every school must have a School Management and Development Committee with parent members who are supposed to taste the mid-day meal monthly and certify its quality. In most schools, SMDC meetings are irregular and the tasting-and-certification process is nominal. NGOs can support SMDC activation — helping parent members understand their right and responsibility to monitor meal quality and engage with the principal and Block Education Officer when standards slip.
3
Cook-cum-helper employment and payment delays are chronic. In Odisha, where Mission Shakti SHGs are the cooking unit, delays in cooking cost payment from government to SHGs translate directly into SHG financial stress. When the SHG's cooking cost arrears extend beyond two months, meal quality degrades. NGOs supporting Mission Shakti SHGs that cook mid-day meals should track payment arrears and escalate to the CDPO (for ICDS linkages) and Block Education Officer for timely release.
4
Millet integration is policy but implementation is patchy. The national PM POSHAN guidelines support millet inclusion and local seasonal procurement. In Odisha, OMM integration in some districts has made ragi a regular menu item. In others, it exists in policy but not in practice because SHG cooks haven't been trained in millet preparation or because ragi procurement hasn't been locally arranged. NGOs with OMM connections can specifically bridge this — facilitating TDCCOL ragi supply to SHGs cooking mid-day meals.
5
Out-of-school children don't get the meal — this is a targeting gap. The PM POSHAN meal is the incentive that keeps marginalised children in school. Children who have dropped out — precisely because they face the worst food insecurity — lose this meal. For NGOs running alternative education or outreach programmes for out-of-school children: the PM POSHAN meal is not available for them, which means NGO-run education programmes must independently arrange nutrition support to compete with the meal incentive that formal schooling provides.
How JaBaSu Helps NGOs Connect Their Communities
SMDC activation and monitoring support
JaBaSu provides partner NGOs with the PM POSHAN quality monitoring checklist, SMDC constitution guidelines, and the formal complaint pathway for reporting meal quality failures to Block Education Officers and OSEPA — enabling communities to become active monitors of their school's mid-day meal.
Mission Shakti-PM POSHAN cooking contract facilitation
For Mission Shakti SHGs in JaBaSu partner communities that are not yet engaged in mid-day meal cooking, JaBaSu facilitates the formal application process to the school's SMDC and Block Education Officer — including SHG registration documentation and cooking capacity verification.
Millet integration facilitation
JaBaSu connects partner NGOs working in both OMM and school nutrition spaces — specifically facilitating the linkage between TDCCOL ragi procurement and SHG school cooking programmes, creating the local millet value chain that OMM, Mission Shakti, and PM POSHAN are each designed to support but rarely achieve together.
Payment arrears escalation
When Mission Shakti SHG cooking cost payments from government are delayed beyond one month, JaBaSu's Government Interface team can formally escalate to the District Education Officer and DSEME — using the formal grievance mechanism to ensure timely payment and maintaining meal quality.