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PM POSHAN Shakti Nirman (formerly Mid-Day Meal Scheme)
Provides free cooked meals to children in government and government-aided schools, covering Classes I–VIII, to improve enrolment, attendance, and nutritional status.
What it does
The scheme provides one cooked meal per school day to students in government schools. Caloric and protein norms are set by the government. Cooking is typically done by women's self-help groups or school staff. The Supreme Court has played an active role in enforcing the scheme through ongoing orders in the PUCL v. Union of India case. The scheme was renamed PM POSHAN in 2021 and extended to pre-primary classes.
Who it covers
All children in Classes I–VIII (ages 6–14) enrolled in government and government-aided schools, as well as Madarsa and Maktab students covered under SSA. Extended to pre-primary (Balvatika) children from 2021.
Funding
Centrally sponsored: Centre provides food grain free of cost and bears a share of cooking costs; states bear remaining cooking costs and administrative expenses. Annual central outlay is approximately Rs 12,000–13,500 crore.
Scale
Over 120 million children in approximately 1.2 million schools receive meals on school days. The scheme is one of the world's largest school feeding programmes.
Criticism and debate
Incidents of poor food quality, contamination, and children falling ill have been reported across states. Cooking costs provided by the Centre have not kept pace with inflation. The scheme struggles with irregular supply chains in remote areas. Some states have substituted cooked meals with food packets or cash, which the Supreme Court has generally not permitted.
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Content is editorial draft pending verification against official scheme guidelines, ministry press releases, and independent evaluations. Last reviewed: 2026-07-02.