PM POSHAN
What this is
PM POSHAN is a centrally sponsored scheme by the Department of School Education & Literacy, Ministry of Education. Under this scheme, one hot cooked meal will be provided to the children studying in Government and Government – aided schools. The Scheme is implemented by the Ministry of Education.
In detail
PM POSHAN is a centrally sponsored scheme by the Department of School Education & Literacy, Ministry of Education. Under this scheme, one hot cooked meal will be provided to the children studying in Government and Government – aided schools. The Scheme is implemented across the country covering all the eligible children without any discrimination of gender and social class.
> Objective:
The main objectives of the PM POSHAN Abhiyaan are to address two of the pressing problems for the majority of children in India, viz. hunger and education by improving the nutritional status of eligible children in Government and Government-aided schools as well as encouraging poor children, belonging to disadvantaged sections, to attend school more regularly and help them concentrate on classroom activities.
POSHAN Abhiyaan is one of the many schemes under the umbrella scheme "Integrated Child Development Services Scheme (ICDS)". ICDS also includes Anganwadi Services Scheme, Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana, and Scheme for Adolescent Girls.
Who qualifies
- The applicant must be a citizen of India.
- The applicant must be studying in a Primary or Upper Primary class (Class 1st to Class 8th) in a Government or a Government-aided school.
What you get
Nutrition norm per child per day:
- Primary: Calorie – 450; Protein - 12 gms
- Upper Primary: Calorie – 700; Protein - 20 gms
Food norms per child per day:
- Primary: Food grains - 100 gms; Pulses - 20 gms; Vegetables - 50 gms; Oil & fat - 5 gms, Salt & condiments - As per need.
- Upper Primary: Food grains - 150 gms; Pulses - 30 gms; Vegetables - 75 gms; Oil & fat – 7.5 gms, Salt & condiments - As per need.
Under the Scheme, there is the provision of hot cooked meals to children of pre-schools or Bal Vatika (before class I) in primary schools also in addition to the 11.80 crore children of classes I to VIII studying in 11.20 lakh schools.
What the CAG’s reports record
| Began | 15 August 1995 named in the report “Mid-Day Meal Scheme” under Ministry of Human Resource Development the register’s sources differ: myScheme: open date 2018-03-08 (myScheme's open date is 8 March 2018, neither the 1995 launch nor the 2021 renaming) | Comptroller and Auditor General of India, Report for the year ended 31 March 2011, Performance Audit on Public Distribution System in Nagaland, Government of Nagaland, para 9.4.1, p. 54. |
| Began | 1995 named in the report “National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education (Mid Day Meal)” under Government of India the register’s sources differ: myScheme: open date 2018-03-08 (myScheme's open date is 8 March 2018, neither the 1995 launch nor the 2021 renaming) | Comptroller and Auditor General of India, Report for the year ended 31 March 2011, District Jammu, Government of Jammu and Kashmir State (Upto 30-Oct-2019), para 5.2.2, p. 37. |
| Began | October 1995 named in the report “National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education (Mid Day Meal)” under Government of India the register’s sources differ: myScheme: open date 2018-03-08 (myScheme's open date is 8 March 2018, neither the 1995 launch nor the 2021 renaming) | Comptroller and Auditor General of India, Report of 2013, District Ludhiana, Government of Punjab, para 4.5.1, p. 23. |
| Began | 15 August 1995, centrally sponsored, initially in 2,408 blocks named in the report “National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education (Mid-Day Meal)” the register’s sources differ: myScheme: open date 2018-03-08 (myScheme's open date is 8 March 2018, neither the 1995 launch nor the 2021 renaming) | Comptroller and Auditor General of India, Report of 2026, Performance Audit of Implementation of POSHAN including Integrated Child Development Services and Mid-Day Meal for the year ended March 2023, Government of Odisha, Executive Summary, p. ix. |
| Began | 15 August 1995 named in the report “National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education (Mid-day Meal Scheme)” the register’s sources differ: myScheme: open date 2018-03-08 (myScheme's open date is 8 March 2018, neither the 1995 launch nor the 2021 renaming) | Comptroller and Auditor General of India, Report of 2015, Report of the Examiner of Local Accounts on Urban Local Bodies for the year ending March 2013, Government of West Bengal, para 6.2, p. 42. |
| Renamed | Revised 2004 and 2006; renamed National Programme of Mid-Day Meal in Schools, September 2007 named in the report “Mid-Day Meal Scheme” under Government of India | Comptroller and Auditor General of India, Report No. 1 of 2016, General and Social Sector, Government of Uttar Pradesh, para 2.2.1, p. 33. |
| Funding | Cooking cost shared Centre 60 : State 40 named in the report “Mid-Day Meal Scheme” | Comptroller and Auditor General of India, Report of 2026, Performance Audit of Implementation of POSHAN including Integrated Child Development Services and Mid-Day Meal for the year ended March 2023, Government of Odisha, Chapter IV (Conclusion), p. 93. |
| Implemented by | Department of School Education, Government of Nagaland named in the report “Mid-Day Meal Scheme” under Ministry of Human Resource Development | Comptroller and Auditor General of India, Report for the year ended 31 March 2011, Performance Audit on Public Distribution System in Nagaland, Government of Nagaland, Executive Summary, p. vii. |
not about the scheme.
Provenance
| schemeName | PM POSHAN - Prime Minister's Overarching Scheme For Holistic Nourishment | myScheme · 2026-10-17 |
| schemeOpenDate | 2018-03-08 | myScheme · 2026-10-17 |
| schemeCloseDate | ... | not published at source |
| nodalMinistryName | Ministry of Education | myScheme · 2026-10-17 |
| dbtScheme | False | myScheme · 2026-10-17 |
| achievement data | ... | no source publishes this for any central scheme |