A year after launching its initiative with much fanfare, the Punjab Mid-Day Meal Society (PMMS) is grappling with financial constraints, making it difficult to continue serving seasonal fruits to 19 lakh government school students across the state. Citing a shortage of funds, the society has indicated that it may have to discontinue fruit distribution from the next academic session.
According to official data, there is an unusual pattern in the fruit distribution schedule under the Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman (PM-POSHAN) scheme. The designated fruit distribution days often coincide with months having the highest number of school holidays. While PMMS authorities insist this is not a coincidence, they admit that days with maximum holidays were deliberately chosen to distribute fruits to save on costs.
The mid-day meal fruit initiative was introduced by PMMS in January last year, allocating ₹5 per student for purchasing seasonal fruits.
Under the PMMS scheme, government school students up to Class 8 are entitled to receive one fruit per week. However, records indicate that the fruit distribution has been inconsistent.
In January this year, schools were instructed to distribute kinnow on Saturdays. Despite there being four Saturdays in the month, students received the fruit only twice—on January 18 and 25. A government school head revealed that the first Saturday (January 4) was missed due to the winter break, while the second Saturday (January 11) coincided with a scheduled school closure.
Similarly, for February, PMMS released a schedule on January 28, fixing Wednesdays for fruit distribution. While the month has four Wednesdays, students will receive kinnow only twice—on February 5 and 19—due to gazetted holidays on February 12 (Ravidas Jayanti) and February 26 (Shivratri).
{{/usCountry}}Similarly, for February, PMMS released a schedule on January 28, fixing Wednesdays for fruit distribution. While the month has four Wednesdays, students will receive kinnow only twice—on February 5 and 19—due to gazetted holidays on February 12 (Ravidas Jayanti) and February 26 (Shivratri).
{{/usCountry}}A similar trend was observed last year. In October, fruits were to be distributed on Thursdays, but students received them only on two occasions—October 10 and 24—due to holidays on Maharaj Aggarsain Jayanti (October 3), Balmiki Jayanti (October 17), and Diwali (October 31).
In November and December, fruits were scheduled for distribution on Saturdays, but students again received them only twice each month due to second Saturdays and other holidays.
PMMS general manager Varinder Singh Brar acknowledged the financial difficulties. “Since there are no specific funds allocated for fruit distribution, we utilised unused portions of other funds. While the initiative received a positive response from students, financial constraints made it challenging to sustain. Fruit distribution days were selected strategically to minimise expenditure,” he admitted.
Caption: Kinnow being distributed to students as part of the mid-day meal scheme at a government school in Punjab’s Fazilka district. HT Photo