Midday meal cooking cost hiked after finance ministry nod
The cost has been revised following recommendations by a review committee constituted last year that included representatives from the ministries of education, finance and labour, besides independent experts.
The central government has increased the cost of cooking school midday meals by 9.6% from October 1 that will be valid for financial year 2022-23, the education ministry has told the state governments and union territories, which will offer some relief to school authorities struggling to meet the costs at a time of high inflation.
The cost has been revised following recommendations by a review committee constituted last year that included representatives from the ministries of education, finance and labour, besides independent experts.
The revision was conveyed to concerned officials of all states and union territories by G Vijaya Bhaskar, director of PM POSHAN, the official name for the world’s largest school lunch programme, on Friday.
The education ministry had received a nod from the finance ministry via office memorandum dated September 27, an education ministry official said. “As per norms, the cost should be revised every year. But due to the pandemic, the revision could not happen last year. The ministry will revise the material cost every year from now on,” the official said, wishing to remain unnamed.
The scheme covers some 118 million students of classes 1-8 in 1.1 million schools. It also covers pre-primary students.
The cost of cooking the midday meal was last revised in 2020. It was increased from ₹4.48 to ₹4.97 per student per school day for primary classes between 1 and 5, and ₹6.71 to ₹7.45 for upper primary classes between 6 and 8.
The daily cooking cost for pre-primary and primary classes have now been revised to ₹5.45 per child, and for upper primary classes it has been increased to ₹8.17 per child, as per Bhaskar’s letter.
Under the PM POSHAN scheme, the cost of cooking gets the largest allocation among all components, including the prices of ingredients such as cereals, pulses, vegetables, cooking oil and other condiments.
The Centre shares the cost with states and union territories in a 60:40 ratio and contributes 100% in union territories without a legislature. For northeastern states, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, and the union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, the ratio is 90:10. The states and union territories are allowed to contribute more than their prescribed share.
The cost has been revised at a time when school officials from several states and UTs have raised concerns over the impact of food inflation on the midday meal programme.
“We welcome the government’s decision to increase the cooking cost at a time when the price of almost everything has increased,” said Apurva Handa, principal of a government school in West Bengal. “We were finding it really difficult to continue with the 2020 cooking cost in 2022. However, we were expecting at least a 12% to 15% hike.”
