India's national school feeding program, launched by the central government under Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao on August 15, 1995 as the National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education, initially covering 2,408 administrative blocks before extending to the whole country by the 1997-98 school year. Popularly known as the Mid-Day Meal Scheme, the program provides free cooked meals to children in government and government-aided primary schools with the twin aims of reducing child malnutrition and encouraging enrollment and attendance among children from poor and disadvantaged backgrounds, and it was expanded in 2003 and 2008 to cover students through class VIII across government, government-aided, madrasa and alternative education settings. The program was renamed PM POSHAN in September 2021.
Facts
Launch YearSourced to the subject's own account Program StatusSourced to the subject's own accountActive nationwide, current name PM-Poshan Shakti Nirman (PM POSHAN) 1 Sponsoring BodySourced to the subject's own accountCentral Government of India, with costs shared alongside state governments (60 percent centre, 40 percent states) 1 Target PopulationSourced to the subject's own accountChildren in government and government-aided primary and upper primary schools, government-aided anganwadis, madrasas and maqtabs 1 Health GoalSourced to the subject's own accountImprove the nutritional status of primary school children, thereby improving the effectiveness of primary education 1 Geographic ScopeSourced to the subject's own accountIndia, nationwide; implemented across the whole country by the 1997-98 school year 1 Measured ResultsSourced to the subject's own accountServes 120 million children in over 1.27 million schools and Education Guarantee Scheme centres, the largest school feeding programme of its kind in the world 1 Program status (class)Sourced to the subject's own account Classification
Program KindSourced to the subject's own account Connections
Associated With
Delivers Practice
Entity-backed identity for the program-kind enum value this public health program already carries, resolved to a health practice by an explicit value-to-entity map (phase 3 bucket conversion, docs\design_entity_backed_browse_buckets_20260928.md). The program-kind fact itself stays on the program unchanged.
In the Other Atlases
- Also in Geography Atlas: Asia, found in there.
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Midday Meal Scheme
WikipediaInitiatives by the central government section, opening sentence
The government of India initiated the National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education (NP-NSPE) on 15 August 1995.
Finances section, cost-sharing sentence
The central and state governments share the cost of the Midday Meal Scheme, with the centre providing 60 percent and the states 40 percent.
Initiatives by the central government section, nationwide-expansion clause
By 1997-98, the scheme had been implemented across the country.
Initiatives by the central government section, objective sentence
The objective of the scheme is to help improve the effectiveness of primary education by improving the nutritional status of primary school children.
Lead paragraph, second sentence
The programme supplies free lunches on working days for children in government primary and upper primary schools, government-aided anganwadis (pre-school), madrasas and maqtabs.
Initiatives by the central government section, programme-name clause of first sentence
The government of India initiated the National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education (NP-NSPE) on 15 August 1995.
Lead paragraph, opening sentence, current-name clause
The Midday Meal Scheme, or PM-Poshan Shakti Nirman in Hindi, is a free school meal programme in India designed to enhance the nutritional status of school-age children nationwide.
Lead paragraph, scale sentence
Serving 120 million children in over 1.27 million schools and Education Guarantee Scheme centres, the Midday Meal Scheme is the largest of its kind in the world.
- Wikipedia 'Midday Meal Scheme': 'is a free school meal programme in India...serving 120 million children'; checked 2026-09-27.
Program classification, entity description sentence
India's national school feeding program, launched by the central government under Prime Minister P.
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