Focusing on Nutrition for the Young Ones

• The State government has issued a formal order stating that eggs,bananas or groundnut chikki would be provided as supplementary nutrition for the children under the Pradhan ManthriShakthiNirmanprogramme (PM POSHAN).
• It was earlier known as Mid-Day Meal Scheme.
• This programme was already in operation of Kalyana Karnataka districts like Bidar, Ballari, Yadgir, Koppal, Kalaburagi, Raichur and Vijayapura.
• Now this plan will extend to all government and aided schools across the State.

• Now the students will get egg, banana or chikki with midday meals weekly twice.

Pradhan ManthriShakthiNirman Programme

• The Government has approved the Centrally Sponsored Scheme ‘Pradhan MantriPoshan Shakti Nirman (PM POSHAN)’ for providing one hot cooked meal in Government and Government – aided Schools till
• The Scheme is being implemented by the Ministry of Education.
• Objective: The main objectives of the PM POSHAN Schemeis to address two of the pressing problems for 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.
• Implementation:The Scheme is implemented across the country covering all the eligible children without any discrimination of gender and social class.

Nutrition and food norms under the scheme are as under:

Potential Benefits of the programme

• Provide wholesome food under Mid-day meals: To maintain a balanced diet for children under age group from class 1 to 8 needs major attention for their physical and mental development.
• Segregated meals for both Vegetarian and Non-Vegetarian children to promote protein consumption to reduce

Other Government Interventions

• POSHAN Abhiyaan: Aims to reduce malnutrition in a phased manner, through a life cycle approach, by adopting a synergised and result oriented approach. All these schemes address in one or other aspects related to nutrition and have the potential to improve nutritional outcomes in the country.
• Pradhan MantriMatruVandanaYojana under the Umbrella Integrated Child Development Services Scheme (ICDS) as targeted interventions for Children under 6 years, Pregnant Women and Lactating Mothers and Adolescent Girls, throughout the country.
• Mission Poshan 2.0, an integrated nutrition support programme has been announced in budget 2021-22 for all States/UTs.
  • It seeks to strengthen nutritional content, delivery, outreach and outcomes with focus on developing practices that nurture health, wellness and immunity to disease and malnutrition.
  • Steps have been taken to improve nutritional quality and testing in accredited labs, strengthen delivery and leverage technology under Poshan Tracker to improve governance.