The Centre on Wednesday launched the Prime Minister POSHAN scheme or PM-POSHAN scheme for providing one cooked hot meal in government and government-aided schools and announced that it would spend Rs 130,795 crore on the scheme in the next five years. The scheme will replace the existing national programme for mid-day meal in schools or Mid-day Meal Scheme. The decision was taken during the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) meeting that was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The scheme will cover 11.8 crore students enrolled in Classes 1 to 8 in over 11.2 lakh schools across the country. “The scheme is for the five-year period 2021-22 to 2025-26 with the financial outlay of Rs 54061.73 crore from the Central government and Rs 31733.17 crore from state governments and UTs administration. The Central government will also bear the additional cost of Rs 45,000 crore on food grains. Therefore, the total budget of the scheme will be Rs 130794.9 crore,” the government said in a statement. The scheme will be extended to students studying in pre-primary or Balvatikas running in government and government aided primary schools. Currently, these students were not included in the scheme. The government will also promote nutritional gardens in schools. The social audit of the scheme has been made mandatory in all districts under the scheme. The scheme will be renewed after five years, an official added.
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said: “The Centre gives importance to nutrition for our new generation, especially school children and there should be proper nutritious food available, so today the cabinet has approved about one lakh 31 thousand crores for next five years from 2021-22 to 2025-26.” He also said that the first time, preschool children who will come to school in the 3-5 year age group are also added to the ‘PM POSHAN’ programme and that will be called ‘Balvatika’.
Apart from PM Poshan scheme and Balvatika, Pradhan also said that the Cabinet has also started another campaign “Tithi Bhojan”. “It is not only the responsibility of the government, but society should also participate in the mass movement,” he added. Pradhan further said that CBSE had called one crore children in 20 days from 17 September to 7 October guiding them to bring two tiffins and eat food together with underprivileged children in a government school, at least one day in a month and 68 lakh students have participated in this program.
Under PM POSHAN, mid-day meals have been extended to children of Balvatika in addition to children studying in Classed I to VIII in government and government-aided schools across India.
OTHER KEY CABINET DECISIONS
DOUBLING OF RAJKOT-KANALUS RAILWAY LINE: The doubling of the Rajkot-Kanalus railway line in Gujarat was approved during the Cabinet Committee meeting on Economic Affairs chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur on Wednesday. While addressing a press conference, Thakur said, “The total estimated cost of the project will be Rs 1,080.58 crore and the length of doubling of the line is 111.20 km.” Further, Thakur stated that the project will be completed in four years. “The single line BG section between Rajkot-Kanalus has become oversaturated and there is a need for additional parallel BG lines to ease out operational working. But now, doubling of the section will increase the capacity and more traffic can be introduced to the system,” he added. Thakur added that this would lead to the all-round development of the Saurashtra region in Gujarat.
DOUBLING OF NIMACH-RATLAM RAILWAY LINE: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday said that it has approved the doubling of the Nimach-Ratlam railway line in Madhya Pradesh during the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs meeting chaired by PM Modi. Thakur said that the total estimated cost of the project will be Rs 1,095.88 crore. “The total length of doubling the line is 132.92 km and the project will be completed in four years. The line capacity utilization of the Nimach-Ratlam section is up to 145.6% with maintenance blocks,” Thakur added further. The project will increase the capacity of the section, hence, more goods and passenger trains can be introduced to the system. “It will provide easy connectivity as well as boost tourism in the area as many historical sites including Fort of Unchagarh are situated here,” he said.
GREEN LIGHT TO ECGC IPO: Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal on Wednesday said that the Union Cabinet has approved the listing of state-owned Export Credit Guarantee Corporation (ECGC) Ltd through the initial public offer (IPO) on the stock exchanges. The minister made this announcement during the Cabinet briefing here. While addressing the press conference, Goyal said, “The Union Cabinet has approved the listing of Export Credit Guarantee Corporation Ltd. through the IPO on the stock exchange.” “The Cabinet also approved Rs 4,400 crore investment in ECGC Ltd in 5 years to provide support to exporters as well as banks,” the Union minister added further. The minister stated that the approved amount would be infused in instalments, thereby, increasing the capacity to underwrite risks up to Rs 88,000 crores and this will enable ECGC to issue covers that can support additional exports of Rs 5.28 lakh crore over the five-year period in line with the existing pattern. Goyal also said that this move will help in creating 59 lakh new jobs including 2.6 lakh in the formal sector and ECGC could be listed on the stock exchanges by the next fiscal year. ECGC was established by the Government of India under the Companies Act in 1957 to promote exports by providing credit insurance services to exporters against non- payment risks by the overseas buyers due to commercial and political reasons.
