The Ministry of Education has asked state governments and union territories to procure kitchen items for midday meals in bulk through the Centre’s e- Marketplace (GeM) portal. The Central Government flagged delay in procuring of kitchen items like stoves and other necessary items. In an effort to curb further delays, the centre has suggested states to decentralise procurement at the school or block level.
The provisions of the midday meal or PM Poshan scheme explicitly stipulate that the states are allowed to choose a different route. At the same time, the guidelines encourage states to buy such things at the block level rather than through centralised bulk orders. In a letter to the states, the Education Ministry remined that decentralised procurement at the school or block level was preferred to avoid delay. However, states were free to opt for different paths to receive the consignment for cost effectiveness apart from “uniformity of quality, standards and specifications”.
The letter suggested the States and UTs to acquire kitchen related items through Government-e-Marketplace (GeM) at https://gem.gov.in/. Further the ministry called the e- marketplace a transparent & effective public procurement portal. Apart from GeM portal, Centre has pressed states to procure pulses for the scheme through NAFED, the apex organisation of marketing cooperatives for agricultural produce.
Financial aid for kitchenware is now subject to conditions and enrollment as of 2019. Accordingly, up to Rs 10,000 can be spent on stoves, chulhas, containers, and utensils in schools with up to 50 kids enrolled. For schools with 51–150 students enrolled, the comparable sum is Rs 15,000; for schools with 151-250 students, Rs 20,000; and for schools with 250+ students, Rs 25,000.
PM- Poshan Scheme
The Council for the Curriculum, Examinations & Assessment passed PM- Poshan scheme for providing one hot cooked meal in Government and Government-aided schools from 2021-22 to 2025-26. the project was earlier known as National Programme for Mid-Day Meal in Schools’ popularly known as Mid-Day Meal Scheme. As mentioned on its web portal, the scheme covers about 11.80 crore children studying in 11.20 lakh schools across the country. During financial year 2020-21, Government of India invested more than ₹ 24,400 crore in the scheme, including cost of about ₹ 11,500 crore on food grains.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by Prime Minister has approved the continuation of the national scheme of PM POSHAN in Schools for the five-year period 2021-22 to 2025-26 with the financial outlay of ₹ 54,061.73 crore from the Central Government and ₹ 31,733.17 crore from State Governments & UT administrations. Central Government will also bear additional cost of about ₹ 45,000 crore on food grains. Therefore, the total scheme budget will amount to ₹ 1,30,794.90 crore.
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