Mid-day meal scheme loses 36 lakh children in a year; 19 states, UTs asked to review

PM POSHAN: Over 36 lakh children across 24 states and union territories have fallen off the mid-day meal programme in just one year, from the 2023-24 financial year to FY 2024-25. The department of school education and literacy, ministry of education, has asked 19 states and UTs, including Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar and Gujarat, to investigate and report by June 30, 2025.

The fall in numbers were revealed in the minutes of the 2025-26 Project Approval Board (PAB) meetings for the mid-day meal scheme, now known as Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman or PM POSHAN). While the decline in numbers follows the trend of decline in enrolment – over 47 lakh across 24 states and UTs – in six of the 10 states with the highest declines, the fall in MDM scheme coverage is higher than the drop in enrolment. The difference is over 34 lakh children.

The PAB meetings are held for schemes for which funding is shared between the union government and the state; attended by officials from both governments, they are for reviewing the implementation of the scheme and budgeting for the next financial year. With a few exceptions, most of the PAB meetings for the 2025-26 financial year took place in late April.

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"The additional secretary, DoSE&L, expressed deep concern over the reduction in enrolment and advised the UT (sic) to review the above reduction of enrolment and submit a report by 30th June 2025,” say the minutes of the meeting with West Bengal and this is repeated in practically every record of meetings where a sharp decline in mid-day meal programme coverage was noted.

States not asked to report despite seeing fall in numbers include Rajasthan, Assam, Kerala, Mizoram and Puducherry. Careers360 examined the PAB meeting minutes of 34 states and UTs; records of meetings with Madhya Pradesh and Ladakh are not public yet.

Midday Meal: States with big drops

Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Rajasthan and Assam have recorded some of the highest drops in both enrolment and coverage under the mid-day meal scheme.

In Uttar Pradesh, enrolment declined by 21.83 lakh students, with a reduction of 5.41 lakh in coverage; Bihar reported a drop of 6.14 lakh in enrolment and 4.91 lakh in coverage; and Rajasthan recorded a fall of 5.64 lakh in enrolment and 3.27 lakh in coverage.

In the case of West Bengal and Assam, the fall in mid-day meal programme coverage exceeds the drop in enrolment. West Bengal saw a decrease of 4.01 lakh in enrolment but nearly twice that, 8.04 lakh, in midday meal coverage; Assam reported a decline of 1.68 lakh in enrolment and 4.78 lakh in coverage.

The 10 states and UTs with the highest declines together account for a drop of 34.4 lakh in coverage.

PM POSHAN in other states

Several other states also faced noticeable declines.

Karnataka reported 2 lakh fewer students enrolled and a reduction of 3 lakh in coverage under PM POSHAN. In Tamil Nadu, enrolment dropped by 1.65 lakh and coverage by 1.93 lakh. Gujarat, Delhi and Punjab also registered reductions, prompting the department to direct similar reviews and report submissions.

The 24 states and UTs recorded a cumulative drop of 47,12,139 in enrolment and 36,34,359 children in school meal coverage between FY 2023–24 and 2024–25. The state-wise break-up is as shown below.

MDM Scheme in 24 States: Decline in enrolment, coverage (FY 2023–24 to 2024–25)

States like Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura, Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Puducherry, Andaman and Nicobar Island, Daman and Diu, Uttar Pradesh and Chandigarh also saw enrolment and coverage declines, a total of 19 states with each state being advised to submit an official review by June 30, 2025.

MDM Scheme: Some states show growth

In contrast to the broader trend, a handful of states, such as Maharashtra, Odisha, Haryana, Meghalaya and Lakshadweep, either maintained or improved their student enrolment and meal coverage figures. No reports were requested from these states.

Some states faced district-level disparities rather than statewide drops. In Telangana, coverage was under 55% of enrolment in Hyderabad and Mulugu, especially in upper-primary levels (Classes 6-8). Chhattisgarh reported less than 75 percent coverage in five districts, including Bilaspur and Surguja, prompting concern from the department.

In the case of Odisha, "PAB observed very high coverage of enrolled students" in eight districts and, clearly suspicious, the school education secretary "advised the state to cross verify the coverage especially in these districts". The districts with near complete coverage are Mayurbhanj, Malkangiri, Jajpur, Puri, Bolangir, Jagatsinghpur, Keonjhar and Kalahandi.

As part of remedial measures, the department has directed almost all states experiencing notable drops to submit review reports by June 30, 2025. These are expected to offer insights into reasons behind the reduced participation and propose corrective action.

At the school level, PM POSHAN provides hot-cooked meals free of cost to children in Class 1 to 8, primary and upper-primary. In April, the union government raised the PM POSHAN material cost for the scheme by 9.5% and committed to cover the difference.