Gandhinagar: The Gujarat government on Monday unveiled the ‘Mukhyamantri Paushtik Aplahar Yojana,’ a program aimed at providing protein-rich, nutritious snacks to primary school students.

Under this scheme, approximately 41 lakh students from kindergarten to Class 8 in 32,277 government and grant-in-aid primary schools will receive nutritious snacks such as Sukhdi, Chana Chaat, mixed pulses, and millet-based items enriched with calories and protein. These snacks will be served during the morning prayer session before the start of the school day, complementing the existing midday meal program.

To facilitate the preparation of these snacks, the state government will allocate an additional annual expenditure of ₹617 crore. This includes a 50% increase in honorarium for personnel involved in the program. Coordinators under the PM Poshan scheme will receive a monthly honorarium of ₹4,500, cooks-cum-helpers in schools with 26 or more students will get ₹3,750 per month, and additional helpers for smaller schools will receive ₹1,500 per month.

The initiative is expected to particularly benefit students in tribal areas and developing talukas, where nutritional needs are more pressing. By integrating this program with existing initiatives like the Doodh Sanjeevani Yojana, the government aims to adopt a comprehensive approach to addressing student nutrition. DeshGujarat

મુખ્યમંત્રી શ્રી ભૂપેન્દ્રભાઈ પટેલે માનનીય વડાપ્રધાન શ્રી નરેન્દ્રભાઈ મોદીએ આપેલા ‘પઢાઈ ભી, પોષણ ભી’ના ધ્યેયને સાકાર કરવા સુપોષિત ગુજરાત મિશન અંતર્ગત ‘મુખ્યમંત્રી પૌષ્ટિક અલ્પાહાર યોજના’ શરૂ કરવાનો નિર્ણય કર્યો છે.

આ યોજના અંતર્ગત રાજ્યની 32,277 સરકારી અને ગ્રાન્ટ ઈન એઈડ…

— CMO Gujarat (@CMOGuj) December 2, 2024