New Delhi: Serving 120 million children in over 1.27 million schools and Education Guarantee Scheme centres, the Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman (PM POSHAN) scheme, formerly the Mid-Day Meal scheme is the largest of its kind in the world.

The monthly honorarium paid to Cook-cum-Helpers (CCHs) engaged under the PM POSHAN scheme, varies sharply from state to state and Union Territory to Union Territory, according to the latest official data placed before Parliament.

In a written reply to Rajya Sabha Unstarred Question No. 3717 asked by Dr. John Brittas and answered on 25 March by Minister of State for Education Jayant Chaudhary, the government stated that the Centre prescribes a base honorarium of Rs 1,000 per month for 10 months in a year for these honorary workers who render social service.

This amount is shared between the Centre and the States/UTs as per the approved funding pattern of the Centrally Sponsored Scheme: 60:40 for most States and two UTs with Legislature, 90:10 for North-Eastern Region States, two Himalayan States and the UT of Jammu & Kashmir, and 100 per cent Central funding for UTs without Legislature.

The overall responsibility for implementation of the scheme, including engagement of CCHs and providing one hot cooked nutritious meal to approximately 11 crore children studying in Bal Vatika (pre-Class I) and Classes I to VIII in more than 10.35 lakh government and government-aided schools, rests with the respective State Governments and Union Territory administrations. States and UTs are free to supplement the prescribed honorarium by providing additional funds from their own resources, and many have done so on multiple occasions.

The state/UT-wise details of the total monthly honorarium actually being paid to Cook-cum-Helpers, as furnished by the States/UTs in their Annual Work Plan & Budget submissions, reveal the following picture.

Other notable higher payments include Haryana at Rs 7,000, Chandigarh at Rs 4,500, Himachal Pradesh at Rs 4,500, Madhya Pradesh at Rs 4,000, Karnataka at Rs 3,700, Gujarat at Rs 3,250, and several States such as Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Mizoram, Punjab, Telangana and Uttarakhand at Rs 3,000 each. At the lower end, eight States and Union Territories continue to pay only the prescribed base amount of Rs 1,000 per month with no additional contribution from their resources. These are Goa, Manipur, Nagaland, Sikkim, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh.

The remaining States and UTs pay amounts that fall between these extremes. For instance, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu pay Rs 6,461; Rajasthan pays Rs 2,143; Maharashtra and Tripura pay Rs 2,500 each; and Bihar pays Rs 1,650. Assam pays Rs 1,500 while many others including Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Meghalaya, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal pay Rs 2,000 each.

The government has clarified that CCHs are honorary workers and that the prescribed honorarium has remained unchanged at Rs 1,000 per month. However, several States, including Kerala, have enhanced their own share of the contribution on multiple occasions. No decision has been announced by the Union Government to increase its own contribution beyond the existing prescribed level and funding pattern.

The Unpaid Caretakers: MDM workers fight for survival

The Midday Meal Scheme is regarded as a very important nutrition scheme in India. However, over two million women employed as cooks under the scheme are victims of exploitation.

Just 10 ten days back, the Lower PMG Square in Odisha's capital had become the epicenter of a quiet but desperate crisis. Hundreds of midday meal (MDM) cooks-cum-helpers, predominantly women, gathered under the banner of the All Odisha Midday Meal Cook-cum-Helper Association. While their official demand was the immediate release of salaries pending for the last three months and a hike in their monthly honorarium, the reality on the ground speaks to a deeper, more precarious struggle for survival.

Anjali Swain, a protester, articulated the immediate anguish, stating, "We are struggling to manage our households without regular income. Despite working continuously, our dues have not been cleared" . However, the plight of Odisha’s cooks is not an isolated administrative lapse; it is a reflection of a systemic failure visible across the country.

The situation in Odisha mirrors recent protests in Chhattisgarh, where the crisis turned fatal. Under the banner of the Chhattisgarh School Madhyanbhojan Rasoiya Sanyukta Sangh, cooks have been demanding an increase from the current ₹2,000 (approx. ₹66/day) to a living wage. The protest, which began in December, saw the deaths of two women- Dulari Yadav and Rukmini Sinha-at the protest site in Tuta ground, Naya Raipur. "We're dying of starvation every day. It's better to die once," the workers had declared, highlighting that the honorarium had risen by an average of just ₹1.65 per year over three decades.

In Punjab, the narrative is one of broken promises and logistical harassment. Members of the Mid-Day Meal Workers Union, led by state president Mamta Sharma, protested against a two-month salary delay in July 2025. Sharma highlighted the unique cruelty of the system, noting that payments were withheld while the government forced workers to open accounts in banks with limited rural reach. "Most of us are women from single-income or low-income families. The delay in payments creates immense pressure on our households. How are we expected to feed our children?" Sharma asked.

Further south in Telangana, the struggle has shifted to the legislature. Following a massive 'Chalo Hyderabad' protest at Indira Park on March 16, CPI MLA Kunamneni Sambasiva Rao took the battle to the Assembly, demanding a budget hike for the scheme. Union leaders point out that after 24 years of service, most cooks still earn a pittance, with demands now fixed on a court-directed wage of ₹17,000 per month along with social security benefits like PF and ESI . Meanwhile, in Himachal Pradesh, the fight is for calendar recognition, as the state government has failed to implement a High Court order granting wages for 12 months (instead of 10), forcing women to find paid substitutes during school closures.

In Rajasthan, cooks cum helpers receive a meagre 3286 rs payment every month against the hours of efforts in schools to cook nutritious and freshly cooked food to the children coming from mostly marginalised families. Narayan Lal, Devli Bai, and Devi Lal, cooks-cum-helpers at a government school in Amarthoon, Banswara, expressed their distress, "The government must address our plight and increase our honorarium to ₹23,465 per month, in line with the minimum wage for unskilled laborers. Additionally, our inclusion in regular Class IV employee posts will provide job security and dignity for our years of service." Naveen Kumar Sharma, State General Secretary of the Rajasthan Teachers’ Association (Siyaram), highlighted the need to double the cooking conversion costs and increase the honorarium for cooks-cum-helpers.

With the state governments yet to break the stalemate, these cooks, the nutritional backbone of the PM POSHAN Yojana, are demanding that their service to the nation's children be matched by the nation's promise of dignity for them.

Demanding an increase in the Central government's funding under the scheme, MP John Brittas stated, " Kerala pays the highest additional honorarium among all States to Mid-Day Meal workers - minimum Rs. 11,000 per month as additional honorarium as per Centre’s own answer, which has in fact already been revised upward twice thereafter by the State. Meanwhile, the Centre’s contribution remains stuck at a meagre Rs. 600 per month under PM POSHAN. Even as States step up to ensure dignity of labour, the Union Government refuses to revise its contribution. You cannot build a flagship nutrition scheme on undervalued women’s labour. Time for the Centre to pay its fair share."