CHENNAI: Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said his state would consider implementing a scheme similar to the Tamil Nadu government’s CM’s Breakfast Scheme. He was speaking at the launch of the scheme’s expansion to government-aided schools in urban areas in Chennai on Tuesday.
“This is a remarkable achievement as the government is taking care of both the education and health of children,” Mann said, lauding Stalin for the initiative.
Noting that Punjab is known as the “food bowl of India” due to the huge quantities of wheat and rice it produces, Mann added that the introduction of a similar breakfast scheme would be discussed at their cabinet meeting scheduled on Wednesday.
With this expansion to 2,430 schools in urban areas, the scheme, first launched in September 2022, now covers 20.59 lakh children of classes 1 to 5 at 37,416 government and government-aided schools in the state at a cost of Rs 600 crore per year.
Stalin, after launching the expansion, said, “The government is making this investment because of its faith in the talent, intelligence, and ability of our children.” Emphasising that the scheme is not viewed as an expenditure but a social investment, he added,
“When you study well, progress in life and contribute to TN’s prosperity, that will be the true success of this scheme. Our schoolchildren will no longer be dull and fatigued, they will now be energetic, confident and full of joy.”
Describing the scheme as more than just an initiative to address hunger, Stalin said it has improved children’s eating habits, health and their interactions with each other.
Breakfast scheme has improved kids’ enthusiasm: CM
It has improved children’s enthusiasm, focus and classroom participation, he added. It has also reduced the burden of parents, especially from working families, the CM added, noting that he has been closely monitoring the scheme’s progress through several studies conducted by the State Planning Commission. He also thanked the women from self-help groups, who have been engaged to cook for the children under the scheme.
Stalin added that it was a matter of honour for the state to have pioneered this initiative, which is now being considered by other states and even countries.
Mann, in his speech, called Stalin a “true people’s leader” and said he was happy to witness the affection people had for him.
Highlighting the focus of his party — the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) — on common people, Mann said that Punjab will soon increase the number of Aam Aadmi Clinics, which provide medicines and other facilities free of cost, from 881 to 1,000. Pointing to the number of school students who have cleared competitive exams like NEET and JEE from Punjab, he said, “The breakfast scheme is the next step forward, as it will help children study even better.”
Criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Mann said, “For all these years, we were told that ‘achhe din’ (good days) would come, but we never knew when. What we were told were only lies.” He said that it is initiatives like the breakfast scheme, and not mere lies, that can make India become a “vishwaguru”.
Stalin recalled the visit of former Delhi CM and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal to TN for the launch of the Pudhumai Penn scheme, under which `1,000 per month is provided to female government school students pursuing higher education.
Deputy CM Udhayanidhi Stalin, Health Minister Ma Subramanian, Social Welfare Minister Geetha Jeevan, DMK MP and its parliamentary party leader Kanimozhi and senior officials were also in attendance.
‘Include 5 grams of moringa powder in meals’
Calling for a nutritional boost to the CM’s Breakfast Scheme during launch of its expansion on Tuesday, Dr Soumya Swaminathan, chair of the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation, suggested the inclusion of five grams of moringa leaf powder in the meals served to schoolchildren to address anaemia, particularly among girls.
She said this would also create livelihood opportunities for women in self-help groups who could prepare the powder. She praised the state government for implementing scientific and evidence-based schemes, noting that the breakfast programme not only provided nutrition, but also improved students’ cognitive and learning abilities.
She said the scheme offered an opportunity to educate children about healthy eating habits, especially as economically-developed states like TN and Punjab face rise of obesity and non-communicable diseases. “Introducing millets is a good message to children as it is more nutritious than eating rice all the time,” she added.
Dr Swaminathan further lauded Punjab, whose CM Bhagwant Mann was present at the event, for piloting the HPV vaccine for children in 2016. She added that TN is the first large state to introduce it for schoolgirls in 2025.