HYDERABAD: The State government on Friday decided to launch the ‘Chief Minister’s Breakfast Scheme’ for students from Class I to Class X from October 24, Dasara Day, similar to the initiative being implemented in Tamil Nadu.
The annual additional burden for implementing the scheme will be around Rs 400 crore on the exchequer.
Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao announced the new scheme just before the coming Assembly elections and at a time the Congress is poised to announce its six guarantees for Telangana on Sunday.
Apart from the midday meals, the students will now get breakfast, which is considered a welfare scheme rather than a freebie.
Recently, a team of IAS officers went to Tamil Nadu to study the breakfast scheme there and submitted a report. They informed KCR that the Tamil Nadu government was implementing the breakfast scheme only up to elementary school. The CM decided to implement the scheme in Telangana for high school students too.
It may be mentioned here that KCR has been launching new schemes and inaugurating development works before the Assembly polls. The BRS government recently launched BC Bandhu and enhanced Aasara pension for people with disabilities.
The government also inaugurated nine new medical colleges on Friday and the Palamuru-Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Scheme will be inaugurated on Saturday. Soon after the CM’s decision, the School Education department issued a GO, stating that the scheme was part of the endeavour to address the nutritional status of school-going children.