The Right to Food Campaign on Wednesday welcomed the Maharashtra government's decision to strengthen PM POSHAN and extend school meals from Class 8 to Class 10, while urging that the scheme be expanded to cover Classes 9–12, with a nutritious breakfast also introduced alongside milk, eggs and fruit.
In a statement issued by steering committee members Aysha, James Herenj, Mukta Srivastava, Raj Shekhar and Sameet Panda, the Campaign said thousands of children from poor families depend on the school meal as their main nutritious meal, often arriving at school without having eaten breakfast. Extending the programme, it said, is an important step towards ensuring children's right to food and nutrition.
The Campaign also welcomed greater flexibility and decision-making powers at the district level, but cautioned that decentralisation must go beyond empowering officials and place local communities at the centre of planning, implementation and monitoring. It said the scheme should involve children, parents, School Management Committees, Mother Committees, women's self-help groups, local cooks, Gram Panchayats, farmers and community organisations, with meals based on local, seasonal and culturally appropriate foods such as millets, pulses, vegetables, milk, fruits and eggs.
Opposing the corporatisation and excessive centralisation of school meals, the Campaign strongly condemned the involvement of ISKCON in the government's review meeting and the decision to hand over supply of hot cooked meals to 30 urban Anganwadis. It noted that the 3rd National Children's Right to Food & Nutrition Convention in Bhopal, held October 2–4, 2026, had reaffirmed the need to strengthen public systems, local institutions, women's collectives and community ownership. Large external organisations or private companies, it said, should not displace local capacities and livelihoods.
In urban areas facing space constraints, the Campaign recommended cluster-based kitchens over large centralised kitchens and long-distance transportation of cooked food, saying this would ensure fresher meals, stronger accountability and greater employment for local women. It also stressed that district flexibility must be accompanied by clear standards for nutrition, quantity, freshness, hygiene and food safety, with regular food-sample testing, and called for School Management Committees and Mother Committees to be trained and empowered to monitor meals, supported by social audits and full transparency in fund allocation.
Among its other demands, the Campaign urged the state to protect the livelihoods of women's self-help groups, cooks and helpers, promote school nutrition gardens, ensure fair prices through local procurement from farmers and women's groups, and regulate the sale and promotion of junk food around schools.
The statement concluded that the Maharashtra government has an opportunity to build a model that improves children's nutrition while strengthening women's livelihoods, local farmers, Panchayats and community institutions. "PM POSHAN should strengthen local women, SHGs, cooks, farmers and community kitchens — not replace them with corporate or centralised providers," it said, calling on the state to ensure every child receives nutritious food with dignity, care and love.
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