Underpaid cooks subsidise midday meals by Rs 7,400 crore per year | India News – Times of India

The world’s largest school feeding programme is in effect subsidised by the underpaid labour of over 25 lakh school midday meal cooks, over 90% of them women. The PM-POSHAN Shakti Nirman programme is subsidised to the tune of about Rs 7,400 crore through underpaid labour. The amount saved by the Centre alone is equivalent to over half its total annual budget for the scheme.
How do we reach this conclusion? We calculated how much the actual amount paid to the cook-cum helpers (CCH) was, and compared this to how much it would have been had they been paid the national floor minimum wage of Rs 5,340, below which no state can fix its minimum wage. The difference between the two figures was aroundRs 7,400 crore (Rs 13,439 crore against Rs 6,065 crore).

The Centre provides 60% of the honorarium fixed by it (Rs 1,000 per month) in most states and 90% in others. We calculated the Centre’s bill at an honorarium of Rs 1,000 per month and what it would have been at the floor minimum wage. The difference worked out to around Rs 6,900 crore (Rs 8,497 crore compared to Rs 1,592 crore), well over half the 2024-25 budget outlay for the scheme by the Centre of Rs 12,467 crore.
The honorarium for the job of midday meal has remained unchanged at Rs 1,000 per month since it was fixed in 2009 and this is to be paid 10 months in a year. Currently, the Centre’s contribution to the wages of over 25 lakh CCH works out to almost Rs 1,600 crore. The budget allocation for the scheme includes the cost of buying food grains, vegetables, oil, pulses, transporting them, maintenance of kitchens and stores, buying kitchen devices and utensils, fuel etc. With the honorarium fixed at Rs 1,000, the Centre’s share in it works out to about 13% of its annual budget for the scheme, leaving the bulk for spending on the rest.
Though many states enhance the honorarium of Rs 1,000 per month, most (22 states and UTs) pay Rs 2,000 or less, well below the minimum wages fixed by them for even unskilled labour, though cooking is categorised in most states as skilled labour. In fact, even if the national floor minimum wage was to be paid, it would be well below minimum wages in the states, as the average minimum wage for unskilled labour in states is about Rs 10,000 per month or over Rs 300 per day. While Rs 5,340 works out toRs 178 per day, most states are paying about Rs 70 per day.
While the govt treats the CCH’s work as part time and voluntary, they actually work eight hours or more as each of them is not only expected to cook for about 50 students, they are also in most cases made to do odd jobs in school, make tea for the teachers and staff, wash utensils, and sweep and mop the premises.