**Executive Summary**
This document presents the Indian Ministry of Education's response to an unstarred question in Lok Sabha regarding social audits under the PM POSHAN scheme. It confirms that states are advised to conduct social audits annually and outlines the central government's monitoring mechanisms. The document also includes annexures detailing the number of social audits conducted state/UT-wise for the last five years, as well as district-wise and year-wise data for Andhra Pradesh.
**Key Points / Main Content**
* **PM POSHAN Scheme:**
* A centrally sponsored scheme for providing hot cooked and nutritious meals to children in Bal Vatika and classes I to VIII in government and government-aided schools.
* Overall responsibility for providing meals lies with State Governments and Union Territory Administrations.
* **Social Audit Requirements:**
* States/UTs are required to conduct social audits in all districts in at least 20 schools or 2% of the schools, whichever is higher for each district.
* States/UTs are responsible for taking action and ensuring compliance with Social Audit findings.
* **Monitoring Mechanisms:**
* The scheme has an elaborate monitoring mechanism, including:
* Empowered Committee under the Chairpersonship of Hon'ble Union Education Minister
* Programme Approval Board (PAB) under the Chairpersonship of Secretary (DoSE&L)
* State Steering-cum-Monitoring Committee under the Chairpersonship of Chief Secretary
* District level Steering-cum-Monitoring Committee under the Chairpersonship of District Collector
* District Level Committee under the Chairmanship of senior most Member of Parliament (MP) of the district
* **Programme Approval Board (PAB) Responsibilities:**
* Monitors the social audits conducted by each State/UT in the previous financial year.
* Approves proposals from States/UTs to conduct social audits in the current financial year.
* Advises States/UTs to develop an annual calendar of activities for conducting social audits.
* Requires States/UTs to share Social Audit reports and action taken reports.
* Expenditures on Social Audit are met from the MME component of the Scheme.
* **Social Audit Data:**
* Annexure-I contains State/UT-wise number of social audits conducted during the last five years (2020-21 to 2024-25).
* Annexure-II contains district-wise and year-wise number of social audits conducted in Andhra Pradesh from 2019 to 2024.
**Impact Analysis**
**States/UTs**
* **Impact:** States/UTs are impacted in their responsibility to conduct social audits, ensure compliance, and develop annual activity calendars. The findings from the audits must be acted upon.
* **Action Required:** Conduct social audits in accordance with PM Poshan guidelines, take action on audit findings, and share reports with the central government.
**Ministry of Education (Central Government)**
* **Impact:** The Ministry is responsible for monitoring social audits conducted by States/UTs and for approving proposals for future audits.
* **Action Required:** Continue monitoring and providing guidance to States/UTs regarding social audits and ensure they are conducted regularly.
**Schools and Children**
* **Impact:** The correct and diligent application of the scheme will lead to improvements in meal quality and nutritional standards.
* **Action Required:** None specified.
Key Entities Referenced
PM POSHAN: Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman (PM POSHAN) Scheme, a centrally sponsored scheme providing cooked meals to children in government schools.
Ministry of Education: The primary government ministry responsible for administering the PM POSHAN scheme.
Social Audit: Audits conducted to check the implementation and effectiveness of the PM POSHAN scheme.
Programme Approval Board (PAB): Under the Chairpersonship of Secretary (DoSE&L) monitors the social audits conducted by each State/ UT.
States/UTs: Indian states and union territories responsible for implementing the PM POSHAN scheme and conducting social audits.
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION AND LITERACY
LOK SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO- 433
ANSWERED ON- 02.02.2026
Social Audits under PM POSHAN
433. Shri Kesineni Sivanath:
Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state:
(a) whether States are advised to conduct social audits under the PM POSHAN scheme every year in
the country;
(b) if so, whether the Central Government monitors the social audits conducted by the States under
the scheme;
(c) if so, the number of social audit conducted during the last five years under the scheme, State-wise
and year-wise;
(d) the number of social audits conducted in the country particularly in Andhra Pradesh under the
scheme from the year 2019 to 2024, district-wise and year-wise;
(e) whether the Government has any plan to introduce mechanisms to monitor social auditing
mechanisms of the States, if so, the details thereof;
(f) whether any incentives are being planned to be provided for States to conduct social audits; and
(g) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?
ANSWER
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION
(SHRI JAYANT CHAUDHARY)
(a) to (d): Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman (PM POSHAN) Scheme is one of the foremost
rights based Centrally Sponsored Scheme implemented in partnership with the States and Union
Territories (UTs) for providing one hot cooked and nutritious meal to all children studying in Bal
Vatika (just before class-I) and classes I to VIII of Government and Government-aided schools. The
overall responsibility for providing hot cooked and nutritious meal to the eligible children lies with
the State Governments and Union Territory Administrations.
As per the extant guidelines of the PM Poshan Scheme States/UTs are required to conduct Social
Audit in all districts in at least 20 schools or 2% of the schools, whichever is higher for each district.
The responsibility for taking action and ensuring compliance on the Social Audit findings rests with
the State/ UTs.The State/ UT-wise number of social audits conducted during last five years is at Annexure-I. Social
audits conducted in Andhra Pradesh under the scheme from the year 2019 to 2024, district-wise and
year-wise are at Annexure-II.
(e) to (g): The scheme also provides elaborate monitoring mechanism i.e. Empowered Committee
under the Chairpersonship of Hon’ble Union Education Minister, Programme Approval Board (PAB)
under the Chairpersonship of Secretary (DoSE&L), State Steering-cum-Monitoring Committee under
the Chairpersonship of Chief Secretary, District level Steering-cum- Monitoring Committee under
the Chairpersonship of District Collector. The PM Poshan Guidelines provides a District Level
Committee under the Chairmanship of senior most Member of Parliament (MP) of the district to
monitor the scheme on quarterly basis.
Programme Approval Board (PAB) of PM Poshan under the Chairpersonship of Secretary (DoSE&L)
monitor the social audits conducted by each State/ UT in previous financial year and also approve
the proposals of States/ UTs to conduct social audits in the current financial year as per the PM Poshan
Guidelines. PAB also advise the States/ UTs to draw annual calendar of activities to conduct the
Social Audit and share the Social Audit report and action taken report. Expenditures on Social Audit
are met from the MME component of the Scheme.
*****ANNEXURE-I
ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (A) TO (D) OF LOK SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 433 FOR 02.02.2026 ASKED BY HON’BLE MP SHRI
KESINENI SIVANATH REGARDING SOCIAL AUDITS UNDER PM POSHAN.
State/ UT-wise number of social audits conducted during last five years
S.No. States/UTs Number of Social Audits carried out
2020-21* 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24 2024-25
1 Andhra Pradesh 0 0 52 520 900
2 Arunachal Pradesh 0 0 120 560 560
3 Assam 0 447 1005 942 932
4 Bihar 0 0 11 753 553
5 Chhattisgarh 0 28250 22251 36270 1097
6 Goa 0 48 0 41 42
7 Gujarat 0 60 194 323 11413
8 Haryana 0 0 0 0 60
9 Himachal Pradesh 0 65 207 248 473
10 Jharkhand 0 6817 1031 1035 745
11 Karnataka 0 93 1095 800 809
12 Kerala 0 0 280 450 308
13 Madhya Pradesh 0 45483 50462 2600 2600
14 Maharashtra 0 2523 1802 0 4278
15 Manipur 0 5 20 20 100
16 Meghalaya 0 1415 306 213 280
17 Mizoram 0 80 220 0 80
18 Nagaland 0 40 16 32 21
19 Odisha 0 0 0 600 1080
20 Punjab 0 120 0 238 540
21 Rajasthan 0 50 2396 589 459
22 Sikkim 0 0 0 0 100
23 Tamil Nadu 0 5 0 0 954
24 Telangana 0 0 66 660 660
25 Tripura 0 160 160 160 160
26 Uttar Pradesh 0 0 1500 1575 2365
27 Uttarakhand 0 143 162 146 284
28 West Bengal 0 0 400 5405 5441
29 A&N Islands 0 0 0 0 65
30 Chandigarh 0 26 21 20 25
31 D&N and D & Diu 0 70 94 88 60
32 Delhi 0 170 0 375 418
33 Jammu & Kashmir 0 270 18142 18142 400
34 Ladakh 0 0 270 40 40
35 Lakshadweep 0 0 10 0 7
36 Puducherry 0 0 0 0 293
*Social audits were not conducted during the year 2020–21 due to the COVID-19 pandemicANNEXURE-II
ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (A) TO (D) OF LOK SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 433 FOR 02.02.2026 ASKED BY HON’BLE MP SHRI
KESINENI SIVANATH REGARDING SOCIAL AUDITS UNDER PM POSHAN.
Social audits conducted in Andhra Pradesh under the scheme from the year 2019 to 2024
district-wise and year-wise
S.No. Name of the District 2019-20* 2020-21* 2021-22* 2022-23 2023-24 2024-25
1 SRIKAKULAM 0 0 0 2 20 34
2 MANYAM 0 0 0 2 20 26
3 VIZIANAGARAM 0 0 0 2 20 31
4 VISAKHAPATNAM 0 0 0 2 20 20
5 ASR 0 0 0 2 20 57
6 ANAKAPALLI 0 0 0 2 20 33
7 KAKINADA 0 0 0 2 20 27
8 EAST GODAVARI 0 0 0 2 20 20
9 KONASEEMA 0 0 0 2 20 25
10 ELURU 0 0 0 2 20 29
11 WEST GODAVARI 0 0 0 2 20 28
12 KRISHNA 0 0 0 2 20 27
13 NTR 0 0 0 2 20 20
14 GUNTUR 0 0 0 2 20 25
15 PALNADU 0 0 0 2 20 35
16 BAPATLA 0 0 0 2 20 28
17 PRAKASAM 0 0 0 2 20 41
18 SPSR NELLORE 0 0 0 2 20 61
19 TIRUPATI 0 0 0 2 20 31
20 CHITTOOR 0 0 0 2 20 47
21 ANNAMAYYA 0 0 0 2 20 43
22 YSR KADAPA 0 0 0 2 20 56
23 SRI SATYASAI 0 0 0 2 20 32
24 ANANTHAPURAM 0 0 0 2 20 36
25 KURNOOL 0 0 0 2 20 51
26 NANDYAL 0 0 0 2 20 37
TOTAL 0 0 0 52 520 900
*Social audits were not conducted by the Government of Andhra Pradesh during the years 2019-20
to 2021–22 due to the COVID-19 pandemic