Chandigarh, July 25 -- The Haryana government has approved a budget of Rs.665 crore for the Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman (PM-POSHAN) Scheme, also known as mid-day meal scheme. A sum of Rs.478 crore was spent to provide mid-meals to school children in Haryana in the financial year 2024-25. A state-level steering-cum-monitoring committee for the PM-POSHAN scheme met on Thursday under the chairmanship of chief secretary Anurag Rastogi to approve the budget for the 2025-26 financial year. Rastogi said the scheme aims to benefit more than 15 lakh children, including 80,862 in Bal Vatikas, about 8.28 lakh in primary, and about 6.38 lakh in upper primary schools by providing nutritious, protein-rich meals to every eligible child. An official spokesperson said that on a suggestion by the additional chief secretary, health, Sudhir Rajpal steps have been taken to plant green leafy vegetables like methi, palak, and sarson in 10,080 school kitchen gardens across the state. School education additional chief secretary Vineet Garg said to enhance the nutritional impact of the scheme, the department has recently signed an agreement with the world food programme for four districts-Mewat, Panipat, Sonepat and Palwal (only Hathin block). As part of enhanced nutritional support, 'pinni' is being distributed once a week in Bhiwani and Mewat as a supplementary food item....