Mid-day meal cooks’ honorarium raised to ₹3,000
On 23 August 2026 the UP Chief Minister raised the monthly honorarium of more than 3.53 lakh mid-day meal cooks under PM POSHAN from ₹2,000 to ₹3,000. Cooks and their families also get cashless treatment up to ₹5 lakh a year, a ₹2 lakh accident cover through SBI, and dress money doubled to ₹1,000.
- Date
- 23 Aug 2026, Lucknow
- Cooks covered
- over 3.53 lakh
- Honorarium
- ₹2,000 to ₹3,000 a month
- Health
- cashless treatment up to ₹5 lakh a year
- Accident cover
- ₹2 lakh, MoU with SBI
- Dress money
- ₹500 to ₹1,000
The mid-day meal cooks’ honorarium: what happened?
School cooks, mostly women, prepare the daily hot meal for children under PM POSHAN. Their pay has been low. UP has raised it and added health and accident cover.
- The CM raised the honorarium of over 3.53 lakh PM POSHAN cooks from 2,000 to 3,000 rupees a month. [UP CM press note]
- Cooks and families get cashless treatment up to 05 lakh rupees a year and a 02 lakh rupees accident cover; dress money rises from 500 to 1,000 rupees. [UP CM press note]
How has the honorarium changed?
| Stage | Monthly honorarium |
|---|---|
| Earlier | ₹1,000 |
| Raised to | ₹2,000 |
| From August 2026 | ₹3,000 |
What else was said?
- Meals follow the PM POSHAN menu, with local millets and seasonal fruit given priority.
- Kitchens must be clean and outsiders kept out.
- Operation Kayakalp has improved school infrastructure on 19 parameters.
What can Prelims ask on the mid-day meal cooks’ honorarium?
- PM POSHAN = school mid-day meal scheme.
- UP cooks: over 3.53 lakh.
- Accident cover via SBI MoU.
What should UPPCS aspirants note?
- Useful for GS-VI questions on PM POSHAN delivery and Operation Kayakalp in UP schools.
Read all of August 2026 in the monthly UP current affairs compilation →
How to use this in Mains
- Better pay and health cover for cooks helps keep the people who run the scheme every day.
Quotable data pointThe CM raised the honorarium of over 3.53 lakh PM POSHAN cooks from 2,000 to 3,000 rupees a month [UP CM press note].
UP Information Dept, CM press note 2026-08-23: मुख्यमंत्री ने पी0एम0 पोषण योजना के अन्तर्गत कार्यरत 3.53 लाख से अधिक मिड-डे मील रसोइयों को रक्षाबन्धन का उपहार दिया (Hindi PDF)
Exam angle
GS-VI: school nutrition.
Practice MCQs
Original practice questions (not PYQs).
Operation Kayakalp in UP schools covers infrastructure on how many parameters?
Answer (c) & explanation
UP CM press note, 23 Aug 2026.
Questions students ask about this
What is the new honorarium of mid-day meal cooks in UP?
₹3,000 a month, up from ₹2,000.
How many cooks benefit?
More than 3.53 lakh.
What other benefits were announced?
Cashless treatment up to ₹5 lakh a year, ₹2 lakh accident cover and ₹1,000 for dress.
Keep studying
facts from cited sources only; numbers machine-checked against source text; faculty review pending