Bihar schoolchildren to get pulao once a week in mid-day meal, announces Nitish Kumar government

Patna: Millions of schoolchildren in Bihar schools will soon be served 'pulao' once a week as part of their mid-day meals, officials said on Monday.

"Pulao will be served once in a week to children under mid-day meal scheme to provide them a tasty diet, as the state government has approved the new menu chart for the mid-day meal," an education department official said. 

The state government has also increased per child expenditure for the mid-day meal, officials said. Earlier, the government had included fruits for vegetarian students and eggs for the non-vegetarians to help the children get rid of malnourishment.

In 2013, 23 students had died after consuming mid-day meal at a primary school in Saran district.

A total of 16 million students in 72,000 schools in Bihar get mid-day meal everyday.