MPPSC 2021 Prelims Q95: The Mid-Day Meal Scheme was launched in which

Q: What is the answer to MPPSC 2021 Prelims Q95?

C. Correct — C, 1995. The scheme was launched on 15 August 1995 as the 'National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education' (NP-NSPE), providing free cooked mid-day meals to children in government and government-aided primary schools; it was renamed the Mid-Day Meal Scheme in 2004 and later subsumed under PM POSHAN (2021).

MPPSC 2021 Prelims Paper-I · Question 95 of 100

Verified against the official question paper. Answer as per the official MPPSC answer key.

The Mid-Day Meal Scheme was launched in which year?

(a)1991
(b)1993
(c)1995
(d)2000

Answer

Why

Correct — C, 1995. The scheme was launched on 15 August 1995 as the 'National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education' (NP-NSPE), providing free cooked mid-day meals to children in government and government-aided primary schools; it was renamed the Mid-Day Meal Scheme in 2004 and later subsumed under PM POSHAN (2021).

Why the others are wrong

(a)1991 — 1991 is instead associated with India's economic liberalisation reforms (New Economic Policy), not the launch of the school meal scheme.
(b)1993 — No major national school-feeding/nutrition scheme was launched in this year — a close-but-wrong distractor year.
(d)2000 — Too late — by 2000 the scheme (launched in 1995) was already five years old and being scaled up, not newly launched.

Concept

The Mid-Day Meal Scheme is India's flagship school nutrition programme, designed to simultaneously boost school enrolment/attendance and child nutrition — a 'welfare + education' scheme design that MPPSC and UPSC test repeatedly.

Students often confuse the scheme's original launch year (1995) with its rename year (2004) or its subsuming into PM POSHAN (2021) — the exam usually wants the original 1995 launch date.

Key facts

Launched on 15 August 1995 as the National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education (NP-NSPE)
Renamed the Mid-Day Meal Scheme in 2004
Subsumed under the PM POSHAN scheme from 2021

Schoolchildren being served food under India's Mid-Day Meal Scheme, aimed at improving nutrition and school enrolment

Study next

PM POSHAN scheme (2021 renaming/expansion)National Food Security Act, 2013 and school mealsRight to Education Act, 2009 and enrolment drivesOther nutrition schemes: ICDS, POSHAN AbhiyaanSarva Shiksha Abhiyan

Common traps

Confusing the 1995 launch year with the 2004 rename or the 2021 PM POSHAN subsuming
Assuming the scheme began under a different name (ICDS, POSHAN Abhiyaan) — those are separate programmes

Usually a direct launch-year recall question, or 'match the scheme to its year/renamed version'.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Practice

practice — not a real PYQ
The Mid-Day Meal Scheme, launched in 1995, was originally named:
- (a)Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan
- (b)National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education (NP-NSPE)
- (c)Integrated Child Development Services
- (d)PM POSHAN
Answer(b) National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education (NP-NSPE).
practice — not a real PYQ
In which year was the Mid-Day Meal Scheme renamed and expanded as 'PM POSHAN'?
- (a)2004
- (b)2013
- (c)2018
- (d)2021
Answer(d) 2021 — the scheme was renamed/restructured as PM POSHAN.