0.50 per child, has been providing 480 kilo-calories with 12 gms protein and 700 kilo-calories with 20 gms protein per meal per day in primary and upper primary schools, respectively,' the minister said.

Kaur said the Punjab education department has been successfully providing mid-day-meals to about 2 million (20 lakh) students from class one to eight in all the primary and upper primary schools of the state for 245 days in a year.

The education minister said the present total conversion cost for the meal comes out at Rs.2.08 per day for primary students and Rs.2.60 per day for upper primary students.

The state government will spend over Rs.1.05 billion (RS.105 crore) for the mid-day meal scheme. The central assistance in this is over Rs.820 million (Rs.82 crore).