Uttar Pradesh raises monthly honorarium for school mid-day meal cooks to Rs 3,000

LUCKNOW — The Uttar Pradesh government has announced an increase in the monthly honorarium for 3.50 lakh mid-day meal cooks working in council primary and upper primary schools across the state, raising their pay from Rs 2,000 to Rs 3,000.

The decision, cleared through a cabinet by circulation on August 22, 2026, serves as a festive measure ahead of Diwali. Mid-Day Meal Authority Director Prem Ranjan Singh issued directives to all district basic education officers as well as finance and accounts officers, instructing them to ensure the revised honorarium is credited directly to the bank accounts of the cooks prior to the festival.

The upward revision will place an additional financial burden of approximately Rs 35.35 crore per month on the state exchequer, amounting to Rs 424 crore annually. Previously, cooks received a monthly honorarium of Rs 2,000, following incremental hikes from an initial Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,500 in 2019 and subsequently to Rs 2,000 in 2022.

The state’s compensation structure for school cooks has faced legal scrutiny in past years. According to court records from the December 15, 2020 ruling in Chandravati Devi v. State of Uttar Pradesh and Others, Justice Pankaj Bhatia observed that paying an honorarium of Rs 1,000 amounted to a form of bonded labor prohibited under Article 23 of the Constitution, directing that cooks be paid minimum wages.

Although that specific order was later set aside in Special Appeal No. 123/2021, the Lucknow bench of the High Court issued subsequent directions on February 8, 2023, concerning minimum wages and payment of arrears. Despite these judicial rulings, cooks in the state continue to receive remuneration below the statutory minimum wage thresholds established for workers in Uttar Pradesh.