The Tamil Nadu government has raised the monthly food allowance for students living in its welfare hostels, a move aimed at improving the quality of meals served to lakhs of children from disadvantaged communities.

Under the revised rates, school hostel students will get ₹1,800 a month, up from ₹1,400. College hostel students will get ₹2,000, up from ₹1,500. That is an increase of ₹400 and ₹500 respectively.

Who will get benefit?

The hike covers hostels run by the Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare Department, where more than 1.16 lakh students are expected to benefit. 

It also applies to social justice hostels run for students from Backward Classes and Most Backward Classes.

The government has said the higher allowance is meant to let hostels provide a wider range of nutritious food.

How the announcements came

The increase for BC and MBC hostels was announced in the Assembly in August by Backward Classes and Most Backward Classes Welfare Minister V. Sampathkumar, while replying to the debate on his department's demand for grants. He said the change would cost the department an additional ₹32 crore.

A similar announcement was made for Adi Dravidar hostels by Minister Vanni Arasu, following students' complaints about hostel conditions that were raised before Chief Minister Vijay.

The government has since issued the revised food charges for Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare school and college hostels.

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Maintenance funds also raised

Alongside the food allowance, the government has increased the annual maintenance grant for social justice hostels.

For school hostels the grant goes up from ₹50,000 to ₹75,000. For college hostels it rises from ₹50,000 to ₹1 lakh. Maintenance funds for Adi Dravidar and tribal hostels for school students have also been raised from ₹50,000 to ₹75,000 a year.

A long-standing complaint

Food quality in government hostels has been a recurring concern. Students, activists and legislators have often argued that the per-student allowance was too small to provide a nutritious diet, given rising prices.

The last revision came in 2023, when the allowance was raised from ₹1,000 to ₹1,400 for school students and from ₹1,100 to ₹1,500 for college students.

Hostel menus include items such as rice with sambar or kurma, eggs, and evening snacks of boiled pulses with coffee or palm jaggery tea, with non-vegetarian meals once a week.