The Savitribai Phule National Institute of Women and Child Development (SPNIWCD), under the guidance of the Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD), has announced the top entries in the POSHAN Museum Contest. The contest was organised in collaboration with MyGov India to invite public ideas for setting up a museum focused on nutrition, food heritage and related public initiatives.
According to the announcement, the contest was open from 9 October to 9 November 2025. It received 1,666 entries from across India. After review, the top three entries under each of the 10 listed themes were shortlisted and named in the winner announcement published on the MyGov Blog on 26 May 2026.
The proposed POSHAN Museum is expected to present nutrition in a way that connects scientific information with India’s food traditions. The announcement describes a museum that would cover balanced diets, life-cycle nutrition, food history, traditional cuisines, public policy initiatives and Ayurveda-linked knowledge. It also includes space for children and interactive learning.
Purpose of the POSHAN Museum idea
The contest asked participants to suggest innovative ideas for a museum that can make nutrition more accessible to the public. In this context, a museum is not only a place for display objects. It can also work as an educational space where visitors understand food practices, nutrition needs and government efforts through galleries, timelines, data, demonstrations and interactive exhibits.
The announcement places emphasis on reviving traditional food knowledge while also linking it with modern nutrition science. This includes explaining what balanced diets mean, how nutrition needs change at different stages of life, and how Indian food traditions can be documented and presented for public learning.
The museum plan also refers to policy initiatives from Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) to POSHAN 2.0. These references show that the proposed museum is expected to connect individual food habits with wider nutrition programmes and public policy. The inclusion of research, data and documentation as a separate theme also indicates that evidence-based presentation was an important part of the contest brief.
What the museum is expected to cover
The themes listed in the announcement show the broad scope of the proposed museum. The Traditional Food Gallery focuses on India’s food heritage and regional cuisines. The Technology Food Interventions theme points to the use of technology in nutrition-related learning or services. The Science of Nutrition theme covers the basic scientific understanding of food, nutrients and health.
The Policy Programme & Initiatives theme is linked to government nutrition programmes, including ICDS and POSHAN 2.0. Research Data & Documentation focuses on collecting and presenting information in a structured way. The Life Cycle Approach to Nutrition theme addresses nutrition needs across different stages of life.
Other proposed zones include an Interactive Learning Zone, a Food Timeline Zone, a Children’s Corner and an Ayurveda & Indian Foods section. Together, these themes show that the museum is intended to be educational, interactive and rooted in Indian food systems.
Theme-wise top entries
Traditional Food Gallery
- 1st: Sridhar Nagar
- 2nd: Ankita Agarwal
- 3rd: Lakshya Gupta
Technology Food Interventions
- 1st: Mudit Kumar Singh
- 2nd: B Vedanth Venkatesh
- 3rd: Manideep Pothanaka
Science of Nutrition
- 1st: V Mohana
- 2nd: Lakshya Gupta
- 3rd: Dr Dipali Saxena
Policy Programme & Initiatives
- 1st: Deepti Gulati
- 2nd: Apoorva Kalra
- 3rd: Vinaina Suri
Research Data & Documentation
- 1st: P. Avinash Goud
- 2nd: Bhabani Shankar Sahoo
- 3rd: Sonika Sonam
Life Cycle Approach to Nutrition
- 1st: Dr Pradeep Saxena
- 2nd: Nisha Aggarwal
- 3rd: Dr Dipali Saxena
Interactive Learning Zone
- 1st: Dr. Ramya Pinnamaneni
- 2nd: Abhay Joglekar
- 3rd: Shivani Jha
Food Timeline Zone
- 1st: Dr Abhishek Anand
- 2nd: Sonika Sonam
- 3rd: Muskan Bharti
Children’s Corner
- 1st: Nikita Kumari Horo
- 2nd: Dr Indresh kumar
- 3rd: Diya Pushpalal Chaudhari
Ayurveda & Indian Foods
- 1st: Jayshree J
- 2nd: Prof. Atul Gokhle
- 3rd: Roshni Deepak Mehta
SPNIWCD and MyGov congratulated the shortlisted participants across all 10 themes. The announcement also acknowledged the contribution of participants who submitted ideas to help present India’s nutrition knowledge, traditional food systems and modern scientific understanding in a museum format.
Source: MyGov Blog.