The government of Andhra Pradesh is preparing to deliver milk and Balamrutham (supplementary nutrition food) prepared in Andhra Pradesh to the state’s Anganwadi centres via the internationally known ‘Amul’ company. As part of it, the state government signed a memorandum of understanding with Amul for an ambitious project today in the presence of chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy.

The chief minister said on the occasion, on Friday that they were commencing on another good initiative, Jagananna Palavelluva in 85 villages in Anantapur district. He stated that the programme is already in place in Prakasam, YSR Kadapa, Chittoor, Guntur, West Godavari, and Krishna districts and that a new one is being launched in Anantapur, which is great news for the district. In addition, dairy farmers receive an additional Rs 5 to Rs 20 profit.

He continued by stating that the state government is creating bulk milk chilling facilities and that, as a result of Amul, private firms were forced to raise their pricing. “We’re keeping a careful eye on milk collection scams.”

Every day, pregnant women are given 200 grams of nutritious food, and children are given 100 ml of milk. So far, the Karnataka Milk Federation has provided the anganwadi with 12.84 crore litres of milk per year from Bangalore at a rate of 1.07 crore litres per month in tetra packing, while the Telangana State Food Society has supplied 48,692 metric tonnes of Balamrutham every year.

The state government has allocated Rs. 500 crore for milk and Rs. 265 crore for infant mortality. There are 55,607 Anganwadi Centers in the state, serving 22.50 lakh children aged six months to three years and 7.50 lakh pregnant mothers.

The state government has chosen to supply fresh milk produced by local dairies in the state, as well as Balamrutham processed within the state, to Anganwadi centres.

Source : Siasat : Jan 28 2022