Children in anganwadis to get milk and eggs; four lakh children will benefit

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: From now on, children in Anganwadis will be given milk and eggs twice a week to prevent malnutrition. The children will get one glass of milk each on Monday and Thursday and one egg on Tuesday and Friday. Around four lakh children between three to six years of age in 33,115 Anganwadis in the state under the Department of Women and Child Development will get it. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will inaugurate the 'Poshaka Balyam' project at the state level on August 1. The project is being implemented at a cost of Rs 61.5 crores. Minister Veena George will preside over the function which will be held at 12 noon at Jawahar Cooperative House in DPI. Minister Antony Raju will be the chief guest.

Supplementary nutrition program is one of the main missions of Anganwadis. As part of this, children from 6 months to 6 years old, pregnant women and lactating mothers are provided with supplementary nutrition through Anganwadis. Apart from this, the government has now decided to include milk and egg in the Anganwadi menu. The milk required for the 'Poshaka Balyam' project will be directly supplied to the Anganwadis through Milma, local dairy society, Kudumbashree and dairy farmers. Milma's UHT milk will be distributed to 220 Anganwadis in hilly rural areas where none of these systems are available.