Launch of Morning Nutrition in Peddapalli district, Telangana – 5th Dec 2022
Sri Sathya Sai Annapoorna Trust launched the Morning Nutrition program for government school-going children in the district of Peddapalli in Telangana, on 5th December 2022. The launch event took place in Elkalapalli village in the presence of government officials and school staff.
30481 students in 549 schools, spread across different mandals in the district like Antargoan, Dharmaram, Elgaid, Jullapalle, Kamanpur, Manthani, Mutharam, Odela, Palakurthy, Peddapalli, Ramagiri, Ramagundam, Srirampur, Sultanabad, would receive “SaiSure – Ragi Variant” (Finger Millet).
The launch programme was graced by the presence of Smt. Deshpande Madhavi – District Education Officer Peddapalli, who was the chief guest for the event. Also present were Sri. Jali Rangareddy – BC Welfare Officer, Sri. Madhu – Sectorial officer, Smt. Laxmi – Mandal Education Officer, Sri Ragunandhan Rao – District Science Officer, and Sri A Laxminarayana – Headmaster. From Annapoorna Trust, Mr. Mahadev Naresh – Executive Operations and Mr Kannam Ramesh – District Nodal Officer and District Coordinator Karimnagar, were present.
Addressing the gathering, the Chief Guest, Smt. Deshpande Madhavi said, “Annapoorna Trust has come forward to support the entire district of Peddapalli by providing Morning Nutrition in the form of Ragi Cereals Health Drink to 30481 students in 549 schools.” She further said that it has started currently in Peddapalli and Palakurthy mandals, and very soon would start in all the remaining 12 mandals in the district.
Annapoorna Trust has introduced a Millet-based health drink to more than 500,000 government school children in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. In line with POSHAN Abhiyaan, the Trust targets to reduce undernutrition, stunting, and anaemia among children, women, and adolescent girls, and also aims to reduce the instances of low birth weight. Till March 2020, Annapoorna Trust had been serving over 470,000 school children in Karnataka, Puducherry, and other states by providing SaiSure health mix that complements the respective State Govt. Sponsored Milk Schemes. “The U.N. General Assembly recently adopted a resolution, sponsored by India and supported by more than 70 countries, declaring 2023 as the International Year of Millets. The resolution is intended to increase public awareness on the health benefits of millets and their suitability for cultivation under tough conditions marked by climate change.”
From September 2022, the Trust started introducing “SaiSure – Raagi Variant” (Finger Millet) in many government schools which has been rapidly expanding in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Each child will receive 150 ml of hot delicious and nutritious “Ragi Malt” drink, prepared by adding 10 grams of Ragi and 5 grams of Jaggery to 150 ml of hot water. Introduction of “Raagi Cereals health mix” can be either made into a sweet drink or a salty one or even made into solid balls. It can be mixed with curd or rice or even milk.
“Raagi Cereals Health drink” contains significant amounts of vitamin C and E. It is also high in B complex vitamins thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, folic acid, calcium, magnesium, iron, and phosphorus. Raagi-based chikkis are also prepared and supplied to children. With the inclusion of the above model of morning nutrition, Annapoorna Trust is now able to reach out to over 1,100,000 children spread over 23 states and 4 union territories.
