CM Jagan launches ragi malt drink for school children

Vijayawada: Adding more nutrition inputs to the Jagananna Goru Muddha, Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy formally launched the programme of serving ragi malt drink to students in government and aided schools across AP state, on Tuesday.

Launching the programme in virtual mode in the presence of senior officials at his camp office, the Chief Minister said ragi malt would be served to 37, 63,698 students. This would cost Rs 86 crore a year. Henceforth, ragi malt will be part of the morning menu for students in 44,392 government and aided schools.

The Chief Minister said ragi malt has additional nutrients of calcium and iron, which would help those having problems of anemia. He thanked the Sathya Sai Central Trust for partnering with the government and coming forward to bear Rs 42 crore out of the annual expenditure of Rs 86 crore.

”While the Telugu Desam government spent only Rs 450 crore every year to implement the mid-day meal scheme, we are spending Rs 1,824 crore annually under Jagananna Goru Muddha for providing nutritious food to students. The government has been providing 15 varieties of food to students in the daily menu by changing the list. Introduction of and nutrients is a part of this effort,” the Chief Minister said.

He said boiled eggs are being given to students five days every week. “While the students are getting groundnut chikkis three days a week, ragi malt will be served to them for the remaining days, from now on.”

Jagan Mohan Reddy said, “The state has witnessed a drastic reduction in the dropout rate in schools following implementation of several innovative educational programmes like Amma Vodi, Nadu-Nedu, Vidya Deevena, Vasati Deevena, digitalisation of classrooms, distribution of tabs to Class VIII students, introduction of bilingual textbooks and a CBSE syllabus.”

“The government has also introduced job-oriented courses and online verticals to make the students attain higher IQ levels and face competitive tests with more confidence in the job market,” he added.

The Sathya Sai Central Trust chairman R.J. Ratnakar participated in the launch, from Puttaparthi, and expressed the entity’s gratitude to the CM for making the trust partner with the government in the ragi malt programme.

Education minister Botsa Satyanarayana, principal secretary (education) Praveen Prakash, school education commissioner S. Suresh, school education commissioner (infrastructure) K. Bhaskar, AP civil supplies corporation vice-chairman and MD Veera Pandyan, Midday Meal scheme director Nidhi Meena and senior officials of the education department participated.