Annapoorna Milk Yojana Scheme in Rajasthan

Annapoorna Milk Yojana Scheme in Rajasthan Free Eligibility Criteria Application Form Process Students upto 8th Class

Children need optimum nutrition to develop, especially in their young childhood and teenage days. During this period, their mental as well as physical development takes place. To assist this development, they require adequate and nutritious food. Unfortunately, poor families cannot afford expensive foods like fruits and milk. Thus, the state government has stepped in to offer its assistance. The new scheme is called Annapoorna Milk Scheme, and it will offer free milk to school students for free. It is the second drive by the state that offers nutritious food to students.

Launch details

The new nutritional scheme for the students has been announced on the 18^th of May, 2018. The CM of Rajasthan Vasundhara Raje made the announcement in the presence of Rajasthan Education Minister, Vasudev Devnani. She also mentioned that the actual launch of this project will begin on 2 July 2018.

Main benefit

Poor families fail to meet nutritional requirements of growing children. These children are the future of the state, and if they are not healthy, then progress of the state will be hampered. The main objective of the scheme is to offer healthy food to school students.

Key features of the scheme

Providing adequate nutrition – The high price of milk makes it impossible for poor families in rural areas to purchase it. They also fail to provide proper nutrition to their kids, who fall prey to malnutrition. With this scheme, the state will offer free milk to government school students.
Ensuring proper growth – Milk is termed as the complete food. Regular consumption of a specific amount of milk will not only prevent several diseases, but will also in adequate growth and development of a child. Milk intake also boosts immunity that will prevent prolonged infections.
Better of physical development – Children in growing age need better nutrition. Milk contains necessary vitamins, protein and other nutrients. Regular intake of milk will assist in development of stronger bones, better immunity and smooth skin.
Prevention of diseases – Children that do not receive proper nutrition suffer from disease like respiratory issues, low immunity, weak teeth and gums, dehydration, and hypertension. Milk will help in keeping these at bay.
Keeping deficiency diseases at bay – The regular intake of milk will help in keeping several diseases at bay. These disease attack children who do not receive proper nutrition. Regular intake of milk will prevent disease like obesity, cancer and osteoporosis.
For pupils of 1^st to 8^th standard – It has been mentioned in the scheme that all government school students, who study in any class between 1^st to 8^th standard, will be eligible to receive free milk from the state government.
Amount of milk allotted – As per the scheme details, the state government has fixed the amount of milk that will be given to each child. All pupils, studying in classes 1 to 5 will receive 150 ml of milk on all school days. All candidates who read in classes 6 to 8 will receive 200 ml of milk regularly.
Total beneficiary – As per survey, around 85 lakh students go to the schools, which are run by the state government. Classes 9, 10, 11 and 12 have been kept out of this scheme only. It means a significant amount of pupils will get the benefit of the milk scheme.
Number of schools to be catered – There are almost 80,000 schools, which are under the state government. The scheme will be implemented in all these schools simultaneously.
Quality control of milk – The CM also announced that regular checks will be done to monitor the quality of milk. If the milk is adulterated or not of good quality, then children will not get appropriate nutrition. Samples will be collected and tests will be done to ensure high quality.

Application details

As the scheme is in its initial days, the state has not declared any application norms as of now. It is expected that the school will have some role to play in the application process, as each school will be allotted adequate quantities to cater to the needs of eligible children.

Budget for implementation

The program has recently been announced. The state government has not declared the exact cost for the successful implementation of this nutritional project. As it is for the children, living within the state, and has been designed by the state government, its implementation cost will be borne by Rajasthan State Government.

Other nutritional schemes

Annapoorna Milk Scheme is not the only nutritional project that has been spearheaded by the Rajasthan state government. The state got the confidence of going ahead with this scheme only after it has attained success in the Annapoorna Rasoi Scheme. The scheme was targeted towards offering nutritious meal to the government school students. Under this project, state government offered cooked food to schools students, so that all candidates of 1^st to 5^th standard receive 12 grams protein and 450 calories. Candidates of 6^th to 8^th standard will receive 20 gram protein and 700 calories.