Odisha to add milk to mid-day meal scheme to improve nutritional intake of students

Odisha government will soon add milk to the mid-day meal given to the students in schools, informed Fisheries and Animal Resources Development Minister, Gokulananda Mallik on Tuesday.

According to sources, each student will be provided 200 millilitres of milk fortified with Vitamins A and D, alongside their daily meals.

A pilot initiative, known as 'Gift Milk', was commenced yesterday in the Rairangpur region of Mayurbhanj district. The project currently provides 200 millilitres of milk to 1,184 students across 29 schools, sources informed. 

Minister Mallik has indicated intentions to extend this initiative to all schools across the state in the future.

Speaking to the media, Mallik said, "The Gift Milk initiative commenced yesterday. Under this initiative, 1,184 students across 29 schools are being provided 200 millilitres of milk fortified with Vitamins A and D since yesterday. I would like to thank the President of India for this."

"The government is planning to introduce many welfare schemes for the school students. Our government is planning to extend the project to other schools soon," Mallik added.

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Notably, on January 13, President Droupadi Murmu virtually inaugurated Cow Induction, Gift Milk and Market support for Odisha State Cooperative Milk Producers' Federation (OMFED) initiatives of the National Dairy Development Board from Rashtrapati Bhavan.

What is Gift Milk?

The Gift Milk programme is the first initiative of NFN wherein 200 ml of flavoured milk fortified with vitamin A and D (as per FSSAI standards) is distributed among government school children on all school working days through a dairy cooperative under CSR allocations.

The target group is mainly school children aged 5 to15 years in primary and upper primary classes from government schools or schools run for underprivileged children by NGOs and charitable organisations.