Mathru Purna Scheme: Nutrituous meals for pregnant women, lactating mothers

Bengaluru: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah today launched Mathru Purna Scheme which will provide one nutritious meal every day to pregnant and lactating poor women across the state.

The state government has allocated Rs 202 crore for this scheme. Around 30 lakh beneficiaries will avail this scheme,’’ Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said.

“The supply of midday meal will make pregnant women and lactating mothers healthy. Karnataka, after Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, is implementing this scheme in the country,’’ the chief minister said.

The aim of this scheme is to provide at least one nutritious meal every day to “Pregnant women” particularly those living in rural areas of the state. The scheme will give them meals which includes, rice, dal or sambar, pulses, egg and groundnut- jaggery chikki. Those who don’t eat Non veg will be provided two varieties of sprouts.

The Department of Women and Child Development has identified around 53,812 women in the district eligible to receive the midday meal. According to the officials, while 26,797 of these women are pregnant, the remaining 27,015 have given birth recently.

The food will be provided to them at Anganwadi centres along with the midday meal scheme which has been implemented for children. The women will be served hot meals at around 2,313 such centres across the district.

The scheme has been designed to ensure the supply of food for at least 300 days from the beginning of pregnancy till 45 days after delivery. However, the food will not be served on government holidays.