In a move to strengthen child nutrition, the Women and Child Welfare Department is in talks with the Sri Sathya Sai Annapoorna Trust to broaden the scope of the ragi health mix project. At present, the Trust partners with the state government to deliver this nutritious supplement to government school students.
Plans are underway to extend this initiative to anganwadi children, particularly targeting those suffering from Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) and Moderate Acute Malnutrition (MAM). Department officials confirmed that the programme is expected to commence by July.
A senior official informed TNIE that phase one will initially benefit around 4,000 children across districts like Yadgir, Chamarajnagar, Bagalkot, Haveri, and Dharwad. “Within a year, the department aims to cover every anganwadi centre across the state, vastly broadening access to vital nutrition,” the official added.
Sri Madhusudan Sai, founder of the Sri Madhusudan Sai Global Humanitarian Mission, highlighted that the supplement — SaiSure Malt Multi-Nutrient Health Mix — combines ragi and jaggery and is designed to be blended with milk, already supplied by government schemes. This mix will address key macro and micronutrient deficiencies critical to children’s growth.
Additionally, the Trust plans to introduce products like millet-based chikkis and laddoos to further enrich the nutrition drive.
While the Chief Minister announced in the recent budget that Karnataka will fund 25% of the cost for school nutrition schemes (with the Trust covering 75%), the financing model for this new anganwadi programme is yet to be finalized.
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