During the stay of Chief Minister Shri Ashok Gehlot in Udaipur, an MoU was signed between TRI and IIHMR regarding ShriAnn Poshan Abhiyan. Divisional Commissioner Rajendra Bhatt, District Collector Tarachand Meena, TRI Director Mrs. Anjali Rajoria, and Associate Professor of IIHMR Dr. Varsha Tanu were present during the MoU signing in the presence of the Chief Minister.
Chief Minister Mr. Gehlot praised this innovation started by the TAD department to promote millet and said it would also help remove malnutrition in this region. The Chief Minister wished for the success of this campaign.
On this occasion, Mrs. Rajouria said that under this MoU, five backward blocks of Udaipur have been selected as an innovation in the Udaipur district of the state, in which all the Anganwadi centers under 5-5 panchayats have been established. Pregnant and lactating women and children below 12 years at Ma-Bari centers will be fed Laddoos Energy Bar, Namkeen, etc., dishes made of millet daily, and the nutrition they are getting. Under this, women of more than 500 self-help groups will be motivated for self-employment by training them to make different millet dishes. After this, the changes in the nutrition of mothers and children will be continuously recorded, and the research agency will study the effects. About 18000 beneficiaries will be added to this campaign.
Earlier, Tribal Development Commissioner Rajendra Bhatt informed us about the efforts being made by TAD for the implementation of this campaign. He said that at present, the period of campaign implementation has been kept for 6 months, and the research period will be one year. In this implementation and research, IIHMR University of Jaipur will cooperate with Tribal Area Development Department, Udaipur.
India constantly strives to promote the consumption of its traditional and nutritious coarse grains at all levels through various seminars and programs. Significantly, after much research, India's effort to popularize coarse grains (millet), which has got the status of a superfood from a nutritional point of view, is in discussion worldwide. The reason is that after India's proposal in this regard in March 2023, the United Nations, with the support of 72 countries, has decided to celebrate 2023 as the International Millet Year.