Fortified rice to be distributed in Aspirational and High-burden districts of Chhattisgarh

Raipur:
Chhattisgarh Government has taken an important decision to eradicate
malnutrition and anemia in the aspirational districts and highburden districts
of Chhattisgarh. From March 2022 in the financial year 2022-23, State
Government will distribute fortified rice to the ration card holder
beneficiaries of the state scheme in 10 aspirational districts and 02
highburden districts, under the public distribution system. 100 per cent of the
expenses of rice fortification will be borne by the state government. This
decision was taken today at the Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister
Bhupesh Baghel.

According
to the information received from the Food Department, the annual allocation of rice
to ration cards under the state scheme via PDS is about 3 lakh 89 thousand 486
tons. Nearly Rs 28.43 crores will be spent on the fortification of this rice
and Rs 11.16 crores will be spent on for distribution of fortified rice to the
beneficiaries of the National Food Security Act. In this way, an amount of Rs.39.59
crores will be spent.

Fortified
rice will be distributed in 10 aspirational districts of the state namely
Korba, Rajnandgaon, Mahasamund, Kanker, Narayanpur, Dantewada, Bijapur, Bastar,
Kondagoan, Sukma, and 2 highburden districts Kabirdham and Raigarh. On the lines
of the National Food Security Act, fortified rice will be distributed to ration
card-holding beneficiaries of the State Scheme in these districts.

Meanwhile,
‘fortified’ rice is rich in iron and vitamins. Vitamin A, Vitamin B1, Vitamin
B12, folic acid, iron, and zinc as well as a combination of all the nutrients
are found in this rice, which can prove to be helpful in the prevention and cure of
malnutrition and anemia.