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 high-burden 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 high-burden districts, under the public distribution
system.
100% of the expenses of
rice fortification will be borne by the state government. This decision was
taken 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 high-burden 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.
It is noteworthy that
‘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.