1,100 crore spent on Arogya Lakshmi: Satyavathi Rathod

Hyderabad: State Women and Child Welfare Minister Satyavathi Rathod clarified that the State government so far had spent Rs 1,100 crore on implementation of the Arogya Lakshmi scheme to provide nutritious food to pregnant women, nursing mothers and children in the State. The Minister was responding to the questions raised by members of the Assembly on Tuesday during the Question Hour. "The Arogya Lakshmi programme is one of the ambitious programmes of the State government. We provide nutritious food to address the issue of anemia in women and children.

The programme was launched on January 1, 2015. We provide 200 ml of milk, one egg and one meal per day to pregnant women and new mothers. We are providing 16 eggs (per month) to children aged between 7 months and 3 years and 30 eggs (per month) to children aged between 3 years and 6 years from the Anganwadi centres.

Under this scheme, 4,65,805 pregnant and lactating women, 10,43,419 children aged between 7 months and 3 years and 6,74,336 children aged between 3 years and 6 years are benefiting. To implement the scheme effectively, the government had strengthened Anganwadis and they are getting an honorarium of Rs 10,500 per month.