Providing cow milk thrice a week to about one crore school and anganwadi children under the Ksheera Bhagya scheme, as stated by Animal Husbandry Minister T B Jayachandra, will more than double the current project cost of Rs 400 crore to Rs 880 crore.
The cost of supplying 150 ml to each child in the form of milk powder is currently around Rs 4.60. If flexipacks are used to supply fresh cow milk, the cost will go up to Rs 7.10 per child. And if tetra paks are used, the cost will be Rs 8.50, according to the nodal agency, Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF).
Added to this, the KMF will have to set up processing and packaging plants to treat the milk and pack it in flexipacks that do not need refrigeration. “We need to set up plants for the flexipacks in about four to five locations across the state as the distribution has to be decentralised. It will cost about `160 crore to set up the plants. We will have to deliver about eight lakh litres in the form of packs, but if the government gives us a directive and assists us with funds, we will do it,” KMF director (marketing) Ravikumar Kakade told Express.
Jayachandra, however, does not seem to have worked out these details when he announced recently in Tumkur: “Cow milk, full of natural fat, will be directly supplied to the schoolchildren under Ksheera Bhagya.” KMF officials say that they have not yet been given a directive in this regard. But, with nearly 50 students falling ill in three separate incidents recently after drinking milk under the scheme, the general opinion seems to be that milk should be supplied in flexipacks.
“The milk can be put into packs and sent directly to the schools and anganwadis. All that the children have to do is cut the packs, put the milk into glasses and drink. There will be no need to boil the milk or worry about unhygienic vessels that have caused the problems,” Kakade said.
The official said in terms of quality, there would be no difference between the flexipacks and the tetra paks in the market. “The milk in both is packaged with ultra high temperature (UHT) treatment. Tetra Pak is a brand name, the flexipack is the generic name. There are other companies that make flexipacks that work out cheaper than the Tetra Pak,” Kakade added.
Activists like nutrition expert K C Raghu have advised the government that providing real milk to the children is worth the cost. “If you expose milk to the sun for just half an hour, its vitamin B12 quotient reduces. They should decentralise and supply the milk through the KMF unions for Ksheera Bhagya,” he said.