ADILABAD: Millets, looked down upon as the poor man's diet once, are now the most sought after food by all strata of society. The millets, whose multifarious health benefits have been rediscovered in the recent past, are now becoming the staple diet for many suffering from various illnesses.
Those who want to be fit and those who are fit but want to be fitter are now using the millets in their diets. So is the Kumurambheem-Asifabad district administration which, through the ITDA, has made millets part of the daily diets for pregnant women, infants and adolescent girls who are covered by Anganwadi centres.
Tribal women run units
The district administration has a small scale millets powder unit set up by a tribal self-help group which makes different kinds of powders at Kautaguda near district headquarters which include sorghum, millets, sajja, peanuts, kernels, pesara, cumin, turmeric, chilli, mustard, coriander, sugar, almonds and ravva.
A member of SHG K Kavitha says, "This project is helping in getting employment and at the same time making us feel happy that we are serving a cause." The SHGs use them to cook sorghum meal, and multigrain mineral sweet meal at Anganwadi centres for supply to the children, adolescent girls and pregnant women.
Ten women members of the aboriginal tribes have been trained to run the unit each of whom has a specific task cut for them to run the unit efficiently. The SHGs are hopeful that they would get an opportunity to double their income by supplying the millet-based products to public schools and hostels.
The officials have found that millet-based products are showing good results in reducing anaemia due to malnutrition among those covered by the Anganwadi centres. The district has been awarded the Prime Minister's Excellence Award for coming up with the innovative idea and for implementing it which was now improving the health of the women and children under Anganwadi centres.
The award was recently received by District Collector Rahul Raj from the hands of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Initiative Shows promising results
The SHGs use millets to cook sorghum meal, and multigrain mineral sweet meal at Anganwadi centres for supply to the children, adolescent girls and pregnant women
The officials have found that millet-based products are showing good results in reducing anaemia due to malnutrition