7-Dec-2022: Workshops organized in 9 districts having Tribal population for creating awareness towards benefits of Fortified Rice

The Union Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Ms. Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today informed that various State Governments including Government of Rajasthan were requested to organize programmes to create awareness on benefits of fortified rice and its positive impact on nutritional security in the tribal areas of the country.

Accordingly, workshops/seminars in 9 districts having tribal population – in the States of Gujarat (Vapi), Maharashtra (Nashik and Nandurbar), Chhattisgarh (Kanker), Jharkhand (East Singhbhum), Madhya Pradesh (Shahdol, Mandla, Barwani) and Kerala (Wayanad) were conducted with the involvement of DFPD, FCI and other stakeholders such as Field Experts including Medical Professionals members of Media, prominent personalities, local leaders and Development Partners.

A provision of Administrative/Contingency Cost which inter-alia includes Information, Education, Communication (IEC) and Capacity Building to the tune of Rs. 5.00 lakh per district has been made, which is to be borne by the Government of India during the implementation of rice fortification initiative in Phase-II and Phase-III.

With the increased awareness and knowledge about the positive impacts of consumption of fortified rice, during 3rd quarter of FY 2022-23, out of 291 targeted Districts for the implementation in Phase-II, the coverage of implementation has increased to 250 Districts including districts having tribal population. Besides, some States have reported that awareness programme on rice fortification has had a positive impact on the mindset of public in general about the benefits of consumption of fortified rice.

27-Sep-2022: IEC Campaign on Fortified Rice in Tribal Areas in five States

In order to popularise and create awareness about the benefit of Fortified Rice specially in Tribal Areas of the country, the Department of Food and Public Distribution (DFPD) and States governments of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Telangana Rajasthan, Kerala organized workshops and seminars in the tribal belts and districts that have populations that are vulnerable to Thalassemia and Sickle Cell Anemia.

In Gujarat, the State Government organized a workshop in Meril Academy, Vapi on September 9, 2022. Following this, workshops were organized at Nanurbar (Maharashtra) on 13.09.2022, Nashik (Maharashtra) on 14.09.2022, Kanker (Chattisgarh) on 15.09.2022, Jamshedpur (Jharkhand) on 16.09.2022, Barwani (M.P.) on 20.09.2022, Mandla (M.P) on 22.09.2022 and Shahdol (M.P.) on 24.09.2022  in association with DFPD, Development Partners and FCI where Minister of State Governments, Collectors, DMs, Technical experts, Local experts, Doctors, Civil Surgeons, NGOs, Fair price Shop dealers, Sarpanch, Leaders of Tribal areas, Officials of Civil supply, Health, ICDS, Development partners and experts attended the programme.

The experts highlighted the benefits of fortified rice for the public and addressed their concerns and misgivings of the people and local media.

Fortification is the process of adding Fortified Rice Kernels (FRK), containing FSSAI prescribed micronutrients (Iron, Folic Acid, Vitamin B12) to normal Rice (Custom Milled Rice) in the ratio of 1:100 (Mixing 1 Kg of FRK with 100 Kg custom milled rice). Fortified rice is nearly identical to traditional rice in aroma, taste, and texture. This process is done in the rice mills at the time of milling of rice.

Rice fortification ecosystem has been enhanced significantly on boarding rice millers, FRK manufacturers, industries and other stakeholders for production and supply of fortified rice to meet the target requirement. There are more than 9000 rice mills in the country which have installed blending infrastructure for production of fortified rice and their cumulative monthly production capacity is around 60 LMT which is increased by more than 4 times since last year.

Fortification of rice is found to be a cost-effective and complementary strategy to increase vitamin and mineral content in diets with low turnaround time (TAT) and a step towards nutritional security and helps in fighting anemia and malnutrition in the country. This strategy is implemented in many parts of the world.

13-Sep-2022: Centre directs State Governments to organise awareness workshops about the benefits of Fortified Rice

In order to promote the benefits of Fortified Rice while elucidating the concerns about the impact of its consumption among some sections of the population those are vulnerable to Thalassemia and Sickle Cell Anaemia, the Department of Food and Public Distribution (DFPD) has requested various States like Gujarat, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Telangana Rajasthan, Kerala to organize workshop/seminar by the respective State Governments in the sensitive areas of tribal belts and districts that have populations that are vulnerable to Thalassemia and Sickle Cell Anaemia.

This initiative has been carried out by organizing workshops by the Govt. of Gujarat at Meril Academy, in Vapi on 09.09.2022 where Hon’ble Finance Minister, Government of Gujarat, Minister, Food & Public Distribution, Govt. of Gujarat, State Minister Food and Public Distribution, Government of Gujarat and other higher officers of Govt. of Gujarat and officer from Department of Food and Public Distribution, Government of India, technical experts and members from media attended the programme.

Ms. Neha Arora, State Programme Officer, Nutritional International, Gujarat made a presentation on fortified staples provided through social safety net programmes. Dr. Yazdi Italia former Honorary Director, Sickle Cell Anemia Control Programme, a Go-NGO Partnership Program of Govt. of Gujarat made a presentation on understanding Hemoglobinopathis-Sickle Cell Anemia, Thalassemia. Similarly, Prof. (Dr.) Sirimavo Nair, Nodal Officer, Gujarat (NFSA Concurrent Evaluation D/o Food & PD-Govt. of India) made a presentation on fortified staples and its positive impact on public health. Dr. Bhavesh Bariya, Asst. Professor, Department of Community Medicine, NAMO-MERI-Silvasa also made a presentation on fortified staples and its effect on Hemoglobinopathis.

The presentations were followed by a Panel discussion by technical experts and officials from FCI and D/o Food & PD. The programme was covered by several leading local newspapers in Gujarat.

At the end of the workshop, there was general consensus regarding the positive impact of rice fortification in Govt. schemes and its significant contribution to the country’s nutritional security strategy.

27-Jun-2019: Distribution of Fortified Ration

The Nutrient requirements and recommended dietary allowances (RDAs) for all age groups of the population including children are set and revised periodically by the National Institute of Nutrition - Indian Council of Medical Research.

The requirement of nutrients in children varies with the age, gender and nutritional status of the children. The RDAs for Indian population are finalized by National Institute of Nutrition – Indian Council of Medical Research (NIN-ICMR) based on the recommendations of the Expert Group, based on individual variability and nutrient bioavailability from the habitual diet.

As per the information received from Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Department of Food & Public Distribution has approved the "Centrally Sponsored Pilot Scheme on Fortification of Rice & its distribution through Public Distribution System". Financial Assistance up to 90% in case of North-Eastern, Hilly and Island States and up to 75% in case of rest of the States has been extended. Further, Government of India has also advised all States/UTs especially those States/UTs that are distributing wheat flour through Public Distribution System (PDS), to distribute fortified wheat flour through PDS.

The details of the States/UTs disbursing fortified ration through PDS is given below: