Meenesh Shah, Executive Director, National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), and Deepak Singla, IAS, District Collector, Gadchiroli, launched NDDB Foundation for Nutrition’s (NFN) unique and novel ‘Gift Milk’ programme in which 200 ml of fortified flavoured toned milk to be distributed to each child per day. About 4,000 students of around 26 government schools in Gadchiroli district were covered under gift Milk program on February 28, at Z P High School, Kurud.
NBCC India Ltd. and NBCC Services Ltd. will be funding the Giftmilk programme under their CSR allocation. The Bhandara Milk Union will provide 200 ml fortified flavoured pasteurized toned milk to each child per day on all school working days. The programme was also attended by the Chief Executive Officer and Education Officer, Zilla Parishad Gadchiroli, school teachers, parents and local community.
NFN was set up by NDDB during its Golden Jubilee Year 2015-16. Its noble mission is to provide a glass of milk to every child to address malnutrition among government school children.
NFN mobilises donations from various institutions under Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) commitment to supply milk to the school children through the network of dairy cooperatives. NFN has been distributing Giftmilk for around 12,000 children studying in Government schools in Nagpur district under the CSR assistance of Mother Dairy Fruit and Vegetable Private Limited.
The Giftmilk programme has received positive responses from schools across the country. So far, NFN has provided 85 lakh units of milk to about 51,000 students in 126 government schools in seven states namely, Delhi, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and Uttar Pradesh.
In line with NDDB’s commitment towards working for the betterment of Vidarbha and Marathwada region, NFN’s Giftmilk programme aims to nurture the health and happiness of the children of the region for a better future and contribute to the country’s efforts to eradicate malnutrition.