Food Safety and Standards Authority of India Launches Eat Right Creativity Challenge For Millets

New Delhi: The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) launched the Eat Right Creativity Challenge for Millets (Shree Anna) on Monday (October 16) on the occasion of World Food Day 2023. This national-level initiative is aimed at promoting the health benefits and consumption of millets among school children, thereby extending its benefits to the larger community. It stands as one of the many proactive steps taken by FSSAI during the celebration of the International Year of Millets (IYOM) to foster public awareness regarding the use and nutritional benefits of millets through various mediums, the release stated.

The release further stated that the competition will encompass a range of activities, including Poster Making (Class 3-5), Rangoli (Class 6-8), Slogan Writing (Class 9-10) and Essay Writing (Class 11-12), conducted at both Regional and National levels. Each contest will be centred around the theme of millet with the objective of sensitising school children to the health benefits associated with their consumption.

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The winners of the competition will be awarded a cash prize and certificate, with a total of 160 prizes at the regional level and 40 prizes at the national level to be won for each of the four competitions.

The ‘Eat Right Creativity Challenge’ (ERCC), as part of FSSAI’s Eat Right India movement, endeavours to tap the creative potential of students in order to instil healthy dietary habits. Moreover, this competition encourages schools to create an environment of healthy and safe food and engage, excite and enable students to adopt healthy habits. So far, three ERCCs have been conducted successfully in multiple phases, with each phase having its own unique theme.

Given that the young people are agents of change who can influence the community at large regarding eating rights, the ERCC stands as proof of FSSAI’s commitment to the promotion of health, nutrition and sustainable dietary practices among India’s youth.

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(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

NDTV – Dettol have been working towards a clean and healthy India since 2014 via the Banega Swachh India initiative, which in its Season 10 is helmed by Campaign Ambassador Ayushmann Khurrana. The campaign aims to highlight the inter-dependency of humans and the environment, and of humans on one another with the focus on One Health, One Planet, One Future – Leaving No One Behind. It stresses on the need to take care of, and consider, everyone’s health in India – especially vulnerable communities – the LGBTQ population, indigenous people, India’s different tribes, ethnic and linguistic minorities, people with disabilities, migrants, geographically remote populations, gender and sexual minorities. In a world post COVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign will continue to raise awareness on the same along with focussing on the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children, fight malnutrition, mental well-being, self-care, science and health, adolescent health & gender awareness. Along with the health of people, the campaign has realised the need to also take care of the health of the eco-system. Our environment is fragile due to human activity, which is not only over-exploiting available resources, but also generating immense pollution as a result of using and extracting those resources. The imbalance has also led to immense biodiversity loss that has caused one of the biggest threats to human survival – climate change. It has now been described as a “code red for humanity.” The campaign will continue to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and sanitation workers and menstrual hygiene. Banega Swasth India will also be taking forward the dream of Swasth Bharat, the campaign feels that only a Swachh or clean India where toilets are used and open defecation free (ODF) status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and the country can become a Swasth or healthy India.