Mangaluru : Member of Legislative Council Ivan D’Souza on Wednesday said he has urged Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to announce “Motte Bhagya” (egg scheme) for children in the wake of extreme malnutrition among them.

Mr. D’Souza told presspersons here that eggs may be provided to these kids under the Integrated Child Development Scheme through anganwadis and through the midday meal schemes in schools.

He said there has been persistent demand to provide eggs to children coming from Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, other backward classes and religious minorities as malnutrition is high among them. The scheme is already in vogue in states like Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Odisha, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal, he added.

At the same time, he has also urged the Chief Minister to increase the unit-wise allocation to women and children under ICDS in view of increase in the cost of inputs.

The allocation should be increased from Rs. 6 for normal children; Rs. 9 for children with severe malnutrition and Rs. 7 for adolescent girls/ pregnant women/ lactating women to Rs. 8, Rs. 11 and Rs. 9 respectively.

The MLC said though the then Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa had established Christian Development Council under the Minorities Development Corporation with an outlay of Rs. 50 crore, the community was not getting much benefit due to stringent sets of rules. Hence, he has urged Mr. Siddaramaiah to establish a separate corporation — Christian Development Corporation for the overall development of the community, which accounts for about 6 per cent of the state’s population.