What this scheme offers
Launched in January 2015 and designed along World Health Organization nutrition guidelines, Aarogya Lakshmi is built around a simple, consistent structure rather than one-off distributions: pregnant and lactating women get one full meal a day for 25 days a month at their local Anganwadi centre, plus an egg and 200ml of milk daily for the same period. Children get age-tiered nutrition too — 16 eggs a month from 7 months to 3 years, then an egg every day from 3 to 6 years — reaching over 2.7 lakh pregnant women and 2 lakh lactating mothers across 35,000+ Anganwadi centres. Because it's a technical nutrition programme rather than a cash guarantee, it has continued largely unchanged across the change in government.
Who is eligible
- Pregnant or lactating woman resident in Telangana.
- Registered at a local Anganwadi centre.
- No income restriction — the meal component is universal for registered pregnant/lactating women.
- Children aged 7 months to 6 years registered at the Anganwadi for the egg/nutrition component.
Documents required
- Aadhaar card
- Pregnancy/child registration at the Anganwadi
How to apply
- Register your pregnancy, or your child, at your nearest Anganwadi centre.
- Visit the centre as scheduled to receive the daily meal, egg and milk (for pregnant/lactating women) or age-appropriate nutrition (for children).
- No separate application beyond Anganwadi registration is needed.
- Raise any gaps in service with your Anganwadi worker or the local Women Development and Child Welfare office.