Doodh Sanjeevani Yojana (Gujarat)

What is Doodh Sanjeevani Yojana?

Doodh Sanjeevani Yojana is a school nutrition scheme of the Tribal Development Department, Government of Gujarat. According to the department, its objective is "to improve and enrich the level of nutrition of primary school going tribal students". The scheme supplies 200 ml of fortified, flavoured, double-toned pasteurised milk to each covered child on a school day, served in the school itself.

Doodh Sanjeevani Yojana. The name translates roughly as the "milk of life" scheme, and it is commonly written as Dudh Sanjivani Yojana, began in 2006-07 in Banaskantha district. The first year covered 48,109 tribal students in 299 primary schools and 26 Ashram schools in the Danta and Amirgadh talukas. The department reports that by 2019-20 the scheme had grown to 8,958 schools across 26 talukas in 14 districts, reaching 7,68,465 students.

What is in the milk. The Tribal Development Department specifies the nutritional composition of the 200 ml serving as:

• 3% fat
• 7 gm protein
• 24 gm carbohydrate
• 500 I.U. vitamin A
• 40 I.U. vitamin D

This is a fortified product, not plain milk. The vitamin A and vitamin D fortification is the reason the scheme is classed as a nutrition intervention rather than a feeding programme. The department describes the outcome plainly: "This scheme has successfully solved the problem of malnutrition in children."

Who supplies it. District-level cooperative dairies manage the supply and distribution. Gujarat's district milk unions already had chilling, pasteurising and village-level distribution capacity, and Doodh Sanjeevani Yojana was built on top of that existing network rather than a new supply chain. That is the single reason the scheme could scale from two talukas to 26 talukas within roughly a decade.

Who is covered by Doodh Sanjeevani Yojana?

A child is covered if:

• The child is enrolled in a government primary school or an Ashramshala that falls in a taluka notified under the scheme.
• The school is in one of the tribal talukas the Tribal Development Department has brought under the scheme to 26 talukas across 14 districts as of the department's 2019-20 reporting.
• The child attends on the day the milk is served. Milk is served on school days, so an absent child does not get that day's serving.

A child is not eligible and cannot be enrolled in the scheme if:

• The child studies in a private school. Doodh Sanjeevani Yojana operates through government primary schools and Ashramshalas only.
• The school is in a taluka not notified under the scheme. Coverage is taluka-based, so a school just outside a covered taluka boundary is not included.
• The child is not enrolled in school at all. There is no home-delivery or take-home component. A child out of school does not receive the milk, and the correct first step is school enrolment.
• The child is in secondary or higher secondary classes. The scheme targets primary school going students.

Note what is not an eligibility test. Individual families are not asked for an income certificate, and children are not asked to produce a Scheduled Tribe certificate at the point of service. The scheme is delivered school-wide in covered tribal talukas, which removes the paperwork barrier that keeps the poorest children out of individually-verified schemes.

How do you apply for Doodh Sanjeevani Yojana?

Doodh Sanjeevani Yojana has no individual application form. This is deliberate, and it is the single most useful thing for a parent to know. Follow these steps:

1. Enrol the child in the government primary school or Ashramshala serving your village. Enrolment is the only action a parent needs to take, and it is what puts the child on the school roll used to order the daily milk.
2. Confirm with the school head teacher that the school is covered under Doodh Sanjeevani Yojana. Coverage is decided taluka by taluka, so ask directly rather than assuming.
3. Send the child to school regularly. Milk is served on school days to children present that day, so attendance is what converts eligibility into the actual benefit.
4. If the school is covered but milk is not being served, raise it with the head teacher first, then with the taluka or district Tribal Development office or the Cluster Resource Centre coordinator.

Parents should not pay anyone anything for this scheme. There is no registration fee, no form fee and no agent. Any demand for money in connection with Doodh Sanjeevani Yojana should be reported to the district Tribal Development office.

How is the scheme delivered inside the school?

The school receives the day's supply from the district cooperative dairy or its appointed distributor, and the milk is served to the enrolled children present that day. The school maintains the daily register that records how many servings were issued, and that register is the basis on which supply is ordered and paid for. Because the same register drives both attendance and supply, a school that under-reports attendance ends up under-ordering milk.

Doodh Sanjeevani Yojana runs alongside the mid-day meal, not instead of it. The two schemes are administered separately. The mid-day meal by the education system, the milk by the Tribal Development Department, and a covered child gets both. Parents sometimes assume the milk replaces part of the meal; it does not.

What documents does a parent need?

Almost none, and that is by design.

If a school is asking a parent for a caste certificate or an income certificate specifically to serve milk, that is not a requirement of this scheme and should be questioned with the head teacher.

Common problems and how to fix them

• "Our school does not get milk." First establish whether the taluka is covered. If it is, the problem is supply or reporting, and the district Tribal Development office is the right place to raise it. If the taluka is not covered, the school genuinely cannot serve milk under this scheme.
• Supply gaps. Because delivery runs through district cooperative dairies, interruptions are usually logistical — transport, holidays, or a break in the chilling chain. Persistent gaps should be reported in writing so they enter the district record.
• Child misses the milk due to absence. There is no arrears or catch-up serving. Regular attendance is the only remedy.
• Quality concerns. Report to the head teacher and the district Tribal Development office. The fortification specification to 3% fat, 7 gm protein, 500 I.U. vitamin A, 40 I.U. vitamin D; is a published standard, so a complaint can be framed against it.

Key dates and coverage timeline

• 2006-07: scheme launched in Danta and Amirgadh talukas of Banaskantha district, covering 48,109 students in 299 primary schools and 26 Ashram schools.
• 2019-20: coverage reported at 8,958 schools across 26 talukas in 14 districts, benefiting 7,68,465 students.

Doodh Sanjeevani Yojana runs on the school calendar and has no application window or last date, because there is nothing for a family to apply for. The practical date that matters is the school admission period, normally May and June, since school enrolment is what brings a child into the scheme.

Grievance and contact

• Tribal Development Department, Government of Gujarat, Block No. 2, 5th Floor, New Sachivalaya, Gandhinagar 382010.
• Telephone: +91 79 23257703. Office hours 10:30 a.m. to 6:10 p.m.
• First point of contact: the school head teacher, then the taluka or district Tribal Development office.

For anything relating to supply, quality or non-service, the district Tribal Development office is the office that holds the contract with the district cooperative dairy and is therefore the office that can actually fix it.