<span style="color: #222222;">Various awareness programmes are being held across Telangana state under Poshan Maah, beginning from today. The central and State governments are holding various programmes under the mission to create awareness among people especially women and children about the need for nutritious food.<br />''<br />''Meanwhile, the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) has found that the seed coat of pigeonpea which is red gram, is rich in calcium and is a potential valuable input for baby food and mineral supplements. The Institute has published its research in an international journal stating that the seed coat of the Pigeonpea has six times more calcium than milk.<br />''<br />'' Calcium is important factor in addressing health issues like osteoporosis among adults and rickets among children.<br />''<br />''Currently, the seed coat, which is about 10% of the seed, is a by-product of the process of making Dal for industry and it is disposed of either as waste or cattle feed. The research led by ICRISAT's genebank has found that just 100 g of pigeonpea seed coat has 652 mg of calcium as against 120 mg in 100 ml of milk. According to ICRISAT, further research is in progress to evaluate the bioavailability of the nutrients. It may be known that human body requires 800-1,000 mg of calcium per day and the reports indicate that the contemporary Indian diet is not providing the same.</span><br />