The government is planning to start a scheme for providing nutritional support to adolescent girls that aims to benefit about two crore girls in the first phase in next fiscal.

The scheme devised by the women and child development ministry is likely to go before the Union Cabinet tomorrow for clearance, official sources said.

The proposed scheme-- Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for Empowerment of Adolescent Girls (RGEAG) also known as 'Sabla'-- will be expanded to cover six crore girls between 11 and 18 years of age with Rs five allocated under the head for nutritional support for each beneficiary per day.

"The services under the scheme will include nutrition provision worth Rs five per day per beneficiary, Iron and Folic Acid supplementation, health check-up and referral services, nutritional and health education, counselling on family welfare and vocational training for girls aged 16 years and above," official sources said.

The scheme which will get 100 per cent funding from the central government and implemented by state governments will also see participation of civil services groups, anganwadi workers, self-help groups and other such ground level resource groups, they said.

According to 2001 census, total female population of the country was 49.65 crore with an estimated population of target girls nearly six crores. The scheme aims to benefit 40 per cent of girls in the first phase which is about two crore.

The first phase of scheme is planned to start in 2010-11 will cover nearly two crore girls and will be expanded to about three crore girls in 2011-12.

The expenditure finance committee has recommended that under the scheme 600 calories of nutrition and 18-20 grams of protein per beneficiary per day should be provided for 300 days in a year for girls aged 11-14 years who are out of school and all the girls in the age group of 15-18 years, official sources said.

They said over seven lakh metric tonnes of grain will be required for the first phase of the scheme during the next fiscal.

The actual requirement of grain would be based on the demands and requests made by the state governments and union territories each year. The states will be provided with food grains under the scheme at below poverty rates based on their demands, sources said.

The scheme is aimed at replacing Kishori Shakti Yojna which is run by Rural Development Ministry which is valid upto December 31, 2012 and Nutritional Program for Adolescent Girls run by Ministry of Women and Child Development.