Standing up for your rights

Across the world, people are celebrating today, December 10, as Human Rights Day; a day to acknowledge the needs of the nation, the needs of the world and the basic standards that we as a society have to live up to. One of our most fundamental human rights is the right to adequate food and education.

A Bellyful of Benefit

We’re living in an age where education is power. It is the power to be informed, make decisions, earn money and take control of your life. The Akshaya Patra Foundation believes that no child should be deprived of an education because of hunger, and so started its mid-day meal programme to allow children to study on a full belly and one day, gain that power.

Vrindavan kitchen forges Ahead

When The Akshaya Patra Foundation expanded its operations to the holy city of Vrindavan in the Mathura district of Uttar Pradesh, it couldn’t have come at a better time. The northern Indian state has historically been plagued by staggeringly low nutrition and welfare levels, making development in the region an uphill battle.

Campaign by Akshaya Patra towards supporting mid-day meal scheme in Hyderabad

Akshaya Patra is a NGO implementing the mid day meal scheme in Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh. Apart from these two locations it implements the programme in 18 more locations across eight other states. During the recent Joy of Giving Week, the Foundation’s Hyderabad branch organised a campaign titled 'A student for a student'. The main aim was to create awareness and raise fund for the beneficiaries of mid day meal.

An Akshaya Patra and Vasudev Adiga’s Initiative to Provide a Million Meals for Children

VasudevAdiga’s, a popular chain of restaurants in Karnataka, has committed to raise funds to support The Akshaya Patra, an NGO which serves mid day meals to government school children in India. VasudevAdiga’s aims to fund one million meals in collaboration with its customers, partners and employees.

Not for profit organization for children in Forbes

The Akshaya Patra Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation in India has been featured in Forbes through an article written by the organisations former Board Member- Nish Acharya. Presently, he is a Senior Fellow with North-eastern University and the Center for American Progress. In his article he brings out his experience while working with the organisation along with the mid day meal scheme success stories. He also duly points out the organisation’s effort to provide mid day meal to millions of children every day across 20 locations of 9 states. Nish Acharya’s article was published on the Skoll World Forum. This forum is a platform for discussion on important social issues across the world.

Internet technology for non-profit organisations

The Internet world has opened up global avenues for all types of organisations and businesses. It has proved to be of immense benefit to the charitable organisations too. The potential of social networking for non-profits has gained huge recognition and acceptance. The significance of internet technology for non-profits lies in its ability to allow the charitable organisations to create awareness about their work, share information with their supporters and also pitch for newer partnerships and collaboration.

Akshaya Patra Striving to Improve Child Nutrition

A major objective Akshaya Patra intends to achieve through the implementation of its mid day meal programme is significantly increasing child nutrition.

Eliminating malnutrition is a matter of utmost urgency in India. UNICEF statistics state that 1 in 3 of the world's malnourished children lives in India.

Akshaya Patra Decentralized Kitchen in Rajasthan Supports Employment to Rural Women

A country cannot progress if its women and children are held back; their welfare is an indicator of a nation’s development. Mid day meals promote education, providing children with a bright future, but they can also empower rural women.

The Akshaya Patra Foundation  mid day meal program is active in more than 9000 Government schools across 19 locations of 9 states, with operations in urban, semi-urban and rural areas.  The Foundation serves mid-day meals to over 1.3 million children across India.

Akshaya Patra Beneficiary Success Story from Vadodara

Akshaya Patra in Gujarat : Sheetal Chawla, a student of Pragati Vidyalaya, Bhayli has the knack of hiding the tale of an unforeseen life event which affected her academically too. Sheetal comes from a humble background. A creative child who loves to draw Mehendi on others’ hands and she is very fond of dancing too. She is a bright student in her academics too.

At a tender age Sheetal came across probably the most uncertain event in her life when her father suffered from high BP and a mild heart attack. After struggling for two months, he breathed his last in March 2011. With this irrecoverable loss, Sheetal also lost a whole academic year as she could not appear for her annual examination, the first date of which coincided with the date when her father passed away. This life changing event of Sheetal gets tactfully hidden behind her sparkling eyes.

To support her family, Bharati Behn- Sheetal’s mother began to work as domestic help in a few houses. Now, she is the only earning member in the family. But, this has not put a pause in the education of either Sheetal or her brother Piyush. Bharati Behn with her little earnings is managing to educate both her children. Sheetal’s brother is studying in the 10th Standard. He aims to do his ITI Diploma.

As Bharati Behn’s day starts as early as 6 a.m., Sheetal and her brother’s just has a glass of milk for their breakfast. Sheetal thus looks forward to having the freshly cooked meal of Akshaya Patra which is served before noon between 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sheetal is a Akshaya Patra beneficiary and she goes on to s ay, “Akshaya Patra mid day meal is a boon to families like ours, where it is difficult to have such a nutritious hot meal every day”. A thoughtful child, she extends a special thanks to all the ‘Bhais’ (brothers) and Behns (sisters) of Akshaya Patra for their everyday support.

Join Akshaya Patra and get involved in changing the lives of many children like Sheetal. Let’s together change the future in a constructive way. Feed the Children today!!!

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Karnataka NGO Provides Mid Day Meals For School Children

The Akshaya Patra Foundation was started in June 2000 in Bangalore. This Foundation implements the mid day meal programme with the mission of feeding 5 million children by 2020. It drives all its work towards its vision of “No child in India shall be deprived of education because of hunger”. Though it’s primary cause is to provide mid day meal to Government schools, it emphasises equally on education of the children also. The reason being this it is looking forward to expand its reach to more and more parts of the country.

Currently, Akshaya Patra is feeding children in 19 locations of 9 States of India. Every day it feeds 1.3 million children in more than 9000 Government schools. This feeding programme has had many positive impacts like increase in school enrolment, improved attendance, improved concentration and performance of children, and decreased school drop-out rate.