NGO in Gujarat & Its Kitchen

In 1984, Gujarat became the second state after Tamil Nadu to implement the Mid-Day Meal Scheme. Over the years, it has been observed that this scheme has had significant improvement in the nutritional and educational status among children. According to 2011 Census, the literacy rate in Gujarat had risen to 79.31% as compared to 69.14% in 2001, with a male literacy rate of 87.23% and female literacy of 70.73%. As a supporting arm to government’s effort in improving educational scenario, The Akshaya Patra Foundation, an NGO in Ahmedabad began its mid-day meal service in the state in 2009.

Akshaya Patra is an Indian mid-day meal NGO headquartered in Bengaluru, Karnataka. It has been in the service of providing mid-day meal since 2000. The Foundation began its journey of providing nutritious meals to the children of Gujarat by establishing its first kitchen in Vadodara in 2009. Currently, this NGO is feeding a total of 4,07,452 children in 1,621 government schools across the state.

Akshaya Patra Kitchens in Gujarat

Akshaya Patra is providing mid-day meal in Gujarat from its five centralised kitchens located in Ahmedabad, Bhavnagar, Vadodara, Surat, and Kalol. Of these, three kitchens namely Ahmedabad, Vadodara, and Surat are ISO 22000:2005 certified kitchens and the Bhavnagar and Kalol kitchens are in the process of certification. Each of the kitchens strictly adheres to hygiene and cleanliness practices while preparing meals. To enhance productivity and efficiency of operational processes, Kaizen, Continuous Improvement Projects and Six Sigma methodologies have been adopted in these kitchens.

All the kitchens are highly mechanised cooking units equipped with roti-making machines, cauldrons, trolleys, rice chutes, grinding machines, potato peeler machines, vegetable cutting machines, atta kneaders, RO plants, and rice-cleaning machines. Each of the kitchens has dedicated customised delivery vehicles to transport cooked meals to all beneficiary schools.

Menu of Gujarat kitchens

So that each child enjoys their school lunch, the meal menu of Gujarat kitchens consists of various native items to suit the local taste. Some of the menu items are: Peas pulao, kabuli chana pulav, vegetable pulav, groundnut jeera pulav, soya chunks pulao, lauki khichdi, jeera rice, plain rice, soya dal, chana dal, dal fry, mixed dal, roti, thepla with til and mix vegetables, thepla with potato, thepla with louki, mix vegetable curry, mixed vegetable with desi chana, and dal dhokli.

Eco-friendly measures in kitchens

Alike all kitchens of Akshaya Patra, this NGO in Ahmedabad also implements various eco-friendly measures in its kitchen operations to save cost and reduce carbon footprint while maintaining the efficiency of production. Some of the initiatives taken in the kitchens of Gujarat are:

• PNG( Piped Natural Gas) for cooking
• Plantation and agriculture in small scale
• Bio-gas Plant
• Effluent Treatment Plant(ETP)
• LED lighting in the kitchens

Socio-developmental initiatives

While focussing on their core activity of providing mid-day meal in Gujarat, the kitchens have also taken several socio-developmental initiatives for the betterment of the beneficiaries and the society. Some of the initiatives are:

• Providing meals at Anganwadi centres, Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), Government Hospitals, and Pawagar Mandir
• Cookies distribution
• Shoe Distribution
• Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan
• Health camps and check-ups
• School activities like fairs and exhibition, school visits to kitchen, guest visits to beneficiary schools, and symbolic feeding

As a mid-day meal NGO, Akshaya Patra wants to benefit more children with its wholesome meals. While it is receiving aid from government and donors, it needs your support too. You can instantly be a part of the NGO’s endeavour by contributing online donations for NGO. You can also make a difference by opting to adopt a school or donate a vehicle for delivering meals to schools. Your contribution will not only provide school lunch, but it will also give an opportunity to children to attend school and benefit from the much-needed education and other school activities that will support their overall development as responsible citizens. So, step up and support the mid-day meal programme of Akshaya Patra.

NGO in Uttar Pradesh & Its Kitchen

Reportedly, over the next 10 years, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar will be home to 31% of the youngest Indian population between five and 14 years. Specifically, Uttar Pradesh already tops the list of child population in the country with 200 million aged between five and 14 years. This indicates that soon this 200 million will be a part of the country’s workforce, making the health and education of this young population a matter of utmost importance, not just for the progress of the state but for the nation as a whole. Unfortunately, the current education scenario in Uttar Pradesh is not a very pleasant sight with its low literacy rate of just 67.7%. In addition, the Unified-District Information System for Education (U-DISE) Flash Statistics 2015-16 reports that Uttar Pradesh has the worst student-teacher ratio in India and it also has the poorest transition rate from primary to upper primary school. The state also ranks poorly in learning outcome even though it has a higher per-student spending compared to the rest of the country. The Government has taken several steps to improve this prevailing critical situation, and Mid-Day Meal Scheme is one of the important interventions. The efforts of the government to provide mid-day meals have been furthered by The Akshaya Patra Foundation, a mid-day meal NGO in Lucknow and Vrindavan.

The Akshaya Patra Foundation is a mid-day meal NGO in India. Established in 2000 and headquartered in Bengaluru, Karnataka, the NGO currently feeds more than 1.7 million children of 14,173 government schools in 36 locations of 12 states in India. It began its journey of providing mid-day meal in UP in 2004 by establishing a centralised kitchen in Lucknow. In total, Akshaya Patra is currently reaching out to 2,11,680 children in 3,021 schools in the state.

As a NGO in Lucknow, Akshaya Patra provides mid-day meals to 91,418 children in 1,011 government schools and in Vrindavan the NGO provides school lunch to 1,20,262 children in 2,010 government schools.

The Foundation has established hi-tech centralised kitchens in both the locations. These kitchens are equipped to prepare 1 lakh meals per day and they serve locally palatable meals like roti (Indian flatbread) with sabzi (vegetable curry) along with other native food items for the main reason that maximum children should eat their school lunch readily and joyfully and reap the benefits of nutritious meals.

Since roti is a staple item in the North Indian menu, the Lucknow and Vrindavan kitchens are equipped with roti making machines. These machines have the capacity to roll out up to 200,000 rotis from 6000 kilograms of wheat flour. Aside from roti making machines, these kitchens are equipped with rice cauldrons of at least 500 litres capacity, dal cauldrons with the capacity to cook 1200 litres to 3000 litres, trolleys, rice chutes, cutting boards, knives and other similar equipment. The cooked meals are packed in insulated vessels and are transported to schools in insulated vehicles. The delivery vehicles are enabled with GPRS tracking system for safety and on-time delivery of meals.

Alike all kitchens, the Lucknow and Vrindavan kitchens strictly adhere to hygiene and cleanliness practices while preparing meals and both are ISO 22000:2005 certified kitchens. Since Kaizen, Continuous Improvement Projects and Six Sigma methodologies form an integral part of Akshaya Patra kitchens, the same is practiced in Lucknow and Vrindavan kitchens too. As an NGO providing mid-day meal in UP, Akshaya Patra has observed significant improvements in various fronts. According to a third party study conducted by Sigma Research and Consulting Pvt. Ltd. in 2014, Uttar Pradesh showed a positive trend in the following variables: elimination of classroom hunger, social equity, nutrition and health, enrolment, and retention and attendance. It scored a total of 9.43 on a scale of 10, thus revealing that mid-day meal has had a significant impact on children.

This NGO in Lucknow wants to expand its reach and benefit more children in the state. But, in doing so, it requires support from you. You can be a part of the NGO’s endeavour to nourish children by either contributing funds or by opting to donate a vehicle to deliver meals to schools. Your contribution will ensure that children receive at least one nutritious meal per day. It will also make you a part of the change that will get manifested in the form of healthy and educated generation. Step forward, contribute, and be a part of nourished and educated India.