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.

Akshaya Patra as an NGO in Ahmedabad

The purpose of human life is to serve, and to show compassion and the will to help others.                        

                                                                                                                              - Albert Schweitzer

Our life on earth is counted by the virtuous deeds we do for others.  We may not be able to help everyone but we can do something to help someone. There are many ways to support those who are in need like donating to charity, lending a helping hand to non-profit organisations or sponsoring a child etc.

We know that in government schools most of the children tend to be drop-outs when hunger remains a constraint. The performance of a student in class is directly dependant on the nutrition he/she is getting. Most of the children come with empty stomachs and doesn’t have the energy to concentrate in class. They lose interest in studies and end as drop outs. The non-profit organisations like Akshaya Patra serves mid-day meals to children in government schools with continuous support from the Central Government and the State Governments operating on a Public-Private-Partnership model. Education reports claims that in Gujarat, 58 of every 100 students who enrolled in schools are dropouts failing to make it to high schools, which is the 16th highest dropout rate in the country.

The non-profit organisation serves nutritious mid-day meals across 10 states of India. One among the states where Akshaya Patra serves mid-day meals is Gujarat and in the state, Ahmedabad is one of the locations where the NGO runs its programme. Ahmedabad has one of the largest kitchens in India with the capacity to prepare for 400,000 children. Currently as an NGO in Ahmedabad, it is feeding 132,581 children in 524 schools each day. The centralised kitchen spreads over two acres in a 3 storeyed building producing 200,000 meals in five hours. The hot, nutritious meals are delivered across the schools through 44 meal distribution vehicles. The kitchen was inaugurated by Honourable Chief Minister of Gujarat, Anandiben on August 2014. She said, “I strongly believe the mid-day meal from The Akshaya Patra Foundation will fulfil the goal of making Gujarat free of malnutrition. I hope the healthy and nutritious food provided to children from Akshaya Patra will build healthy minds and body. The Gujarat government is eager to support Akshaya Patra’s activities to build a strong society and a strong nation. I wish success to all the people working in the new centralized kitchen of The Akshaya Patra Foundation.” 

To prevent the dropout rates in schools, Akshaya Patra serves meals to the children with the aim of promoting education.  Meals are served keeping in mind the local taste of each region. The menu consisting of roti, peanut rice, jeera rice, mix veg curry with soy chunk, vegetables, mix dal consisting of masoor dal , channa dal,  lots of vegetables, kichdi  etc. are served to the children of Ahmedabad. Unlimited food is served keeping in mind their requirements. For some of the children, the noon meal may be the only proper meal they get a day. The kitchen has a food safety and quality control laboratory that has high-precision testing instruments to enhance quality and safety of the meal.

The other centres in Gujarat where the NGO serves food are Vadodara and Surat. As a result of the quality and nutritious food served, children are interested in coming to school, the enrolment in schools has increased, and micronutrient deficiencies are solved. Parents are happy to send their children to schools as they get a proper meal a day.

Today Akshaya Patra is the world’s largest mid-day meal programme serving wholesome food to over 1.5 million children from 11,360 schools across 10 states in India. Akshaya Patra plays an effective role in promoting education by providing nutritious meals to children in Government schools.

For Akshaya Patra to keep providing these children with nutritious food for education every day and expand its reach to help more children, the organisation needs support and participation from people, corporates, philanthropists and the generous donors. Contributions as donation to NGO can be done in many ways. One can donate to this charity online, which is considered the easiest method of all.