L&T Infotech Teams Up With Akshaya Patra Foundation For Promoting Literacy.

L&T Infotech has teamed up with Akshaya Patra Foundation for supporting a noble cause for promoting literacy. The alliance aims to educate 10,000 children studying in 35 government schools in and around this city.

As part of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative by L&T Infotech, the company has proposed to sponsor mid-day meals of these children and provide a conveyance to bring the cooked food to the schools in a timely manner.

“The primary objective of this alliance is to encourage high school attendance, surge national literacy rates, decrease dropout rates and also to ensure that the children are well-nourished,” said Shridhar Venkat, CEO of Akshaya Patra. Further to this, the companies have signed an official memorandum of understanding (MOU) towards fulfilling the initiative. The Akshaya Patra Foundation is an NGO which runs the Mid-Day Meal Programme for Government and Government-aided school children.

10 Things to Know About Akshaya Patra in Karnataka

Currently spread across 10 states in India, The Akshaya Patra Foundation (TAPF), an NGO which runs the world’s largest mid-day meal programme, had humble beginnings in Bengaluru, Karnataka. Here’s how its presence in the state grew and strengthened.

1. Akshaya Patra was launched in Namma Bengaluru, Karnataka, in the year 2000, inspired by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada’s vow that no one within a 10-mile radius of his centre should go hungry.

2. The organisation had a modest start, serving free, healthy and nutritious mid-day meals to the schoolchildren of five government schools in Bengaluru initially. 

3. The road towards feeding children in the state was a rocky one in the early days. However, support arrived in the form of T.V. Mohandas Pa, former member of the Board of Directors of Infosys and currently, the Chairman of Manipal Global Education Services, who donated the first vehicle for transporting cooked food to schools.

4. By 2004, Akshaya Patra had established itself as a formidable NGO in Karnataka and catered to the mid-day meal needs of children in the cities of Hubballi, Mangaluru and Mysuru. In 2006, this charity for children also had a kitchen in Ballari. 

5. Akshaya Patra prepares its tasty and wholesome mid-day meals in its kitchens in Karnataka, where the staff follows a strict protocol for maintaining hygiene. They wear hair caps, face masks, gloves, gum boots and other protective gear, along with showering daily and washing their hands regularly.

6. Four of Akshaya Patra’s kitchens in Karnataka are International Organization for Standardization –certified (ISO). These kitchens are – the HK Hill kitchen and Vasanthapura kitchen in Bengaluru, along with the ones in Ballari and Hubballi.

7. The Karnataka kitchens of Akshaya Patra are all centralised kitchens that are able to produce up to one million meals. They utilise minimal human intervention, as they are mechanised cooking units.

8. Karnataka has the highest number of Akshaya Patra’s beneficiaries. In Bengaluru, the HK Hill kitchen feeds 92,856 children in 466 schools, while the Vasanthapura kitchen feeds 101,635 children in 534 schools. The Hubballi kitchen cooks mid-day meals for 149,573 children in 789 schools; the Mangaluru kitchen prepares meals for 22,602 children in 147 schools, while the Mysuru kitchen feeds 16,668 schoolchildren in 66 schools. The Ballari kitchen cooks meals for 126,382 children in 534 schools. 

9. Numerous dignitaries have visited Akshaya Patra’s kitchens in Karnataka. These include former Indian President, the late APJ Abdul Kalam; Nobel laureate Muhammed Yunus, musicians Sona Mohapatra and Ram Sampath, among others.

10. Akshaya Patra’s pilot initiative, Giving Every Dream A Chance, where The Foundation makes the dreams of school children come true by organising a month-long mentorship programme for them, was launched in Karnataka.

Food and Education: A Solution for India

According to the famous theory ‘Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs’ food is one of the most fundamental needs—if hunger is not solved, it becomes impossible for humans to reach higher standards of needs like education. This theory asks us a simple question: Will a child be able to sit in a classroom with an empty stomach?

In an attempt to relieve children from classroom hunger, The Akshaya Patra Foundation began providing mid-day meals to government school children in India to ensure they receive both nutrition as well as education. The role of NGOs in India is increasing every day to reduce the nation’s socio-economic issues—lack of education being one of them. The Foundation believes that food for education will contribute to achieving economic stability in the long-run and will also improve every section of the society. 15 years ago, Akshaya Patra began serving mid-day meals to only 1500 school children. Today, it has progressed to more than 1.5 million children across 10 states in India making it the world’s largest (non-for-profit) run Mid-Day Meal Programme in India.

There are two ways many children in India are benefitting from Akshaya Patra’s mid-day meals—a wholesome meal every day to be on the healthier side and uninterrupted education despite the financial hurdles at home. Akshaya Patra has been working along with the Government of India and State Governments to reduce the number of children exposed to severe hunger. The combined and continuous efforts with the government have resulted in tremendous opportunities for children to attend school; for it is education that projects a secure future.

For India as a developing nation, feeding the future is a mission. The Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2008 states that more than 200 million people in India go hungry every day making food sufficiency an urgent priority. Despite economic progress over the decade, the report still highlights the severe hunger situation in India.

India has many challenges to fight. Solutions are many. However, if the country continues to focus on two aspects – food and education, the results can be what Planning Commission of India has envisioned for 2020—achieving 100 per cent school enrolment of all children.

It is also The Akshaya Patra Foundation’s mission to target 5 million children everyday by 2020 and ensuring that these children are able to concentrate better in classrooms. You can get involve by joining Akshaya Patra in raising awareness about the programme as well as contributing to the cause. All it takes is Rs. 750 to feed a school going child and you can help us too.

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You can download Akshaya Patra Mobile App to support the foundation cause. Download the app on Android and iOS store.

A Meal to Nurture Children Dreams

Fact: Children love food. They all know their favourite grub and if asked they could probably draw it too. Food is sheer love for children. Apart from keeping children energized, focused and healthy food fills them with immense pleasure and that is exactly what we do too! With our morsels of love we feed 1.5 million children every single day. Akshaya Patra’s blue vans reach platefuls of tasty nutritious mid-day meals to these innocent souls for whom that one fresh tasty meal is ample gusto to attend school without a miss!

Source: blog.akshayapatra.org/nurturing-dreams-with-meals/

Charity and festivity

India is known for its varied culture and festivities. Aside the regular festivals it is also a destination for splendid weddings and receptions. Not just Indians but foreign nationals too choose India to be the address for their weddings. Behind the brighter appearance of these celebrations and festivals, there exists a gripping reality of enormous food wastage and concerning hunger struck population.

To slightly mitigate the two stark situations, there are NGOs that work towards procuring the left-over food of the celebrations and distribute among the needy. However, this does not provide a permanent solution to the hunger situation prevailing in the country. The Akshaya Patra Foundation is a NGO that implements the mid-day meal programme across Government schools in India. This Foundation prepares fresh and nutritious meals for Government school children. It also provides meals at Anganwadi centres under the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS). Akshaya Patra has observed that to tackle the critical situation of hunger it has to be dealt with at the root cause i.e. poverty. Thus, by providing mid-day meal to children it also incentivises the child to attend school regularly which in turn allows the child to receive education. In line with this, Akshaya Patra ensures that the meal served should meet the local palate of the children.

Having been implementing the midday meal programme well over a decade, Akshaya Patra has amply gauged the potential of societal involvement in countering hunger and promoting education thereby resulting in eradication of poverty. Thus Akshaya Patra has made available the platform to volunteer and contribute in all possible ways. One of the ways to get involved with the activities of the Foundation is to make a charity during festivals and celebrations like weddings, birthdays, success parties and the like. As we gear up for celebrations, more often than not we miss out to consider our counterparts who struggle each day to get a plateful of meal. Remaining sensitive to the basic need of food, you can choose to make a donation for the underserved children as you revel in your festivity.

Your contribution will be a gift for the millions of children who too hopes to on day break the shackles of poverty, hunger and illiteracy.

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