NGO in Ahmedabad and its Mid-Day Meal

A land of legendary tales and a region with over 60 rivers, Gujarat is one of the states that Akshaya Patra has been able to connect with to implement a very promising Mid-Day Meal Programme. The Akshaya Patra Foundation, an NGO for children, which implemented the mid-day meal scheme in 2007 in Gujarat, aims to curb classroom hunger among government school children in India by providing freshly cooked meals for lunch. The Bengaluru-based organisation is set up as an NGO in Ahmedabad and many other cities and also has the permit to receive tax deductible donation.

In Gujarat alone, Akshaya Patra has set up three state-of-the-art kitchen facilities which distribute mid-day meals to over 400,158 school children. Quality being one of the highest priorities for Akshaya Patra, it has led the kitchens in the state to receive ISO certification. Through financial aid from donors and Government of Gujarat, Akshaya Patra has been able to stabilise its operations in all the three locations: Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Surat.

Here is Vikas Solanki’s story that could be synonymous to many other children’s scenario. Vikas, who lives near Vadodara is a young boy with dreams of becoming a Civil Engineer to work on construction projects. He is hopeful about his aspirations because his education is now a guarantee. We have observed that the children who come from an economically disadvantaged background, the only source of their survival is food. Ever since Akshaya Patra has stepped forward to feed hot and nutritious meals to millions of children in India, children's education has been a guarantee. Vikas and his sisters have been Akshaya Patra’s beneficiaries and the mid-day meal programme reduces the burden on this family.

In 2014, when the Chief Minister of Gujarat, Smt. Anandiben Patel inaugurated a fully-automated kitchen in Ahmedabad, she said, “If we can provide quality food to children through mid-day meals, we can drastically decrease the dropout ratio.” In 2010, Forbes Magazine rated Ahmedabad as the third fastest growing city in the world. However, in a study done by a chief economist at the National Council for Applied Economic Research (NCAER) in 2011, states that Gujarat has high levels of hunger while it also boasts of high income. Such rankings not only indicate economic progress but also demand for stability.

Akshaya Patra, NGO for Children spreads across 10 states of India, is working towards a hunger-free nation especially among school children. Although there are many initiatives that The Foundation is proud of, the main focus continues to be hunger relief among school goers through nutritious mid-day meals every day! To ensure that a child is not deprived of education due to hunger, you can contribute Rs. 750 which feeds a child for an entire year! By donating, you can get your benefits too. When you donate Rs. 500 and over to Akshaya Patra, it will be considered as tax deductible donation.

Making a Difference in Assam and Rest of India

This year, Akshaya Patra completes 16 years of its extensive journey aimed to feed the hungry children in India. In 2013, we met Durga Prasad—one of the students in Guwahati, Assam, who suffered from anorexia and malnourishment before he was enrolled in school. His teachers reported that in only a couple of years, Durga’s health had significantly improved after Akshaya Patra’s mid-day meal in Assam began to benefit his life.

The Akshaya Patra Foundation, an NGO in Assam and nine other states in India, has implemented Mid-Day Meal Scheme in many government schools to omit classroom hunger in India. In Assam particularly, the State Government invited Akshaya Patra to implement mid-day meal programme to reduce dropout rates and eliminate child labour in the state. In 2010, a centralised kitchen was set up in Guwahati—Assam’s largest city, which now serves over 53,000 children every day.

Since 2000, it has been the organisation’s vision that no child in India should be deprived of education due to hunger and envisages to feed 5 million children by 2020. One of the most important aspects of the organisation which has led the programme towards achievements is Compassion—when His Divine Grace AC Bhakivedanta Swami Prabhupada saw a group of children fighting with street dogs over scraps of food and decided that no child should go hungry in India.

Here are some of the progresses made by Akshaya Patra in the last 16 years:

• From 1500 school children in Bengaluru to over 1.5 million beneficiaries across 10 states in India
• Expanded its feeding initiative from mid-day meals to Anganwadi feeding, old-age homes, disaster relief and many more
• Upgraded the kitchen equipment to high-tech sustainable resources such as 304 grade stainless steel
• Stretched its presence towards different parts of the globe: the USA and UK

Certainly, The Foundation’s method to reach millions of children over the years has seen great success. With successful partnership with Central Government and State Governments, the Foundation has been able to make a massive difference in many children’s lives who are now assured of education and good health. It is due to adapting sustainable technology and resources and maintaining transparency in all its activities that it has been possible for Akshaya Patra to reach millions of children every day. More than 12 of Akshaya Patra’s kitchens have received ISO certification for they are a beacon of quality.

To add to its successes, Akshaya Patra Foundation won the prestigious Nikkei Asia Prize 2016 for its outstanding achievements in ‘Economic and Business Innovation’ category and for contributing towards a better future for Asia. So far, the mid-day meal programme has expanded from 1500 children to over 1.5 million children making it the world’s largest NGO -run Mid-Day Meal Scheme.

To end the lingering hunger among children, it costs Rs. 750 to feed a child for an entire year. You can get involved too by making this contribution and ensuring children in India do not go hungry.

Being Responsible: The Akshaya Patra Foundation

Every minute is used seemingly well at The Akshaya Patra Foundation—an NGO in India which believes that no child should be deprived of education due to hunger. Since its inception, the organisation has endeavoured to end classroom hunger through mid-day meal programme, thus encouraging millions of children to attend school regularly. As a role of an NGO, it is now Akshaya Patra’s mission to feed 5 million children by 2020. It becomes extremely important to have donation for NGO and work towards our mission.

At The Akshaya Patra Foundation, it is a promise kept to feed a wholesome meal to the underserved children across many states. With an ever-growing dedication, The Foundation has been feeding nutritious meals to more than 1.5 million children in India every day. With generous support from the Government of India and State Governments and individuals’ donation for NGO, the Akshaya Patra vessel has been inexhaustible.

Feeding children has been The Foundation’s core function among many others. As a role of an NGO that implements mid-day meal programme, we started with five government schools in Bengaluru, feeding 1500 children. That was 15 years ago!  The overwhelming response from schools explained the need of the programme. Today, more than 11,000 schools are benefitting from this programme. The State Governments have partnered with The Akshaya Patra Foundation to implement the Mid-Day Meal Programme in order to increase the number of children they reach out to. This partnership has been instrumental in improving the quality and reach of the programme.

While it is an everyday task to serve millions of children, the organisation ensures quality in food and follows hygiene instructions strictly. Before and after the food is prepared, all the vessels in the kitchen are sanitised, fresh food is packed in steel containers and are delivered to schools at lunch time. During the entire process, the focus of Akshaya Patra continues to be children and their satisfaction in every mid-day meal—without a wholesome meal, it becomes a challenge for a child to sit in a classroom and learn. The Foundation ensures that meals contain sufficient nutrients and protein along with taste. An impact study by AC Nielsen in 2010 showed that mid-day meals helped in increasing school attendance, socialisation among children, and improvement in nutritional status and decrease in drop-out rate.

Apart from working towards countering hunger and malnutrition in school children, Akshaya Patra also has other feeding initiatives: Feeding Anganwadi children and women, expecting and lactating mothers, runaway children, residents at old-age homes, the homeless and many more. When the volume of work is high, so is the support. Akshaya Patra believes in being transparent to maintain trust—every year an Annual Report is published which discloses financial audits, number of beneficiaries, government grants and donations received and growth over the last years.

At The Akshaya Patra Foundation – an NGO in India, the unlimited food for education is transforming many young lives. The organisation has taken the responsibility of many children to safeguard them from hunger and lack of education—because every child has the right to live.

Challenges in Implementing the Mid-Day Meal Programme

To retain a hungry child in the classroom is a major problem faced by the teachers and parents in government schools. A hungry student cannot learn or understand what is being taught in the class. Hunger causes impaired mental growth, physical growth and even reduces the attention and concentration of children.

Poverty and malnutrition among students, hailing from low income families have become a major concern in India.  As a result, the Mid-Day Meal Programme was launched to universalise primary education, increase enrolment rates, reduce dropout rates as well as improve the nutritional status of students in primary classes.

Akshaya Patra implements the mid-day meal programme in partnership with the Union Government and State Governments. The organisation reaches out to 1.5 million children a day and is the largest school lunch programme in the world.

Let us see some of the challenges Akshaya Patra has to face in implementing the mid-day meal scheme.

• Providing the right quantity of food to each and every student with the right amount of nutrients, vitamins and minerals so that beneficiaries are not devoid of any essential nutrient.
• Reaching out to places where road connectivity is not smooth especially in rural areas. 
• Employing enough man power, so that meals can be prepared in vast quantities.   
• Having variety in the menu. Children would savour the meals only if different varieties of curry are served each day with rice and roti.

In spite of all the challenges, Akshaya Patra reaches out to its 1.5 million children with all efficiency and competency. Not even a single day the organisation has missed to deliver a meal as the organisation understands that this could be the only meal for many of its beneficiaries.

Hunger is really a challenge but to retain a hungry child in the classroom is more challenging. Hunger is an obstacle that hinders the child’s learning process.

Child hunger is a social issue that together we can solve. So let us donate to Akshaya Patra. It takes just Rs. 750 to feed a child for a year! Every donation of Rs. 500 or above made to Akshaya Patra is eligible for 100% tax exemption under section 35 AC or 50% tax exemption under Section 80 G of the Indian Income Tax.

Let us donate to Akshaya Patra and help serve children to end class room hunger.