World Hunger Day with Akshaya Patra

World Hunger Day is observed to raise awareness about the critical issue of hunger that the world faces. World Hunger Day is also observed to spread the word about achievements of those who battled out of the hunger situation and are now able to meet their basic requirements of everyday life. World Hunger Day is also a platform to encourage participation from both developed and developing nations to come together to end poverty and hunger. This year it will be observed on May 28th.

Studies reveal that hunger kills more people than any other fatal disease like AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis – all combined together. Researches also reveal that one-eighth of the total world population i.e. 842 million people live in extreme hunger. Among the millions who succumb to hunger each year, two millions are children. This hunger population not only belong to zones that are affected by famines, droughts or any natural calamity, rather 90% of this population belong the developing nations where income opportunity, education opportunity and basic health needs pose a tougher barrier than unavailability of food.

Eradication of poverty and hunger is one of the most critical Millennium Development Goals. Though there has been a trend in decrease of chronic hunger due to various initiatives and programmes across the globe, yet the issue persists critically in the developing nations. One-third of all deaths that occur among children less than five years of age residing in developing nations are linked to under-nourishment. When the basic necessity of food is not met, it is bound that education takes a backseat.

Along with Governmental bodies there are many Non-Governmental Organisations that have taken up the cause of ending hunger. The Akshaya Patra Foundation works on a similar ground. By implementing the mid-day meal programme, this wants to provide unlimited food to children at Government school so that they can continue their education. If one entire generation is educated it has the potential to lift liberate the society from the clutches of hunger and poverty. Akshaya Patra currently feeds more than 1.4 million children across India. The nutritious meal encourages children to join school, complete education and equips them to become resourceful enough to meet the basic needs. Through mid-day meal, Akshaya Patra is preparing a generation which will positively alter the present the scenario of hunger in the nation. Observe World Hunger Day with Akshaya Patra. Volunteer, Fundraise or Donate for Akshaya Patra.

References:

• http://www.thehungerproject.co.uk/getinvolved/worldhungerday/world-hunger-day-purpose/
• https://www.wfp.org/stories/10-hunger-facts-2014 

Follow us: @AkshayaPatra on Twitter | TheAkshayapatraFoundation on Facebook |

@AkshayaPatraFoundation on Rediff |  https://www.youtube.com/user/akshayapatra

Akshaya Patra Chairman Speaks at Development Dialogue 2015

Chairman of The Akshaya Patra Foundation, Madhu Pandit Dasa, spoke at the Development Dialogues 2015 conference held at the Deshpande Foundation in Hubli on 7th and 8th of February. The theme followed for the conference this year was ‘Scaling by Proving’.

The speakers of the conference tried to showcase how by ‘Failing Small, Failing Early, Failing Fast’, organisations can learn from their errors, take adjustments mid-way in their enterprise, form networks and put their processes in place that will help their organisations scale up quickly.

The conference had over 300 delegates including Kailash Satyarthi, Nobel Peace Prize winner 2014. In fact Madhu Pandit Dasa and the Akshaya Patra team had the opportunity to spend time with Mr. Satyarthi to discuss the mid-day meal programme and exchange ideas.

Madhu Pandit Dasa of Akshaya Patra shared the panel with Narayana Murthy from Infosys and Jeffrey L Bradach from the Bridgespan Group. The moderator of the panel discussion was Kasturi Rangan of Harvard Business School, USA.

Speaking on the panel Madhu Pandit Dasa responded to Narayana Murthy’s statement on the role of corporate partnership in initiating competition saying, “Currently Akshaya Patra has no competitor, but encouragement and the sharing of information will help others take up social entrepreneurship. Being a non-profit set-up, we are ready to pass on our functioning model.

Follow us: @AkshayaPatra on Twitter | TheAkshayapatraFoundation on Facebook |

 @AkshayaPatraFoundation on Rediff |  https://www.youtube.com/user/akshayapatra

Infosys and Tata Group donate grant to Akshaya Patra

The charitable wings of Infosys (The Infosys Foundation) and the Tata Group (the Jamsetji Tata Trust) will be generously donating over Rs. 200 crore to The Akshaya Patra Foundation. The Infosys Foundation will be donating Rs. 127 crore to Akshaya Patra to help the Foundation construct and operate three new kitchens. In addition to this Infosys will be donating Rs. 20 crore for the corpus.

The Jamsetji Tata Trust will be donating Rs. 55 crore to Akshaya Patra to help the Foundation continue to improve its food safety management systems, and purchase the latest technology to achieve this.

The grant that Akshaya Patra receives from Infosys will be used to build a kitchen in Jodhpur that will feed up to 50,000 children a day, and another one at Hyderabad that will provide the Akshaya Patra mid-day meal to 100,000 children a day. Aside from this Infosys will also cover the operational costs of the kitchens in Hyderabad, Jodhpur and Mysore, and pay the costs for clean drinking water and mid-day meals to 1.5 lakh children in the state of Rajasthan. To top this off the grant gave Akshaya Patra the ability to adopt the closed-vessel cooking method that helps retain the fresh aroma of the food.

The Jamsetji Tata Trust will aid The Akshaya Patra Foundation by covering the expenses of hiring food safety inspectors in all the kitchens, and supporting the costs of the upcoming food labs in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhubaneswar and Lucknow.

This generous support from these organisations will surely help The Akshaya Patra Foundation make strong strides in its fight to eliminate classroom hunger.

Follow us: @AkshayaPatra on Twitter | TheAkshayapatraFoundation on Facebook |

 @AkshayaPatraFoundation on Rediff |  https://www.youtube.com/user/akshayapatra

Hyatt Place Hampi awards Akshaya Patra with a grant!

To commemorate #GivingTuesday Hyatt Place Hampi (of the Hyatt Hotels Corporation) awarded The Akshaya Patra Foundation with a generous $15,000 USD grant to help Akshaya Patra move closer to fulfilling its vision that ‘no child in India shall be deprived of education because of hunger,’ and its mission of feeding 5 million children by 2020.

The grant was awarded to Akshaya Patra through the Hyatt Community Grants, a charitable undertaking of Hyatt Thrive, the company’s global corporate responsibility programme. The Hyatt Community Grants provides a platform for Hyatt employees to play an active role in philanthropy and contributing to improving the world around them. In fact, through Hyatt Thrive along with the assistance of 95,000 Hyatt employees across over 570 properties worldwide, Hyatt Hotels Corporation is focused on having a positive impact on the world.

The grant was presented to Akshaya Patra representatives – Sooraj Ravindran (Manager, Corporate Partnerships) and Chetan D (Manager-Operations, Bellary) – at the Hyatt Place Hampi by Sameeth Guha, General Manager; Debasish Shah, Executive Chef and Kanika Mehra, HR Manager of the hotel.

#GivingTuesday is a special day dedicated towards donating generously to those in need. For those of you who missed out on this day, you can contribute to Akshaya Patra online by making a donation in memory of someone. Choosing to donate in memory of someone allows you to honour the memory of a loved one who passed away, and keep their legacy alive. 

Follow us: @AkshayaPatra on Twitter | TheAkshayapatraFoundation on Facebook |

 @AkshayaPatraFoundation on Rediff 

Blog for change!

Not everyone is a born leader. Not everyone can go out there and fight battles to make change. But maybe you can use your words to make a difference in a child’s life. If you have something to say, some thoughts to share on how to eliminate classroom hunger in India, then this blogging contest is for you.

In collaboration with BlogAdda, The Akshaya Patra Foundation is running a blogging contest over four weeks ending on 14th December, 2014. The theme of the contest is ‘Tell us how you think we can eliminate classroom hunger. Imagine what India would be like if no child goes hungry and an entire generation is educated! Blog about it and make a difference with Akshaya Patra and BlogAdda.’

Each blog post must be a minimum of 300 words, and must be submitted by midnight of 14th December. Each blogger can submit a maximum of five entries. Are you wondering how participating in this contest will help you change the world? Well, for every blog entry BlogAdda will feed one Akshaya Patra beneficiary for an entire year!

Aside from this, The Akshaya Patra Foundation will choose the top five blog entries which will be featured as part of an exclusive series on the Akshaya Patra official blog, AND promoted via social media.

It doesn’t get better than this! Register now!

Follow us: @AkshayaPatra on Twitter | TheAkshayapatraFoundation on Facebook |

 @AkshayaPatraFoundation on Rediff