Akshaya Patra Hyderabad Extends its Kitchen Unit

With the aim to feed more children Akshaya Patra Hyderabad has extended its centralised kitchen unit. The additional section will house extra cauldrons along with a cold room. The NGO latest news covers that the Foundation had an inaugural ceremony of the extended section of the kitchen. The new section was inaugurated by Professor V.S. Rao - Director BITS Pilani, Hyderabad in the presence of Akshaya Patra Hyderabad representatives Satya Goura Chandra Dasa – Unit President, and Raja Hamsa Dasa - Operations Manager.

Presently, Akshaya Patra Hyderabad provides freshly cooked nutritious mid-day meals to 54,849 children in 454 government schools of the region. The Foundation has also been involved in feeding the children of Anganwadi centers. The current reach of Akshaya Patra Hyderabad in this feeding programme is 38,087 Anganwadi children across 176 centers. The extension of the kitchen will certainly aid in feeding the children of Hyderabad both in government schools and Anganwadi centers.

Read more about the Hyderabad Kitchen at: http://www.akshayapatra.org/news/kitchen-extension-inauguration-at-hyderabad-unit

An Ideal Mid-Day Meal for School Children

An estimate from the World Health Organization (WHO) shows that nearly 1.2 billion people in the world are poor.  Poverty is a huge issue in India too. The Indian economy is growing fast, but the nation is still to wipe out poverty completely from its soil. Poverty has a huge impact on people’s lives, especially for children. With no income to even have a basic meal a day children are forced to work to help supplement the family income. Thousands of children in the country miss out their education to support their family. Interestingly, there has been an improvement in this phenomenon since 2000, when The Akshaya Patra Foundation, an initiative founded with the motive that ‘No child in India shall be deprived of education because of hunger’ came into existence.  Akshaya Patra’s mid-day meal scheme which was kicked off with just 1,500 school children, at present, covers over 1.4 million Government school students in India.

This NGO in India, through all these years, has been working hard to ensure that underserved school children get all the calories, proteins, minerals and vitamins needed to excel in studies and succeed in life. Akshaya Patra’s mid-day meal provides all the necessary nutrition needed for a healthy growth in childhood.

The organisation owes a large part of its success to its donors. The mission of The Akshaya Patra Foundation, now, is to reach out to 5 million children by the year 2020.

Today’s children are tomorrow’s citizens. Your contribution can help us build a healthy and smart society. To support out the programme, join us and give your contribution to feed more children and to remove hunger among children.

To know more how you can be part of Akshaya Patra, visit Get Involve.

Stories of Hope from Akshaya Patra

When we working in collaboration with so many people we need to share information and our success stories. At Akshaya Patra, a reputed NGO which it’s headquarter in Bangalore, we present all our stories to our stakeholders, corporate partners, philanthropic donors, well-wishers and the general public. Our main stories are the stories of hope, the stories of the beneficiary students, teachers, employees and more.

In our endeavor to share inspiring stories The Akshaya Patra Foundation has developed a new website called hopestories.in that only carters to stories of hope. There are stories and videos of children talking about their dreams and the mid-day meal programme. There are also stories of teachers as well as parents sharing their thoughts on the positive impact of Akshaya Patra’s school feeding programme. This is a refreshing approach to spread awareness as well inspired people to participate in the programme.

New stories and videos will be published regularly to keep the website fresh and alive. We on a constant look out for stories that will keep you glued to your seat. But, every child is unique and every individual different and we have millions of stories to share as we move forward. We encourage readers to visit out kitchen establishments in 24 locations across 10 states of India. One can also visit the schools we provide mid-day meals. Write stories, click photographs and share it with us.

There is nothing better than reading real life stories and getting inspired. And the real impact of the world’s largest mid-day meal programme is what these stories are.

Donation, Tax Exemption and You

When you donate to an NGO like Akshaya Patra, you are helping it run the mid-day meal programme and provide millions of children with nutritious meal every day. That’s a social responsibility you take in trying to make a difference and make the world a better place for children. But do you know when you make a donation to support The Akshaya Patra Foundation, you get 100% tax exemption.

Yes, you are hearing it right, there is 100% tax exemption on the donation of Rs 500 or more you make to Akshaya Patra. Your donations are eligible for 100% deduction under Section 35 Ac / 80 GGA of the Indian Income Tax.

“Under Section 35 AC of the Income Tax Act, the Central Government -   on recommendation from the National Committee for the Social & Economic Welfare - has notified the Project “Mid-Day Meal scheme run by The Akshaya Patra Foundation “as an eligible project for the allowing 100% deduction of the contribution made by the Assesse.”

For every donation you makes you shall receive a receipt of the same and a 100 per cent Tax Exemption Certificate from Akshaya Patra. Within 10 working days you will get the documents as said before which you can use to avail 100% Tax Exemption for the current financial year.

And all it takes to help a child with food for education for an entire is just Rs 750 and as it’s more than Rs 500 it is eligible for 100% Tax Exemption.

There are more information available on the foundation’s website. You can visit anytime not just for donation but to know more about Akshaya Patra, how it works, the governance policy, the financials and many more.

A Thought to Share on International Literacy Day

UNESCO commemorates International Literacy Day on September 8, every year. It is to bring awareness and promote the importance of education. India’s scene in term of literacy is not so desirable.

• According to a survey, India's literacy rate increases ‘lethargically’
• A 1990 study estimated that it would take until 2060 for India to achieve universal literacy
• According to the 2011 census, India had a literacy rate of 74.04 percent
• In the year 2014, the literacy rate of India increased by 10 percent

How is India looking forward to tackle the challenge?

It has to start from the root, the children. The Government of India launched ‘The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (Hindi for Total Literacy Campaign was in 2001 to ensure that all children in the 6–14-year age-group attend school and complete eight years of schooling by 2010. The Education Guarantee Scheme and Alternative and Innovative Education are two important aspects of the campaign, meant primarily for children in areas with no formal school within a one kilometre radius.

The Akshaya Patra Foundation, as an NGO runs the mid-day meal programme to provide nutritious food to the school children and promote education thus, providing substantial support to ‘Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan’. The programme has grown from feeding 1,500 children in the year 2000 to 1.4 million children in 2014. Today, this organisation feeds free mid-day meals to school children in 10,845 Government schools and Government-aided schools. The organisation currently has its presence in 24 locations across 10 states in India.

The not-for-profit organisation’s vision is—‘No child in India shall be deprived of education because of hunger’. To achieve this vision, Akshaya Patra provides ‘unlimited food for education’.

The programme has brought back children to schools, increase attendance, decrease drop-out rate, and promote socialisation. All will directly impact in increasing the literacy rate amongst children in India.

How can you help?

You can be a volunteer to the NGO. You can support a child with mid-day meal for year. This activity will lead to successful implementation of the mid-day meal programme eventually resulting in children getting educated.

Impact of Akshaya Patra’s mid-day meal: Looking into children’s lives

As we go deeper into the lives of the beneficiaries of Akshaya Patra, we learn how important the mid-day meal programme is in their lives. Let’s meet a few children to grasp the impact that the foundation’s effort is making.

First is Rahim, a hard-working student who dreams to be a doctor. He loves science and wants to a doctor so he can save lives. His father is an auto driver while his mother works as a housewife. To support the family, his mother does a few odd jobs. Despite the challenging financial state of the family, Rahim works hard in class and it has reflected in his marks. When free he plays and reads and also helps his mother in house chores. Rahim loves the dal (lentils) and fruits provided by The Akshaya Patra Foundation as part of the mid-day meal serve to his school every day. He compliments the service of the organization to society.

Another beneficiary we met was Rajesh who is fond of literature and loves to draw. His teachers are very impressed with his artistic skills and think that a formal coaching will help develop his talent further. And Rajesh wants to be a teacher. He thinks that mid-day meal programme really helps the families of children studying at the same school. He is grateful to the programme.

Now Pithali, studying in 4th grade, hopes to become an actress in Assamese movies and travel the world with her family one day. Her father, a seasonal mason sometime is without work for as long as 4-6 months. And her mother stitches mekhala chadars (a traditional Assamese outfit). A monthly income of INR 2500 - 4000 is difficult to sustain a family of five. So, the food provided by Akshaya Patra at her school is a great incentive to Pithali. She looks forward to Wednesdays and Saturdays when pulao, khichdi and kheer are served. They are her favourites.

Just imagine if these children are not provided nutritious meals every day. Their education will be affected and so will their dreams and aspirations. That is the reason why the mid-day meal programme of Akshaya Patra is really vital to the children. The food gives them the much needed nutrition for their healthy growth. When children are well fed, they get the energy to focus on education and pursue their dreams. The mid-day meal is also an effort to eliminate classroom hunger in India.

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The Akshaya Patra Foundation is a non-governmental organization headquartered in Bengaluru. The NGO in India is feeding the government school children through mid-day meal programme every working day of school.

Knowing an effective organisation like Akshaya Patra

Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) or Charities are expressions of people working for people. They are groups of ordinary citizens making efforts to change lives for the better. NGOs come in different lights with an array of activities depending on support, cause and values. The Akshaya Patra Foundation is one amongst millions of NGOs in the world striving to make an impact and transform lives of millions of children in India.

Akshaya Patra operates at its best working in partnership with The Government of India and the state governments, with the help of its supporters and staff towards professional ways of working and effective, high-impact programme that provides mid-day meals to school children in government and government-aides schools. It’s effective because its cause is clear and the vision and mission are defined and imbibed by all associated with the organisation.

The organisation is able to work to its strength by mobilising the skills of its workforce. For Akshaya Patra, its impact is proportional to response to the need and the bond its builds with all involved with the cause. The trust of beneficiaries, school teachers, trustees, donors, partners and all other stakeholder is the backbone of the organisation. Its size and reach are just mere reflections to the effort.

And anyone who wants to support needs to know whether the organisation deserves it; does the cause needs it? and so on. To make the decision easy Akshaya Patra has clearly explained its vision, mission and programme it is implementing. It shares its impact study, progresses and strategies in taking the cause forward. The organisation has explained the motivation for its programme, how it works towards a positive change that is eliminating classroom hunger. The Akshaya Patra Foundation works with a strong internal system, and applies professional standards and codes of conduct to its work. And of course its ultimate judges are the beneficiaries. Akshaya Patra runs the world’s largest mid-day meal programme providing nutritious food to more than 1.4 million children in India. It’s growing, moving towards its mission of feeding 5 million by 2020.