Akshaya Patra - An institution, serves mid-day meal to improve education rate in India

 

'Akshaya Patra Foundation', an NGO that strives to provide food to poor children in the form of mid-day meal. This institution was formed in the year 2000 by Shri Madhu Pandit Das. The institution then provided only mid-day meals to 1,500 children from five government schools in Bangalore and Karnataka. At present, Akshaya Patra is running the world's largest (not for profit) mid-day meal program, under which more than 18 lakh children studying in a total of 16,856 schools located in 12 states and 2 union territories are provided nutritious food every day.

Akshaya Patra giving mid-day meal and education material to poor children

Ramesh Subba Rao, head of 'Pearson South Asia Portfolio' said that - "Of course, children and education are the backbone of the country's economy, so it is very disappointing to see that they are not even getting basic facilities." In the year 2020, 'Pearson South Asia Portfolio' in association with Akshaya Patra has provided school bags and pencil boxes to one lakh needy children. Not only this, this foundation has partnered with the Government of India, several state governments and others, under which 6 thousand employees associated with the foundation are helping to take this campaign forward every day.

Akshay Patra is also vigilant about environmental safety

Since its formation, the Akshaya Patra Foundation is not only moving towards providing fresh and nutritious food to school children daily but is also conscious of environmental safety. The foundation produces 350 kg of organic waste daily, which is processed at the foundation's biogas plant itself.

Akshaypatra has also received many awards

The Akshayapatra Foundation has also been honored with the 'BBC World Service Global Championship' award at the BBC Food and Farming Festival in Bristol in May 2020. Not only this, 'Akshaypatra Foundation' has been given the prestigious 'Gandhi Peace Prize' for the year 2016 for contributing towards the socio-economic development of the country by providing mid-day meals to lakhs of children across the country. Apart from this, President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi jointly handed over cash prizes and citation to Akshay Patra Foundation Chairman Madhu Pandit Das on 26 February 2019 at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Akshaya Patra emerged as a messiah even during lockdown

Akshaya Patra also played an important role in helping people dealing with the odd circumstances of the lockdown during the Corona period. The foundation served food to more than 4 crore migrant laborers during the lockdown in which not only cooked food but also essential food kit was provided. Under which Akshaya Patra Foundation has distributed cooked food and other ration material in Punjab, Delhi-NCR, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Tripura, Odisha, Telangana  Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Maharashtra.

Akshaypatra has also faced difficult times

The social truth is if a person wants to work for a noble purpose, then the people who obstruct his path are not less. The same happened with this institution. A few days ago, an article published in ‘The Hindu’ newspaper made an attempt to malign the image of the Akshaya Patra Foundation.

Under which the independent directors raised the issue that the food provided by APF (Akshay Patra Foundation) is much more expensive than other similar food available in the market. Simultaneously, issues of conflict of interest arising within the organization were highlighted as some of the APF board members are also on the boards of ISKCON Bengaluru, Hare Krishna Foundation and other entities. Due to which four independent directors of the NGO also resigned.

Under these circumstances, Naveen Nirad Das, who was working as the head of communications of the NGO, during a conversation with the 'Hindustan Times' newspaper said that - "Yes, it is true that the board has been reorganized after the resignation of the independent directors. Mr. Jain had resigned in February-March, while the rest three have resigned from their posts this month (November). and former Central Board of Direct Taxes), Anil Swarup (former Secretary-MHRD) and IIT Bombay CEO MS Unnikrishnan. All of them are known for their integrity.”

The reply was also received on the prices of food provided by the organization

During a conversation with 'Hindustan Times', when asked questions about the price of food given by the NGO  and the resignation of the former directors Das said - "I can give ten reasons about it. Basically, we follow the highest standards of FSSAI, ensuring minimum wages for all those involved in the supply chain this could be a very real reasons why ours  cost may a bit more than others."

A large cultured section of the society also came in support of Akshaya Patra.

Due to all the above ups and downs, 510 people donated Rs 21 lakh to Akshaya Patra Foundation in 11 hours on the appeal of Anand Ranganathan, author, scientist and columnist of ‘Swarajya Patrika’. It is said that at that time some had even donated their pocket money. Of course there were some hurdles came in the path of Akshay Patra which were mutually faced  by the institution and the well-educated section of the country. Which definitely shows that the foundation started with a nobel cause and due to this it is still in existence after 20 years. India is a progressive country and still there is a large section here which is deprived of even basic facilities.

According to the report of the ‘National Sample Survey Office’ (NSSO) published in India Today- Approximately 32 million Indian children of age up to 13 years have never attended any school and even deprived from food, the majority of them belonging to the socially disadvantaged class. And, when it comes to quality education, there is an extreme shortage of qualified and dedicated teachers and other educational materials. In such situations, the society needs more institutions like Akshaya Patra.

Census of India 2011, Annual report from MHRD GOI and World Food shows facts  about  education and nutrition in India:

·  THE GROSS ENROLLMENT RATIO (GER) IN ELEMENTARY EDUCATION INCREASED FROM 81.6% IN 2000-01 TO 96.9% IN 2014-15

·     AROUND 8.4 CRORE CHILDREN IN THE AGE GROUP OF 5-17 YERAS DON’T GO TO SCHOOL AT ALL

·  INDIA IS HOME TO A QUARTER OF THE WORLD’S UNDERNOURISHED HUNGRY PEOPLE

·    OVER ONE THIRD OF CHILDREN (38.7%) UNDER FIVE YEARS ARE STUNTED (CHRONICALLY MALNOURISHED)

Let us tell you that in the year 1980, Gujarat, Kerala and Tamil Nadu also started the mid-day meal scheme for school children. On 15 August 1995, for the first time it was resolved to implement this scheme across the country. By the year 1995, the mid-day meal scheme was started in 2 thousand 400 blocks of the country. With a view to enhancing enrollment, retention and attendance and simultaneously improving nutritional levels among children, Government of India launched the national programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education (NP-NSPE) popularly known as Mid-Day Meal programme on 1995. Mid-day Meal programme exists in India for the last 22 years, around 9.78 crore children received hot cooked nutritious meals across 11.5 Lakh Government and Government aided schools during 2016 – 17.