About Akshaya Patra

Newsletter Vol. Issue 2 Akshaya Patra Feature The hearth of Akshaya Patra - its kitchens 5 Innovations Extra nutritious sambhar 11 Nearing the one million mark Akshaya Patra sets foot in Gujarat 7 New Kitchens Nayagarh District, Orissa 11 Mathura District, Uttar Pradesh 12 Interview Alexius Collette, CEO, Philips India 16 Dear Friend of Akshaya Patra, A scurry of activity is ubiquitous in all the 14 Akshaya Patra centers. In the last few months we have surged ahead towards our set target of feeding a million children by 2010. We now secure wholesome, nutritious and hygienically cooked school meals for over 8,00,000 children in more than 4,500 schools every day. This reminds me of something Gandhiji said, “I have faith, therefore, that if, in spite of our shortcomings, the big thing does happen, it will be because God wanted to help us.” Of course, the target of one million is only to help us push forward our goal of reaching out to more and more hungry children and not to take pride in it. One million is just the tip of the iceberg of the issue of hunger in children. It’s heartening and humbling to share with you a few milestones that we have achieved over the last few months. We set foot in the state of Gujarat and are currently feeding 65,000 children in Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar. We started decentralized Akshaya Patra programs this academic year in two new locations. One, in Bhapur, Nayagarh district in Orissa and the other in Mathura district in Uttar Pradesh. There are millions of children in India who lack formal education or literacy. Education makes a difference and is precious to every life. It helps negotiate for a better living. Akshaya Patra is more than just a school meal program. Akshaya Patra, apart from feeding, not only ensures that children come to school but also facilitates teachers to concentrate on their core function of teaching. It’s a hunger-eradication program. It’s an education program. It’s a social project. It’s a nation building effort. It marries the public and private entities to the common goal of seeing India as a developed nation in the world, with no hungry children on its map. On behalf of the Akshaya Patra Foundation, I would like to sincerely thank you and solicit your continued support. You make the difference! Yours, In the service of children, Madhu Pandit Dasa 2 About Akshaya Patra Vision : “No child in india shall be deprived of education because of hunger” id you know that about 13.5 million Secular & Non-discriminatory Dchildren in the age group of 6-13 years are out of school in India? Despite the trillion- Akshaya Patra is a secular, not-for-profit dollar economic growth, a large chunk of program implemented only in government India’s younger generation, does not have schools where there is no discrimination on access to schools because of hunger and the basis of religion, gender, color, or socio- poverty. Their inability to access even one economic background. nutritious meal per day is severely limiting their ability to receive a proper education, Akshaya Patra’s Impact which could otherwise lift them out of the cycle of poverty. A study in the year 2006 by AC Nielsen has In a humble step to end hunger of deserving vouchsafed for the efficacy of the meal in children and facilitate their education, The increasing attendance in schools, improving Akshaya Patra Foundation (TAPF) evolved nutritional status of these children, enhancing a school meal program for underprivileged their learning abilities and reducing drop out children in the year 2000. What started as rates. a pilot project in five schools in Bangalore, feeding 1,500 children, is today the largest Public Private Partnership NGO-run school meal program in the world. It has grown into a mammoth endeavor The program is an eloquent testimony to reaching out to 8,00,000 children in over 4,500 Public Private Partnership - it is run with part government, government aided schools and subsidies from the Central and respective anganwadis (day care centers) in 14 locations State governments of India, besides financial across six states in India, day after day. support from corporates and individuals. The program is audited by KPMG to ensure Kitchen Infrastructure transparency and accountability to all its Akshaya Patra has set up an infrastructure donors. of intelligently engineered, centralized automated kitchens for cooking. Matching Tax Exemption logistics support the distribution of the food All contributions to The Akshaya Patra in custom-built vehicles. Due to extensive mechanization of the kitchen, the program Foundation are eligible for 100% tax is able to offer children standardized, high exemption. quality hygienic meals. Besides nutritious meals, the program offers education and medical interventions to ensure the holistic Deduction under section 35AC/80GGA (bb) of the development of children. Income Tax Act 1961 in India. Akshaya Patra State - wise Brief snapshot of Akshaya Patra Vision:- “No child in India shall be deprived of education because of hunger” Status:- Secular, charitable, not-for-profit Trust Target group:- Underprivileged children , between age 6-6 Infrastructure:- Nine centralized kitchens, 200 custom-built vehicles Akshaya Patra - a national program:- Service locations: Six states, locations Unique Strength:- Innovatively-engineered, centralized, automated, large-scale kitchen infrastructure with matching logistics Sustainability:- Subsidies by the Central and State governments, donations from corporates, individuals and philanthropists Locations: Karnataka: Bangalore, Mangalore, Mysore, Hubli & Dharwad district, Bellary. Uttar Pradesh: Mathura district Rajasthan: Nathadwar, Baran, Jaipur Gujarat: Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar Orissa: Puri, Nayagarh district Andhra pradesh: Ananthapur Feature The hearth of Akshaya Patra… its kitchens ne of the cornerstones of Akshaya Patra’s Akshaya Patra kitchen is engineered to cook Osuccess is attributed to its scalable and one lakh meals per day. replicable kitchens. There are two kitchen • The kitchens are engineered based on models, centralized and decentralized. Here is the local menu, as one of Akshaya Patra’s a brief overview of these models. tenets is to provide meals of local preference. Therefore, in the North Indian regions we serve a wheat-based menu and in the South, The Akshaya Patra a rice-based menu is served. centralized kitchen model • The medium of cooking is steam. Akshaya Patra has been lauded as a successful • There are huge stainless steel cauldrons model of centralized kitchens suitable for that cook rice and sambhar in the South urban & semi-urban locations. It has set-up Indian kitchens. Each sambhar cauldron has eleven centralized kitchens - two in Bangalore a capacity of 1,200 liters of sambhar for 6,000 and one each in Hubli, Bellary, Mangalore and children in less than two hours. Mysore in Karnataka, Nathadwara and two in • The rice cauldron can cook 120 kgs of raw Jaipur, Rajasthan, Puri in Orissa and Vrindavan rice for 10,000 children in 20 minutes. Usually, in Uttar Pradesh. there are eight such rice cauldrons in a South Indian kitchen. • Akshaya Patra has set up innovatively • In the North Indian kitchens, a roti-making engineered centralized kitchens which are automated to the optimum level. This renders machine has been indigenously designed that least manual handling and ensures high can prepare 10,000-12,500 rotis per hour. standards of hygiene and cleanliness. The • The food is then packed in to stainless steel model leverages technology and innovations containers with a tight fitting lid that prevent to maximize operational and cost efficiency in pilferage and retain the heat of the food. its kitchens. • These food containers are then transferred • In this model, large quantities of food are to custom-built vehicles on a conveyor belt. cooked in one central kitchen. A standard • Each vehicle carries food for about 5000 Benefits of centralized kitchen model Decentralized kitchen model • Cooked in one place, quality is easy to control. With a hearth to cook, the decentralized • Maximizes operational and cost efficiency. kitchen model is more than just the heart of • School teachers are relieved of monitoring the Akshaya Patra program. The decentralized mid-day meals. They can concentrate on core model is a social-leveler in one sense and an activity of teaching. Schools are safe without kitchens and fires. economic activity on the other. It has brought • Managed end to end. No intermediaries. the communities together, generated • Standardization of menu and meals. livelihood for women and brought the children of various castes and creed together. This alternative model is designed to suit remote rural locations with greater challenges of road connectivity and lack of other infrastructure that make a centralized kitchen possible. • In a decentralized kitchen women’s Self Help Groups (SHG) are formed and trained to cook for nearby schools. They cook the meal and hand deliver it to schools in their neighbourhood. • Before a kitchen is established, the frontline team goes to the village and gets the consent children, and travels about 50 kms from the of the village panchayat and identifies cooks. kitchen facility. • Thereafter, the women are trained for a • Bus routes are identified in which the period of one week in a nearby kitchen that is vehicles drop-off the food to each school. already functional. In Bangalore alone there are 37 routes that distribute food to 737 schools and institutions. There are about 200 such custom-built vehicles operating in the country. In Hubli, there are 32 routes that deliver food to about 786 schools. In Hubli most schools have a large strength and are located closeby. On the other hand, in Vrindavan, there are about 21 vehicle routes that reach out to 450 schools. In Jaipur there are 62 vehicle routes for 1052 schools.

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