JULY 2006 (NEWS & VIEWS)

THE AKSHAYA PATRA FOUNDATION H. K. Hill, Chord Road, -560 010, Ph: 91-80-2357 8622, 2347 1956 Fax: 91-80-2357 8626 E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.akshayapatra.org

A strategic mid-day meal program to promote literacy among underprivileged children. The Akshaya Patra Activity Update

June 2000 marked the beginning of the Akshaya Patra feeding program Continuous improvements in the infrastructure facilities to maximize with just 1,500 children in one city, Bangalore. Six years later, in June efficiency and reduce time, cost and labour and introduction of a slew of 2006, the Akshaya Patra program is feeding 448,997 underprivileged quality control measures have showcased the Akshaya Patra program as children in 10 locations, and is today one of the largest social sector an operating model worth emulating. Which perhaps is the reason why initiatives in the country. management students from the Harvard Business School, US, are taking The program has grown leaps and bounds and now includes other allied up the Akshaya Patra program as a case study. activities such as educational initiatives, medical intervention and distribution of clothes. Akshaya Patra is evolving into a holistic child Impressed by the concept and service delivery methods, many development program. distinguished visitors and dignitaries, both from India and overseas, have visited the Akshaya Patra facility. Residents of Nandini Layout in The last quarter has been particularly eventful with the addition of three Bangalore organized a walkathon in support of Akshaya Patra to increase more locations under the program umbrella—Puri in Orissa, Nathdwara awareness of the mid-day meal program. in and Bellary in .

The outcome of a recent study conducted by A.C.Nielsen confirms that The program continues to follow its vision of ensuring that no Indian child the program has positively impacted its beneficiaries—the is deprived of education for want of food. It has been adding more and underprivileged children—and vindicated our stance that a wholesome more beneficiaries, month after month. meal is the most powerful means of fostering literacy. Here is a location-wise summary of activities in the last three to four A detailed synopsis of the study has been presented on page 12 months.

02 i Bangalore Hubli-Dharwad n

I n d i a Since Bangalore is the headquarters for The popularity of the mid-day meals in Hubli can be gauged from the fact b the Akshaya Patra operations, this facility that in the very first few months of this academic year, we have added y is a beehive of activities. To start with, it 50,372 students. was decided to offer wholesome meals to expectant and nursing mothers from the To cope up with the additional load and also cater to future requirements, lower strata of society so that newborn a new kitchen facility is coming up at Hubli and would become babies can be protected against operational very soon. malnourishment. This activity started in association with the Bangalore The Akshaya Patra program in Hubli- Mahanagara Palike (BMP) and currently, Dharwad owes its gratitude to nearly 2011 women are fed nutritious philanthropists, Mrs. Sudha Murty of meals daily in the schools run by BMP Infosys Foundation and Gururaj and where the Akshaya Patra feeding J a y s h r e e D e s h p a n d e , w h o s e program is already underway. magnanimous contributions have not only ensured the continuity of the An indicatory list of the visitors to the feeding activity but also enabled Akshaya Patra facility include, Larry Pressler, US Senator; coverage of more children. Ranil Wickremasinghe, former Prime Minister, Sri Lanka; B.S Yediyurappa, Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka; V.S.Kovje, Governor of Himachal Pradesh; T.N.Chaturvedi, Governor of Karnataka; Ashok Soota, CEO, MindTree Consulting; Nagendra K U Pradhan, School & Mass Education Minister, Orissa; Alexius Collette, CEO,Phillips Innovation Campus; Ravi Venkatesan, Chairman, Microsoft India Ltd. and actors Feroz Khan, Ravi Chandran, etc.

Number of children being fed : 1,40,000 Number of schools : 486 Number of children being fed : 1,32,297 Future Roadmap : To serve food to 1,50,000 Number of schools : 514 children by end of the year and up to 200,000 children by 2007 end. 03 Bellary Bellary, situated on the eastern side of Karnataka state, is the newest Singh of Mysore Minerals Ltd and Gautam Radia of Tungabhadra Minerals addition to the Akshaya Patra umbrella. Although agriculture is the Limited who are all concerned about the plight of deprived children living in mainstay for livelihood, Bellary district is richly endowed with mineral and around their mines and are keen to bring them into mainstream resources, with abundant metallic minerals found in Sandur, Hospet and education. They have been large hearted and committed to the Bellary Bellary. However, it still carries the industrially backward tag. The literacy project. rate as per 1996 estimate was 51% in the district as compared to the overall Karnataka State literacy rate of 63%. As part of the baseline study on the impact of the mid-day meals program, Akshaya Patra has already started the clinical examination of children and The socio economic conditions of the labour class leaves much to be is collecting appropriate data. desired, necessitating a strategic approach to bring its children into mainstream education. The Akshaya Patra Foundation, in partnership In the immediate future, the Foundation will begin construction of the fully with the JSW Foundation and other mine owners, has pledged to promote automated permanent kitchen on a five acre land subleased to it by the literacy by providing wholesome meals to deprived children. Jindals.

Having signed an MoU with Jindals, Akshaya Patra has commenced its The Akshaya Patra Foundation is indebted to Dr Vinod Nowal, Executive feeding services in about 14 schools, cooking food in a makeshift kitchen Director(C), JSW Steel Limited, for energizing the mid-day meal program in Toranagallu. Currently it is serving a three-item menu to about 7,500 and leading its implementation. children in Bellary taluka and another 1,500 in the neighbouring town of Ananthpur, . Number of children being fed : 9,000 In the next couple of months, this number is expected to go up to 25,000 Number of schools : 14 by including the Sandur taluka as well. A 5000 sq.ft temporary kitchen facility has come up on land provided by the Jindals. The daily menu includes either rice, sambhar and curds, or mixed rice with a dessert, or vegetable pulav with raita.

Shri Shriramalu, Minister of Tourism, State Government visited one of the schools and appreciated the quality of the food served.

Other major donors supporting the Bellary district feeding program are Satish of Y. Mahabaleshwarappa & Sons of Siddapura Iron Ore Mines, S.K. Modi & Manju Modi of Bellary Iron Ores Pvt. Ltd, Jija Madhavan Hari

04 Quest For Quality Investing In Children For Development

JSW Foundation, the philanthropic arm of JSW Steel Limited, is a non- In what way does this initiative match with JSW's vision of Since the core activity of the Akshaya Patra Foundation is food service, government, rural development organization which supports the corporate social responsibility? impeccable standards of quality and hygiene are mandatory. Preparing aspirations of its stakeholders, especially in the areas of education, food in large quantities on a daily basis and serving nutritious meals to healthcare, sports, culture and infrastructure facilities. Sangita Jindal, The mid-day meal scheme for needy children perfectly blends in with our thousands of children, is a Herculean task and there cannot be any Chairperson, JSW Foundation, shares her vision and objectives with vision of CSR. We are also developing schools, providing computers, Akshaya Patra. building concrete roads, offering vocational skills, etc., to help them earn weak link in the entire process, till the food is distributed to schools. To their livelihood besides employment for many in our factory. ensure international standard quality, the Foundation is aiming for the What is the inspiration for supporting the mid-day meal feeding ISO 22000 certification, meant for food safety management system. program for the underprivileged children? Can you share your thoughts about the Akshaya Patra program?

The future of the nation lies in the hands of our children for which, the The Akshaya Patra Foundation is truly doing a yeoman's service to the In its run-up to the approval process, the Foundation has chalked out youth have to be educated and intelligent. But poverty prevents parents nation. The entire concept of centralized kitchen and rapid disbursement certain best practices in the Akshaya Patra kitchen infrastructure, the from sending their children to school. If the Foundation can ensure that of hygienically cooked food to far flung schools is indeed novel and worth main area of action. Some sample dos and don'ts for employees school-going children get wholesome and nutritious food, then half the emulating. include wearing gloves, hair nets and clean uniform, etc. Similarly there battle against illiteracy and hunger is won. This is the primary reason that has inspired us to take up this noble cause. We do not see this as an are certain mandatory rules for visitors too. expenditure but an investment for national development.

Both water and food samples are also sent to an accredited lab for What do you hope to achieve? micro-biological testing and analysis. JSW has strong fundamentals of Corporate Social Responsibility. We do not believe in creating a small island of prosperity for our employees. The Foundation has strengthened its quality control department with We want the ripple effects of our prosperity to spread to the villages more manpower and is also interacting with specialized Consultants for around us. added inputs. Have you set aside any goal?

Once the Bangalore plant wins the certification, the Foundation will Our long term goal is to provide more avenues of income for those who replicate the quality control measures in other locations too. live in the villages surrounding our industry. We will do our best to see that no school going child sleeps with an empty stomach. As more and more people come to know about this scheme, we are sure every child will attend school and Bellary district will become cent per cent literate. 16 05 Mangalore Mysore Event: Harvard Business School Comes Calling

The coastal town of Mangalore has The Akshaya Patra Foundation in Mysore is currently serving meals to The high point of the last quarter was the visit of management graduates Impressed by the technology-oriented operations and commitment of heartily welcomed the Akshaya Patra 4,100 students in 16 government schools. It plans to scale up the from the Harvard Business School (HBS), USA, to the Foundation's the Foundation in its service to underprivileged children, the students program. In the month of March, the program only after the completion of the new kitchen facility, which is operations in Bangalore to understand the Akshaya Patra mid-day meal automated kitchen facility was formally presently under construction. The new kitchen is designed to cook food feeding program and develop a case study on it. The case study would launched by Subhir Raha, the for 60,000 children simultaneously and is expected to commence full- later be taught to 900 management undergraduates in the next Chairman of oil major ONGC (Oil and fledged operations from the next academic year. academic year. As is wont with HBS, the case study was funded by Natural Gas Commission), in the Professor David M Upton, Professor of Business Administration, presence of Nagaraj, Minister of Ports Harvard Business School. and Fisheries, Karnataka government. Recently two food distribution vehicles Christine Louise Ellis, Amy Nicole Yamner and Sarah Christine Lucas sponsored by the Syndicate Bank and from HBS were in India from March 18th to 25th and extensively studied Number of children being fed : 4,100 the Akshaya Patra operations by collating information from the trustees, Number of schools : 16 the management, operations and back office staff, government officials, school authorities, and the children.

Some of the people they interacted with include: Vasundhara Raje Scindia, Chief Minister of Rajasthan, Anil Kejriwal, KPMG, Gururaj Deshpande, Deshpande Foundation, Ramkumar, ANZ Technologies, Canara Bank have been Ravi Uppal, ABB, Jyoti Ramlingam, Commissioner, Bangalore added to the fleet to cater to Mahanagara Palike, Vijay Bhaskar, IAS officer, Karnataka government the additional number of and Ram Lubhaya, Principal Secretary, Rural Development and children. returned to US and are preparing the case study. Panchayati Raj dept, Rajasthan, besides the founders, trustees and To enhance brand awareness, the Foundation organized a walkathon in the staff of Akshaya Patra Foundation. Bangalore along with a group of enthusiastic residents of Nandini Layout in support of its free mid-day meal program in government Having observed the automated cooking and food distribution schools. Concerned members of the public also joined the residents processes in Bangalore, the three HBS representatives also visited two enroute the 4 km stretch, expressing solidarity with the cause. locations in Rajasthan for a first hand experience of both mechanical and manual combination of cooking in Jaipur as well as decentralized The walkathon was arranged by the Nandini Layout Residents village kitchen practices in Baran. Association as part of its cultural utsava held once a year. Number of children being fed : 9,500 Number of schools : 50

06 15 Overseas News Jaipur Nathdwara

Akshaya Patra Office in UK… addressed the Convention gathering along with C C Das and appraised The Akshaya Patra Foundation in Jaipur is presently feeding 60,200 In its attempt to mobilize support for its child-development program, the audience about the importance of TAPF program in the urban and students in 349 schools and anganwadis where even nursing and The Akshaya Patra Foundation (TAPF) is on the verge of setting up an expectant mothers are included as in Bangalore. A new kitchen facility with the capacity to cook meals for one hundred thousand children is coming up office in United Kingdom. With assistance from TAPF well-wishers at Jagannathpura in Jaipur as part of the expansion program and will be Mittu Sridhara and Mrs.Tamsin, all the relevant documents needed to ready in a couple of months. Once operational, it would become the largest incorporate the UK branch of TAPF have been submitted to the Charity private kitchen in the entire state of Rajasthan. Commission in England. C C Das, Director, (TAPF), was in UK in the month of June to initiate the process. On receiving approval from the As an allied activity, the Foundation has started feeding subsidized meals to Commission and subsequently a charity number, TAPF is planning to daily wage earners by erecting special kiosks in many parts of the city and is launch a series of marketing initiatives and garner support from the conducting this activity in partnership with the Jaipur Development local community for its popular mid- day meals program. Authority. The program is called Akshaya Kaleva. …and in USA To provide local support to the Akshaya Patra activities in USA, the As of now, nearly 1,200 labourers Foundation has appointed Shika Bhatnagar, as Executive Director, are being fed meals at the rate of TAPF, USA and will be operating from Boston. Bhatnagar comes with Rs 5 per plate. The program has several years of professional experience in international development elicited such an overwhelming organizations. response that the Chief Minister of Rajasthan, Vasundhara Raje

Scindia has asked for its The Akshaya Patra program commenced its noon meals feeding at Rajasthanis in USA pledge support to Akshaya Patra replication in other parts of the Nathdwara, a famous pilgrim town of Rajasthan in March 2006. With the state. Yet another activity is the Natives of Rajasthan who are now well placed in the US are reaching rural settings of Rajasthan and urged the wealthy Rajasthani community cooking being done in a temporary kitchen, the program is currently distribution of drinking water in feeding 13,500 children in 147 schools. The government has allotted 20 out to their home community through the Akshaya Patra Foundation. to wholeheartedly participate in this noble cause. Mrs. Scindia is the first nearly 10 water-starved slum acres of land for the kitchen facility, construction activity for which is The Rajasthani Association for North America (RANA) in Boston and Head of State from India to showcase the Akshaya Patra program in areas daily under the aegis of the the Jeweller Community in New York have stepped forward to support USA. Akshaya Patra Jaladhara. expected to commence soon. the Akshaya Patra program in Rajasthan. Her ardent appeal and the presentation by the TAPF Director aroused RANA had organized a 4-day convention recently in the US, which was such an overwhelming response from the audience that many individuals attended by C C Das, Director, TAPF. Officially announcing the TAPF in promised to contribute to the upcoming, state-of-the-art kitchen facility in Rajasthan as its partner, the RANA Board conferred a plaque “Vision, Jaipur city. The Jeweller Community in New York has already committed Number of children being fed : 60,200 Number of children being fed : 13,500 Dedication, Passion and Commitment to the Community” to Akshaya Rs 20 million towards the completion of the kitchen. Number of schools : 349 Number of schools : 147 Patra. Vasundhara Raje Scindia, Chief Minister of Rajasthan, 14 07 Baran Vrindavan Documented Impact

The community-specific model in Baran district is feeding 15,000 children At Vrindavan, the holy city of , the Akshaya Patra Study findings: C. Dropout / retention in government schools and anganwadis across 102 villages. Foundation is currently reaching out to 55,532 students in 408 schools ( inclusive of 82 anganwadi centres and 20 labour department schools). The TAPF Mid-day meal program has reduced the dropout rate and In an attempt to offer the benefits of wholesome meals to deprived improved the retention rate in all higher classes, as enrolment in all children in that area, the higher classes has improved. Foundation is also creating an awareness program by Study findings: D. Classroom performance which school authorities visit the kitchen facility for Proportion of students scoring higher grades has improved. a first hand exposure to the hygienic cooking processes Proportion of students receiving lower grades has declined. and logistics.

In those areas where there is water shortage, the Foundation is also supplying water sachets to nearly 8,000 school-going children.

By employing self-help groups of about 200 women, food is cooked in decentralized kitchens and distributed to children through special purpose vehicles.

As a socially responsible organization, the Foundation is introducing Number of children being fed : 55,532 smokeless chulhas (stoves) in a phased manner to reduce the burden Number of schools : 408 Impact on Classroom performance for schools in Bangalore of cooking and also eliminate health problems for these women.

Around 85% of Heads of Institutions / teachers reported that classroom performance has improved for all children after TAPF has started its Number of children being fed : 15,000 Number of villages : 102 operation.

08 13 Documented Impact Puri VIPSPEAK

Study objectives 2. Hubli Puri, the coastal district of Orissa is famous for its temples, sanctuaries, “Wonderful and inspirational place and program which will make a great Enrolment in class I has improved by 16.6% during the first year of program sea-scape beauty, and architectural grandeur. The Akshaya Patra impact on the future and wellbeing of children of this country.” The main objective of the study is to critically evaluate the impact of The implementation. Foundation has commenced its free mid-day meal program for less — Ashok Soota Chairman and CEO of MindTree Consulting Pvt Ltd. Akshaya Patra Foundation (TAPF) Mid-day meal program on its Average enrolment in Class V Impact on Enrolment for privileged children in this historic town in March 2006 with 5,000 children beneficiaries, the underprivileged school going children, in schools has also increased by 31% schools in Bangalore in 10 schools. Within a couple of months, the program has been scaled covered by the TAPF mid-day meal program across five locations. during this period. up and is now feeding 10,000 children in 65 schools through a make-shift kitchen. “A very good program which aims at serving the society at the grass root Key Indicators selected for impact assessment study are following: 3. Baran level. I wish that this program should cover the whole of our country.” — G.C.Yadav A. School enrolment Enrolment in Class I has increas- Besides, the Foundation satiated the hunger of over 1,00,000 weary Dy. Director UPSC B. Attendance rates ed by 41.3% (total), 44.9% (girls) pilgrims during the Rath Yatra held in the last week of June. C. Dropout rates and 37.5% (Boys) D. Classroom performance 4. Vrindavan “A very noble program. This idea deserves respect.” — Eugeniusz Laszkiewicz Study coverage Enrolment enhanced by 12.3% in Class I during first year of program implementation, average enrolment in class V has increased by 17.9%. President, International Co-Op Banking Association

Study findings: B. School Attendance “The Foundation is doing a stupendous job and has taken upon itself the 1. Jaipur: Attendance rate has improved by 8.2% onus of bringing more and more children out of malnutrition and into schools.” 2. Baran — Pooja Singhal Purwar,IAS Attendance rate Impact on Attendance Director, Govt of Jharkhand has enhanced by 12.2% Study findings: A. School Enrolment “Seeing is believing. The food preparation and distribution are very well 1. Bangalore 3. Vrindavan organised.” — Alexius Collette Enrolment in class I has improved by 23% during first year of program Attendance rate CEO, Philips Innovation Campus implementation. has enhanced by Philips Electronics India Ltd. Enrolment for girls has improved more significantly than enrolment for 14.6% boys. Number of children being fed : 10,250 Number of schools : 65

12 09 Endorsement Akshaya Patra: Powerful Impact on Education

In addition to providing life-sustaining food to less privileged children, the Akshaya Patra Foundation has taken up initiatives to encourage and promote education in the form of merit scholarships, teacher training programs and extra coaching classes for higher grade students. These efforts seem to have borne fruit, if the outcome of the education intervention in Kolar is any indication.

Kolar district which was at the bottom in terms of pass percentage of students in the State Board examination during the year 2005, has improved its performance. From the last place (32) it has moved upto the 26th position, clocking 64 per cent as against 58 per cent in the previous academic year.

The Akshaya Patra Foundation had conducted an orientation course for all the heads of institutions in Kolar, in addition to offering special coaching to Class 10 students. All these activities were carried out in collaboration with the Education Department and Zilla Panchayat, Kolar.

To augment reading skills among s c h o o l - g o i n g c h i l d r e n , a n accelerated reading program is b e i n g r u n b y t h e A k s h a r a Foundation, a Bangalore-based NGO. Akshaya Patra has partnered with the Akshara team and is d i s t r i b u t i n g s t o r y c a r d s i n government schools. 10 11