Newsletter Edited Raj.Cdr

JULY 2006 (NEWS & VIEWS) THE AKSHAYA PATRA FOUNDATION H. K. Hill, Chord Road, Bangalore-560 010, India 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 Rajasthan and Bellary in Karnataka. 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, Andhra Pradesh. 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.

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