The Akshaya Patra Foundation feeds mid-day meals to over 1.5 million government school children across 24 locations in the country, every single day. To pull off this feat, even Akshaya Patra—the largest mid-day meal serving NGO in India, needs to be constantly on its toes in both, long-term and short-term planning.

1. The Akshaya Patra Foundation
How Akshaya Patra
Feeds Over 1.5 Million
Children Every Day?
Phone: 18004258622
Email: infodesk@akshayapatra.org

2. The Akshaya Patra Foundation
Akshaya Patra started in 2001 by serving meals to around 1,500 children of
five government schools in Bengaluru. The underlying thought was that
children should not be deprived of education because of hunger. In 2004,
when the Government of India launched its ambitious Mid-day Meal Scheme,
Akshaya Patra’s expertise in the field came as an advantage. It helped the
Foundation get into a public-private partnership with the Government for the
implementation of this scheme.
Over the course of 15 years, Akshaya Patra has established its kitchens in
24 locations and feeds over 1.5 million children of 11,360 schools across ten
states. The role of NGO is to provide hygienic food to lakhs of children across
the country. The journey from 1,500 children in Bengaluru to over 1.5
million children across the country would not have been possible if it was not
for (i) technology and (ii) successful partnership with governments and other
stakeholders.

3. The Akshaya Patra Foundation
Role of Technology
Necessity, they say, is the mother of invention. When the time came to scale
up, Akshaya Patra had to resort to technology. Until then, the process
mainly revolved around manual cooking. If the Foundation was to serve
100,000 meals daily, it had to improvise existing technology … and
improvise it did. Over the course of time, kitchens were designed and
established across the country; most of which have the capacity to cook
meals for around 100,000 children at a time.
Akshaya Patra kitchenshave custom-made machines to ensure that the
cooking process is a smooth sail. Also, seven of these kitchens employ the
time-saving gravity-flow mechanism; namely Lucknow, Vrindavan,
Bhubaneshwar, Ahmedabad, Hubballi, Ballari, and Vasanthapura. The
Hubballi kitchen has been featured in Nat Geo’s Mega Kitchen series.

4. The Akshaya Patra Foundation
These kitchens are equipped with rice cauldrons, which can prepare 500
litres rice at a time, and sambhar cauldron, which can prepare 1,200 – 3,000
litres of dal at a time. Around 6,000 kg of rice, 4 – 5 tonnes of vegetables,
and 6,000 litres of sambhar is prepared in just under four hours. Similarly,
the roti-making machine used in kitchens in North India can dish out 40,000
rotisin an hour. The use of cauldrons with easy-tilt mechanism makes it
easier to dispense food.
Of the 24 locations across the country, Baran (Rajasthan) and Nayagarh
(Orissa) employ the decentralised kitchen model, as the terrain of these
places make transportation of food a tough task. So what Akshaya Patra has
done, is employed local women’s self-help groups (SHGs) to cook the meals.
The entire process is monitored by a team appointed by Akshaya Patra to
ensure hygiene and efficiency. These two units help Akshaya Patra reach out
to over 36,000 children every day.

5. The Akshaya Patra Foundation
Akshaya Patra uses custom-designed insulated vehicles to deliver food from
kitchens to school. So firstly, there is no spillage during transportation, and
secondly, children are served fresh, hot meal every day.
Successful Partnerships
Akshaya Patra is the largest NGO in Indiaserving mid-day meals. It has got
into a partnership with the Central Government as well as the State
Governments of Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Odisha, Andhra
Pradesh, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, and Assam for the
implementation of the Mid-day Meal Programme. The Government is the
biggest donor for the organisation; may it be grants or grains.
Additionally, the Foundation works closely with various corporate houses and
trusts and foundations to make the mammoth task possible. The Infosys
Foundation and Jamsetji Tata Trust have helped Akshaya Patra to equip its
kitchens with latest technology among other things. Similarly, Cisco has
partnered with Akshaya Patra for its Global Hunger Relief campaign as a part
of which the company raises funds for the Mid-day Meal Programme.
The list of partners is lengthy and includes names like the Caterpillar
Foundation, The Hans Foundation, Kusuma Foundation, Give India, etc.
The Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) provision in the Companies Act
2013, which makes it mandatory for corporates to spend at least 2% of
average net profits for the last three years on CSR activities, has prompted
many companies to come forward to help the society. Akshaya Patra is one
of the severalNGOs in India that have benefited from the same.
If feeding 1.5 million children is mammoth task, feeding 5 million children is
an even bigger challenge, and that’s what The Akshaya Patra Foundation is
aiming for. In doing so, we intend to reach out to new locations as well. In
order to achieve this, we need your help. We accept tax deductible donations
under Section 35 AC or Section 80 GGA, in which case the assesse is eligible
for 100% deduction. Your contribution can help us reach out to more
children … nourish more dreams and smiles.
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