Akshaya Patra – An NGO in Karnataka

 Over the last two decades, The Akshaya Patra Foundation has been operating in Karnataka, feeding nutritious school meals to children in government schools to address classroom hunger and support their nutrition and education. The write-up traces Akshaya Patra’s journey from a simple idea to its rise as one of the most-admired NGOs in Karnataka, serving nutritious mid-day meals to more than 3.5 lakh children in 3,000+ schools in the state.

The Beginning

Karnataka has always had a significant place in the history of Akshaya Patra. It is here that the Foundation started the school feeding initiative 23 years ago. A simple story of compassion laid the foundation of Akshaya Patra, prompting its chairman, Shri Madhu Pandit Dasa to start the feeding of 1,500 children in five schools in Bengaluru. The Supreme Court mandate on the provision of cooked meals to children in government schools served as an impetus to the initiative. With the continued support from the government and many like-minded people coming on board, it grew from strength to strength to become one of the largest (NGO-run) school meal programmes in the world.

While the journey started as an NGO in Bengaluru with the feeding of 1,500 children in the city, today Akshaya Patra serves more than 2 million children in 67 locations across 15 states and 2 union territories every school day.

Akshaya Patra in Karnataka

In 2003, the Foundation signed an MoU with the Government of Karnataka for Akshara Dasoha. It thus became the first organisation to establish a collaboration based on the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model with the government for the Mid-Day Meal (MDM) Programme (now rechristened the PM POSHAN Abhiyaan). Its unit in Bengaluru (HK Hill) was its first kitchen not just in Karnataka but in India. Over the years, it has set up 7 more kitchens in the state, taking the total number of centralised kitchens to 8 with a cumulative feeding capacity of over 6 lakhs.

Today, as the implementing partner for the flagship school feeding programme, Akshaya Patra serves over 3.5 lakh children in Karnataka through its 8 state-of-the-art centralised kitchens.

Menu in Accordance to the Local Palate

As a practice, Akshaya Patra menu across the country is tailored to match the local palate with adherence to regional acceptability. Therefore, the Foundation’s menu in Karnataka comprises local favourites such as bisi bele bath, sambar, rasam, moong dal or vermicelli paysam, sweet pongal and avalakki, as well as items like jeera rice, dal, Bengal gram usli, chana sabji, etc. The focus is on implementing the programme with utmost quality and care and delivering maximum nutrition to children.

Food Assistance in Karnataka

Akshaya Patra—as an NGO conscious of its social responsibility—has strived to support the children and communities in Karnataka throughout its two decades in the state; be it the MDM Programme or food assistance efforts as a part of the humanitarian relief during natural disasters.

When Kodagu (Coorg) was flooded in 2018, Akshaya Patra set up makeshift kitchens in Kushalnagar and Madikeri to serve meals to the affected people. In 2019-20, when northern Karnataka was affected by floods, the Foundation’s Hubballi unit responded by supplying food to the affected people. More recently, when unprecedented rains left several localities in Bengaluru waterlogged, the organisation stepped in to provide food to those affected.

Similarly, during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the schools closed due to the outbreak, Akshaya Patra utilised its kitchen infrastructure to undertake food assistance in the state. Working with the Government of Karnataka, civic bodies, corporate partners and other NGOs, the Foundation served over 62 million meals to vulnerable populations in the form of cooked food and grocery kits.

In Raichur, Yadgir and Bengaluru, Akshaya Patra distributed Shakti Kits among pregnant women and nursing mothers to support their nutritional needs during the pandemic. (Raichur and Yadgir are among the 115 districts chosen for the ‘Transformation of Aspirational Districts’ initiative launched by the Hon’ble PM, Shri Narendra Modi.)

When special Shramik trains were arranged for migrants to go back to their hometowns, Akshaya Patra served Meals-on-the-Go kits to passengers in Bengaluru to ease their journey.

Furthermore, the Foundation also conducted an Incentivised Vaccination Drive in Bengaluru to help overcome vaccine hesitancy among the marginalised population. As a part of this drive, people were provided Raksha Kits—relief kits with essential groceries for 21 meal servings—post-vaccination to support them by making up for their lost work day.

National Endeavour for Student Transformation (NEST)

Akshaya Patra started the National Endeavour for Student Transformation (NEST) in an effort to go beyond the meals to facilitate the overall development of children through a series of need-based interventions. In Karnataka, it introduced the School Rejuvenation Programme to provide children a conducive environment at schools with the focus on making the most of mid-day meals. The initiative has been implemented in 3 schools in Bengaluru.

The Digital Education Programme to bridge the digital divide and give children access to curated content has benefited over 1,600 children. Similarly, more than 6,500 scholarships have been awarded as a part of the AVSAR Scholarship Programme to provide financial aid to deserving children.

Akshaya Patra’s feeding and non-feeding programmes in Karnataka are a validation of its commitment to various developmental programmes initiated by the government. That no conversation about NGOs in Karnataka is complete without a hat tip to the Foundation, is a validation of its work in the state. With a two-decade-long history of serving, it is no surprise that the sighting of an Akshaya Patra delivery vehicle always brings about a smile on the face of children and adults alike—be it the capital city of Bengaluru, the mining belt of Ballari or the coastal city of Mangaluru.