Friday, 23 September 2022
A Story of Transformation | Geetha L Olekar
This film is a glimpse into the life of Geetha L Olekar, an associate implementation engineer working at Q2 Software. Geetha was a beneficiary of the mid-day meal programme, implemented by The Akshaya Patra Foundation, during her school days. She also received scholarships facilitated by Akshaya Patra. The scholarships helped Geetha complete her higher studies.
Tuesday, 20 September 2022
Back To School - Power of Hot Meals | Akshaya Patra Foundation
Eighth standard student of GMPS Unkal, Karnataka, Sinchana S, is extremely happy to be back to school after months. While at home, she missed her friends, teachers, the hot lunch, games and fun. “I am happy that I can come back to school. I can now enjoy with my friends, study and eat well. I don’t like eating vegetables at home but the vegetables that we get in school for lunch is very tasty and I eat them without any fuss,” she says.
Know more : https://www.akshayapatra.org/video-gallery/back-to-school-power-of-hot-meals
Monday, 22 August 2022
Importance of Akshaya Patra's Nutritious Food for Children
Most of the kids these days are generally hooked up on junk food.
As a result of which, children
land up eating smaller portions of nutritious food.
Peer pressure, TV commercials, roadside eateries and fried food create battles between parents and their children.
Importance of nutrition in children
Ensuring that children eat a well-balanced diet is crucial for their growth and development. Children constantly grow at a rapid rate outgrowing their clothes. What fits them today may not fit in the next 1 month or so. So be prepared to keep investing in good food and some clothes.
Nutrition can also help in establishing a strong foundation for healthy eating habits. These habits inculcated at a very young age will most likely be carried on to the adulthood stage too. This means that if you teach your child to eat carrots over finger chips, this habit may last throughout their lifetime.
Eating nutritious food also has another long-term effect on children. It helps in building immunity and resistance to nutrition-related diseases that can kick in early in the adulthood stages of life. For example, eating fried food frequently results in high cholesterol levels during early adulthood leading to further complications.
Understanding the importance of healthy meals at a very young age, it was necessary to make healthy meals accessible to children of all walks of life. For children who are privileged, healthy meals are easily accessible.
But, what about children who
come from challenging backgrounds?
Can they afford healthy meals?
Meals are a huge ask in itself,
healthy meals are beyond their affordability.
Then what is their next
possible solution?
For most parents, sending
children to Government schools means free food for children in school. These
meals become the reason why parents don’t mind sending their children to school
rather than pushing them to work as a helping hand to their family’s financial
situation.
To encourage more parents to send their children to school, the Government of India made provisions under the PM POSHAN Abhiyaan to serve nutritious mid-day meals to children.
The Akshaya Patra Foundation is an NGO in India that implements the world’s largest school feeding programme.
Akshaya Patra is spread across 65 locations and caters to every day nutritional requirements of 1.8 million beneficiaries with mid-day meals. It caters to the local palates of children spread across 14 states and 2 union territories.
By providing unlimited food for
education of children, this NGO in India supports the health and
nutrition of children.
Children who initially do not
value education, start coming to school to get education and realise the
importance of studying and achieving. When they become regular at school, they
feel that they too play an important in society.
Make an online donation
to give wings to children, to make them realise that their dreams can come true
too.
Friday, 5 August 2022
PM Narendra Modi Inaugurates Akshaya Patra’s 62nd kitchen in Varanasi
Food is a basic essential for
the development of children.
Food and education always go
hand in hand.
When a child is well fed and
educated, s/he becomes able to pave his future.
Government’s intervention to feed children
NITI Aayog has identified certain districts of India with a high level of malnutrition. To support children in these areas and all over the nation, the Government of India started the PM Poshan Abhiyaan which was earlier known as the Mid-Day Meal Programme.
It was mandated in 2001 that every child studying in Government, Government-aided schools and Education Guarantee Scheme centres receive school meals as a part of this programme. The name of this Mid-Day Meal Scheme was changed to Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman Scheme (PM POSHAN Abhiyaan) in September 2021. This programme has shown positive effects.
Parents who were not able to afford sending their child/ren to schools due to their financial constraints eagerly sent their children for the free nutritious food being supplied.
Benefits of mid-day meals
- ·
Nourishes children
- ·
Improves immunity
- ·
Makes children
regular to school
- ·
Helps them focus
- · Improves memory and retention rate
The Akshaya Patra Foundation is an NGO in India that is the implementer of the PM POSHAN scheme (formerly known as the Mid-Day Meal Programme) that benefits 1.8 million children studying in Government and Government-aided schools in 14 states and 2 union territories of India. With its decentralised and centralised kitchens spread across 63 locations, this NGO in India caters to the nutritional needs of children.
Akshaya Patra works under a Public Private Partnership model and has been running the school lunch programme for the last 21 years with strong support from the Government, donors and corporate partners.
Akshaya Patra inaugurates 62nd kitchen
On 7 July 2022, the Honourable Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi inaugurated The Akshaya Patra Foundation’s new kitchen in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. This is the fifth centralised kitchen in the state after Lucknow, Vrindavan, Gorakhpur and Mant.
Honourable Governor, Smt Anandiben Patel and Honourable Chief Minister, Shri Yogi Adityanath accompanied the Prime Minister. This kitchen was supported by Westbridge Capital. The event was presided by Shri Madhu Pandit Dasa, Chairman – Akshaya Patra, and Shri Chanchalapathi Dasa, Vice-Chairman.
This event was followed by a visit to the newest kitchen. The Prime Minister, Chief Minister and Governor along with other dignitaries were given a tour of the Akshaya Patra kitchen.
Details of the Akshaya Patra Kitchen in Varanasi
- ·
Spread over an area
of 3 acres
- ·
Capacity to feed
1,00,000 children
- ·
High standards of
hygiene, food safety and quality
- ·
Roti machine makes
40,000 rotis/hour
- ·
700-litre capacity
rice cauldron with hydraulic system
- ·
1,200-litre
capacity dal cauldron with automatic motors
- ·
Reverse Osmosis plant
for water purification
- ·
Solar panels for
electricity production
- · Heat pump and solar water heater to boil water
Once all the dignitaries
visited the kitchen facility, the Honourable Prime Minister gathered with
children who showcased their talents by singing, dancing, reciting shlokas, performing
yoga asanas, etc.
Monday, 18 July 2022
Wednesday, 6 July 2022
3 predictors of child malnutrition in India
Child malnutrition is a chronic problem - a difficult malaise to tackle. Substantial progress has been made in child mortality rate; it has reduced from 5.2% in 2012 to 3.4% in 2021. (Global Hunger Index 2021)
However, the causes of death for children under five remain pre-term birth complications, trauma, birth asphyxia, and infectious diseases like pneumonia, diarrhoea and malaria. Tackling child malnourishment requires a multi-faceted approach which includes improving the quality and quantity of dietary intake, maternal health and education, etc.
The Government of India initiated programmes like the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) that nourish pregnant and lactating mothers and their children below the age of six and midday meals (MDM) to school-going children. Many NGOs in India have also implemented these schemes to ensure that children do not sleep on an empty stomach.
Factors that could predict malnutrition of children
Child malnutrition is divided
into undernutrition (insufficient calorie consumption) and overnutrition
(excess consumption of calories).
Lack of the right nutrients and macronutrients in a child results in the prevalence of undernourishment in children which could lead to underweightedness, stunting and wasting.
- · Poor quality diet
- ·
Poor maternal
health
- · Socio-economic status
1. 1) Malnutrition due to poor quality diet
A child of any age can suffer from malnutrition, specifically, young children are more prone. According to the World Health Organisation, malnutrition is the underlying cause of approximately 3.1 million children’s deaths each year.
In India, a child who comes
from an average underprivileged household does not get the adequate nutrients
in the form of food as their food does not comprise vegetables, lentils and
legumes. Including these in the diet gives the right amount of proteins
required for children to stay active.
Rising prices of vegetables and other essentials leave no option for parents coming from marginalised sections of society to feed their children with what is cheaply available. NGOs support the children of such parents who run the PM-POSHAN programme (earlier known as the MDM scheme).
2. 2) Malnutrition due to poor maternal health
The Government has made
excessive promotions to make people aware that breastfeeding for the first six
months is beneficial to a baby. And these benefits extend into adulthood as
well.
It goes without saying that a
malnourished mother will not be able to pass on the required nutrition to her
child in the form of milk. And ultimately, this child will become malnourished
and have many deficiencies and complications in the long run.
It is crucial that a woman should be nourished well during all the stages of her pregnancy. A child develops organs right from the mother’s womb. What this means is that the cognitive and physical growth of a child takes place even before it opens its eyes in this world.
3. 3) Malnutrition due to socioeconomic status
A malnourished child grows up to become an undernourished adult who cannot perform to give the best. Not performing the best in a work environment gives less salary which does not give access to good food. This further means that undernourished adults give birth to malnourished children and the cycle continues without a pause.
Hunger and poverty are vicious cycles - endless
It is very difficult to put an end to this cycle unless a member of the family starts earning better to provide good and wholesome meals. Chronic or long-term malnourishment is concentrated in sections of society coming from challenging socio-economic backgrounds.
Nourishing children right from age zero
Supporting the Government’s initiatives to nourish children at every stage of life, The Akshaya Patra Foundation – an NGO in India provides nutritious meals. These meals are prepared by giving the topmost priorities to safety and hygiene. It is recognised for running the world’s largest NGO-run school meal programme and it has been serving locally palatable meals since 2000.
Akshaya Patra is spread across 61 locations feeding 1.8 million children across 14 states & 2 union territories.
Donate to feed the children who need your support. By serving midday meals
for 1 full school year with your donation of ₹1500, you are giving them a
reason to come back to school every day. Not only that, by helping them come to
school daily, you also help them get educated. By getting educated, you are
supporting the next set of leaders and achievers to meet their goals.
Tuesday, 18 October 2016
Akshaya Patra Wins Lean Six Sigma Award 2016
