Akshaya Patra Wins Lean Six Sigma Award 2016

During the 10th Lean Six Sigma National Level Competition, 2016 held by The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Akshaya Patra was presented the Lean Six Sigma Award. This award recognises establishments that have successfully implemented Six Sigma techniques in improving working and production processes effectively.

The two-day competition was held in Bengaluru from September 1 to 2, 2016 and the panel witnessed participation from many renowned companies. Akshaya Patra presented the idea alongside many establishments and is one of the NGOs to be awarded for implementing Six Sigma techniques.

Akshaya Patra has won many awards. To have a look, visit: NGO Awards

Government-NGO Public-Private Partnership and the Mid-day Meals Scheme

The Public-private Partnership (PPP) model is usually associated with the infrastructure sector, where investments are huge and therefore, the Government gets into a partnership with private sector companies to make projects economically viable. Of late, however, it has become popular in other sectors as well.

In the education sector, for instance, the Government has got into a tie-up with NGOs to implement the Mid-day Meal Scheme (MDMS), the Government of India’s ambitious school lunch programme, as a part of which a nutritious meal is provided to over 100 million school children every day.

How NGOs Come Into the Picture?

Now the implementation of MDMS has been nothing short of a Herculean task for State Governments, and that shouldn’t really come as a surprise, considering that it is the largest school lunch programme in the world. Therefore, in order to make it viable, several State Governments have forged a partnership with NGOs with sound financial and logistical credentials.

The Government of Karnataka, for example, has got into a partnership with a Bangalore-based not-for-profit organisation, The Akshaya Patra Foundation (TAPF), to provide mid-day meals to school children across six locations in the state. Karnataka is just one of the ten states across the country where Akshaya Patra serves mid-day meals. Overall, it feeds over 1.5 million children in 11,360 schools across ten locations. Akshaya Patra is one of the few well-known NGOs in India that are assisting the states to implement the ambitious programme.

How the Government-NGO Partnership is Enhancing the Mid-day Meal Scheme

The Government - NGO partnership system has helped several states to iron out the wrinkles in MDMS. Earlier, the teachers were entrusted the task of preparing mid-day meals, as a result of which they were not able to focus on their primary role, i.e., teaching. With NGOs taking care of the cooking part now, the teachers don’t have to worry about it. Similarly, as cooking is now carried out in centralized kitchens away from the school premises, it has ruled out the chances of mishaps, thus making the premises safer for children.

There are several areas where it has helped in making a positive impact, no doubt, but the most important benefit of NGOs joining the Government is the fact that it has helped the latter to reach out to more children. Like we said, Akshaya Patra feeds over 1.5 children across ten locations in the country.

That is not to say the Government is a passive spectator. It does its bit by providing land for the construction of kitchens, providing food grains, and even helps NGOs to raise funds by putting forth provisions like 100% tax deduction. (In addition, in several areas, it helps schools run their own mid-day meal kitchens.)

The Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Policy framed under the New Companies Act, 2013, has also come as a blessing in disguise for this programme. This policy makes it mandatory for ‘qualifying companies’ to spend at least 2% of their average net profit for 3 preceding financial years on CSR initiatives to facilitate socioeconomic development.

This has made it easier for NGOs to raise funds for both, sustainability and expansion.

It also means more attention can be paid to the quality of food by using funds to procure latest technology. State-of-the-art food laboratories are now being used to monitor the quality of food and ensure basic standards of food safety.

The involvement of NGOs in the implementation of this programme has not just helped in improving the quality of meals served, but has also provided an opportunity to encourage community participation; the latter by means of fund raising, volunteering, etc.

Now that it has been quite some time since the Government and NGOs have got into a public-private partnership, the benefits of this tie-up have already started to surface. The quality of meals has enhanced, the number of beneficiaries has increased, and most important of all, the battle against hunger and malnutrition has found a new lease of life.

Akshaya Patra food supplied to flood victims for 9 days and continuing…

Since 22nd of August, heavy rains have ravaged colonies in Jaipur, the flood has displaced many households leaving them helpless in water logged surroundings. 

Akshaya Patra was requested to supply food in affected areas by the district administration, Jaipur to tackle issue of food crisis and to participate in relief operations.

The free food was distributed in the low lying areas of Jaipur in more than 12 colonies such as Bhatta basti, Shastri nagar, Jahawar nagar, Transport nagar, Girdhari pura, Muhana mandi, Madrampura , Nahargrah, Parwati nagar, Bagrana, Bagru, Galta gate etc. It was also supplied to the water logged areas of adjoining district of Dausa.

Over 40,000 flood victims have benefitted so far. The food distribution is still continuing in a few areas including Madrampura which was visited by UPA Chairperson, Ms. Sonia Gandhi on August 30th, 2012.  

The food was distributed through our distribution vans. 

The vans were stationed near the water logged areas while food was manually shifted to the affected places. The local people helped Akshaya Patra teams in the distribution. The officers of Food and civil supplies, Police and District administration guided whole of the relief operation. A special distributing cell was established at the Jaipur kitchen by Akshaya Patra.

R. Kumar, a victim,  is an Auto Rickshaw puller who lives near the slum area of Sethi Colony Jaipur. His family stays in the village while he earns in Jaipur to support the family. He eats food in a nearby Dhaba (A road side eatery) which could not operate due to excessive rains. Akshayapatra came to his rescue. In his words “Bhagwaan aap ko khush rakhe, aaj aapko hazaron gareebon kee duaaein milengee” (May God keep you happy, you well get blessings of thousands of poor to whom you have fed today). 

This is not first time that Akshaya Patra has partaken in relief operations. Our kitchens are used as public assets in times of emergencies and food is supplied in calamity struck regions