Akshaya Patra nourishes dreams of children

Childhood is a phase where we dream of becoming something big or being recognised; a doctor, engineer, lawyer, choreographer, singer, etc. Dreams will vary as we grow up and mature from childhood to adolescence. To achieve those dreams, as children we need to be focussed and that ability to focus in class comes from eating good food. A healthy meal helps us concentrate in class, stay focussed and helps by giving us the energy required to take part in classroom and co-curricular activities.

Realising the importance of meals and adequate nutrition for children, many schools have taken to providing school meals to children with additional school fees. However, there are some children who not only think schooling is expensive but think that rather than going to school, they can lend a helping hand with some extra income to the family.

The Government of India is working hard to help families realise the importance of education and schooling, which is a very challenging task. To help them reach out to a larger audience and the most remote locations, more than just one NGO in India come forward to extend their service.

 

Supporting dreams by implementing the Midday Meal Scheme

Midday meals are a great intervention to bring children to school. A simple meal becomes the reason why parents with low-income or people living below the poverty line, send their children to school. The major reason for sending their kids to school is so that they will be able to eat one proper meal a day at the least.

 

The Akshaya Patra Foundation is an implementing partner of the midday meal scheme. This NGO in India has been providing meals to school children in government andgovernment-aided schools for the last 20 years. On every day of school, children receive freshly prepared school lunch prepared in the kitchens of Akshaya Patra. The menu and ingredients are carefully chosen to meet the nutritional requirement of every child.

 

Children who love their midday meals

Divyanjali, studies in a government school in Gujarat, Kalol. She lives with her father who paints houses for a living. She is very famous in her classroom for her painting skills. A young child like her idolised her father and dreamt of becoming a painter too. But exposure to an art museum changed her perspective. Today, she wants to become a well-known painter like Raja Ravi Varma.

She never wastes food and follows the values taught by her mother. Theplas are her favourite dish on the midday meal menu.

 

Sachin is a young boy from Odisha’s Hanspal Primary School. Before joining this school, he was a frail-looking child who had no energy to take part in co-curricular activities or sports. In the next three years of attending school regularly, today, he is a healthy and energetic child. He loves Akshaya Patra’s food so much that he says that it is better than what his mother cooks at home. Sachin and his mother are extremely grateful for Akshaya Patra as, without these meals, he wouldn’t survive.

 

Roshni from Odisha is a shy student who is very conscious about the way she looks; she has a white patch on her chin. The internet changed everything for her and today she is a confident girl who has accepted the flaw in her. She ensures that she eats the healthy meals provided to her at school as it is beneficial for her skin. She wants to become a Cosmetic surgeon so that she can treat more people like her.

 

So many children like them receive midday meals every day. These meals give them the hope of continuing their education so that they can achieve their dream one day. With the trust of millions of donors, they refer to Akshaya Patra as the best NGO in India to donate to. The stories of such beneficiaries speak a lot for the work that the Foundation does. You too can take care of some children with your donation. Your thoughtful contribution can feed children for a whole academic year.

What are you waiting for? Millions of children await to fulfil their dreams. Let’s support them. 

Akshaya Patra supports children’s education with midday meals

 

The Akshaya Patra Foundation is an NGO in India that implements the Mid-Day Meal Programme. For the last 21 years, this non-profit organisation is serving nutritious school meals to children in India. The cycle of clean, prepare, cook, pack and deliver repeats every single day, without a stop.

Want to donate to a charity? You might benefit from it

 

The concept of giving has existed since time immemorial. It is deeply engraved in our systems that we should help one another and especially those who need support. People from all walks of life have been giving charities, be it a king, a philosopher or even common man; everyone makes contributions in some way or the other.

 According to a report by McKinsey & Co, till the 19^th century, India practised religious giving that was motivated by the search for salvation. Slowly at the beginning of the 20^th century, philanthropy was directed towards social causes.

 This slowly brought in the culture of the establishment of NGOs and foundations that worked to alleviate the suffering of people. Gradually, the number of people who donate to NGOs started increasing. People who were blessed with everything in life either chose to make in-kind donations or extend monetary support.

Not only did individuals start giving, established companies and organisations also started making corporate donations to NGOs to ensure that their money is utilised most effectively. Organisations work towards various causes like women empowerment, child education, healthcare of elderly, etc. Based on these causes, huge corporates set up charity wings or have Corporate giving as a part of their monetary funds.

 Not everyone is equipped with resources to begin their foundation. This is why most of them donate to NGOs. To encourage people to come forward and help people in need, India’s laws allow certain contributions to be eligible for deduction under the Income Tax Act. Though many people contribute, they don’t realise that they have made tax deductible donations. Many people donate because it was taught to them by their parents or so that they can change the lives of people in need. But, they don’t look at the tax benefit side of it. People who donate towards philanthropy can have the satisfaction of contributing to the society and simultaneously claim the benefit of these tax deductible donations.

 Benefits of making donations to a charity

By giving to a non-government organisation, you get the following benefits:

·         Satisfaction of doing a good deed

·         Happiness of changing lives of people

·         Tax benefits of donating to a registered NGO, benefitting from 80G deductions.

 Satisfaction of performing a good deed

Like someone said, true happiness stems from the joy of helping someone in need or by sharing what we have. When you help someone and see their face brighten up with a smile, it makes you happy because you are the reason they are so happy.

 Happiness of changing lives of people

Every single person fights hard to survive in this world. When you give to an NGO working towards a particular cause that you connect with, you bring a positive impact on the beneficiary. For example, by providing mid-day meals to children, you ensure that they get the right nutrition for their development.

 Tax benefits when you donate to NGOs

Apart from gaining satisfaction from helping someone, when you donate to a non-profit organisation, you benefit with 80g deduction under theIncome Tax Act, 1961. A few organisations provide 50% tax exemption and a few offer 100% tax exemption.

 One major benefit from donating to non-profit organisations is that it becomes easy to evaluate and monitor contributions. You can be assured of one thing, that even though you have done tax deductible donations, your donations will reach the person in need at the right time.

 The Akshaya Patra Foundation is an NGO that is registered under Section 12A (a) of the Income Tax Act, 1961. Every donation (above ₹500) is eligible for tax exemption under section 80G. The Foundation is recognised as the world’s largest NGO-run school meal programme that serves freshly cooked nutritious mid-day meals to millions of children across the country.

 Every small contribution made towards the organisation can provide nutritious mid-day meals to school children studying in Government and Government-aided schools. These meals help them tackle classroom hunger while making them healthier and sharper at performing in their academics.

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