Akshaya Patra is a Potential Model for all Countries: Barack Obama
President-Elect Barack Obama Lauds Akshaya Patra’s Mid-day Meal Programme

Bangalore, November 19, 2008: Akshaya Patra has won accolades from all corners for its yeomen work, but this one is truly special. None other than President Elect Barack Obama found time amidst his grueling campaign trail to take time off and shoot a note of appreciation for Akshaya Patra’s work in India. When Obama heard about Akshaya Patra mid-day meal program in India and their astounding performance in feeding nearly one million (ten lakh) school children every day, he was notably impressed and immediately sent a warm note congratulating Akshaya Patra.

In a signed note sent to the head of Akshaya Patra office in Boston, he wrote, “Your use of efficient and innovative business practices to scale up in just a few years from feeding 1500 school children daily to almost a million is a powerful demonstration of what’s possible when people work together.” Akshaya Patra feeds over 900,000 children everyday across seven states in India.

He also points out that the Akshaya Patra could serve as a model for other countries as well.

“We hope one day,” said Madhu Pandit Das, Chairman. Akshaya Patra Foundation, “we will be able to showcase one of our large kitchens to Barack Obama and demonstrate how our governments and civil societies are working in partnership for the development of our children to bring about a transformation in the country.”

MORE ABOUT AKSHAYA PATRA
Unlimited Food for Education.
(NATIONAL LEVEL SCHOOL MEAL PROGRAMME)

According to a UNESCO report, around 13.5 million children in the age group of 6-13 years are out of school in India. Despite the trillion-dollar economic growth, a large chunk of India’s younger generation does not have access to schools because of poverty and malnutrition.

To facilitate the education of needy children, The Akshaya Patra Foundation, provides unlimited noon meals in schools in partnership with the Central and respective state governments of India. Currently the program is feeding 9,73,147 children in over 5,700 government, government aided schools and anganwadis (day care centers) in 16 locations across India on any given day.

They are Bangalore, Hubli-Dharwad, Bellary, Mangalore and Mysore in Karnataka, Jaipur, Nathdwara and Baran in Rajasthan, Vrindavan and Mathura district in Uttar Pradesh, Puri and Nayagarh in Orissa, Gandhinagar and Ahemedabad in Gujarat and Hyderabad and Visakapatnam in Andhra Pradesh.

This is the largest NGO run school meal program in the world.

What makes Akshaya Patra unique?
1. The Akshaya Patra program uses centralized, automated kitchens for cooking food which is then distributed to schools through special purpose vehicles.
2. Akshaya Patra’s kitchens can cook about 100,000 meals in less than five hours with least human intervention and sustained quality.
3. A three item menu is served to children as per the recommendations of qualified nutritionists.
4. Due to extensive mechanization of the kitchen, the program is able to offer children standardized, high quality, hygienic meals.
5. The program also offers education and health interventions for holistic child development.
6. Akshaya Patra is a secular, not-for-profit program implemented only in government schools where there is no discrimination whatsoever.
7. The program is independently governed by a Board of Trustees & audited by KPMG.
8. A study in the year 2006 by AC Nielsen Org Marg Pvt Ltd, has vouchsafed for the efficacy of the program in increasing attendance and enrolment in schools, improving nutritional status of these children, enhancing their learning abilities and reducing drop out rates.
9. Akshaya Patra program is run with part subsidies from the government, besides financial support from corporates and individual philanthropists.
10. All contributions to The Akshaya Patra Foundation are eligible for 100% tax deduction under section 35AC/80GGA (bb) of the Income Tax Act 1961 in India.
11. With a vision to ensure that no child in India is deprived of education because of hunger, the Akshaya Patra Foundation is striving to end hunger and create a human resources pool that will propel India into the league of developed nations.

*Education for ALL Global Monitoring Report 2007, UNESCO