Sponsor mid day meals to children in Rajasthan by The Akshaya Patra Foundation

Due to the closure of schools, mid-day meal beneficiaries were deprived of their daily share of nutrition. Hence, to nourish them while schools were closed, Happiness Kits were provided to support their nutrition, health, hygiene, and education. Many dignitaries and famous personalities have supported the implementation of the mid-day meal programme.

52 children are fed every day. By receiving mid-day meals every day, their health improved and they were able to concentrate better in the classroom. There was a significant improvement in their physical strength and cognitive ability.

Due to the closure of schools, mid-day meal beneficiaries did not receive their daily share of school meals. To nourish them while they studied at home and to support their families, Family Happiness Kits were provided. Each kit contained rice, wheat flour, pulses and legumes, spices, oil, etc., along with learning materials like activity workbooks, colored pencils and crayons, etc. We aim to feed 52 children every day for the next 6 months.

SOHIL I want to be a doctor. 12-year-old Soil Khan, a standard IV student at the Government Upper Primary School in Pratapnagar, Jaipur, wants to become a doctor. He never stayed with his parents due to their children from a second marriage. Young Sohil aspires to become a doctor and is willing to work hard to realize his dream. He likes studying, but mathematics and English are his favourite subjects. His intention is to earn good money and get his grandmother and his entire family, including his stepmother and stepbrothers, out of the throes of poverty.

A visit to the kitchen and food distribution by the donors

On 11 December 2019, at the CII Food Safety Quality & Regulatory Summit and Award Ceremony in New
Delhi, The Akshaya Patra Foundation’s Bhavnagar kitchen bagged the prestigious CII Award for Outstanding
Performance and the Thane kitchen received CII Commendation Certificate for Strong Commitment to Good
Manufacturing Practices.
On 20 February 2020, Honourable Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Shri Kamal Nath graced the occasion of
Bhumi Pujan of The Akshaya Patra Foundation at Chhindwara district. The dignitaries present along with the
Chief Minister were Shri Nakul Nath, MP of Lok Sabha; Shri Ravi Jhunjhunwala, President of HEG Ltd.; and
Shri Chanchalapathi Dasa, Vice-Chairman of The Akshaya Patra Foundation.
The Foundation’s Chhindwara kitchen aims to feed healthy and nutritious meals to 7,000 students in 116
Government and Government-aided schools within the first phase. In the second phase, Akshaya Patra aims to
serve school meals to 15,000 students over a period of six months.

Awards and kitchen inauguration in progress

Program Update

Akshaya Patra reaches out to 1,762,133 children in 42 locations across 12 states of India, providing them with freshly cooked meal on all school days. Currently, we implement the mid-day meal programme in 15,024 schools of the country, with plans to increase that number to hundreds more.
The Akshaya Patra Foundation has been chosen as the BBC World Service’s Global Food Champion 2019.
Shri Chanchalapathi Dasa, Hon’ble Vice-Chairman of Akshaya Patra, received the award at a ceremony held in Bristol City Council, United Kingdom. The CEO of Akshaya Patra UK, Mr Bhawani Shekhawat also attended the award ceremony.
This was the third edition of Global Food Champion, an annual award that honours people or causes that help societies and inspire lives. In 2018, a very talented chef and caring humanitarian, Mr Jose Andres – the man who helped provide 3.4 million meals to people in Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria – won the award.

Story from the field

Madari Basti in Sanganer, Jaipur, has become synonymous with street magic. It is the bread and butter for most people residing there. Almost every household has one street magician to its credit. Some of them are veterans who can make a rubber snake come to life and dead pigeons fly, while others are amateurs who are learning the tricks of trade. For these budding street magicians, the first task is to learn the trick of making coins vanish in thin air and reappear in someone’s pockets or behind someone’s ears. One such upcoming entertainer is 12-year-old Sohil Khan. Sohil, a Std IV student in the Government Upper Primary School in Pratapnagar, Jaipur, is among the many children for whom school is a silver lining. Street magic has long been a form of art which has been passed on from one generation to the next. Of late, however, it has lost its sheen. Even the veterans of the trade want their children to get a proper job instead of walking the path of struggle that they have endured all this while. After Sohil’s mother passed away, his father, Umad Khan, married Jafran. He has three sons with his first wife: Sohil, Ronit, and Taufiq, and three with his second wife, Mohit, Tauheed, and Shoaib. Sohil and his younger brothers, Ronit and Taufiq live with their grandmother, a few blocks away. Both of them are in Std III in the same school as Sohil. His stepbrothers, in contrast, are too young to attend school.

Program Update

The noble cause of The Akshaya Patra Foundation began with serving school lunches to about 1,500 children in 2000 to 5 government schools in Bengaluru, Karnataka. The organisation, known for its dedicated service, now aspires to reach out to 5 million children daily by 2020.

Starting the cause with just 1 van delivering food from a kitchen in Bengaluru across the schools, the Akshaya Patra Foundation now serves over 1.7 million children across 14,173 schools in 12 states across India.

The programme embraced the vision that -
"No child in India shall be deprived of education because of hunger."

Today, through the partnership with the Government of India and various State Governments, as well as philanthropic donors; the organization runs the world's largest mid-day meal programme. Built on a public-private partnership, Akshaya Patra combines good management, innovative technology and smart engineering to deliver a nutritious and hygienic school lunch.

Story from the field

Sohil is a Std IV student in the Government Upper Primary School in Pratapnagar, Jaipur. After Sohil's mother passed away, his father, Umad Khan, married Jafran. He has three sons with his first wife, and three with his second wife. Sohil and his younger brothers, Ronit and Taufiq live with their grandmother, a few blocks away. Both his brothers are in Std III in the same school as Sohil. His stepbrothers are too young to attend school.

"My grandfather taught magic to my father. He in turn taught it to me. I don't really like it, but I don't hate it either". Young Sohil aspires to become a doctor. He likes studying, Mathematics and English are his favourite subjects.

His intention is to earn good money and get his grandmother and his entire family out of the throes of poverty. "We have a small house, which is not in good shape. I want to renovate it and maybe add another floor, so that all of us can live together," he says. Sohil goes out on holidays to perform street magic in different parts of Jaipur and during vacations, he even goes to other locations with the elder boys in the neighbourhood and works as a jamura (assistant). Like other children, even Sohil likes to play with his friends. The idea of banter with friends brings about a smile on his face. Then there are days when, instead of stepping out to play, he has to step out to support the family. On a good day, he earns Rs 50-100, but on most days, it's around Rs 10-20. Sohil has fond memories of the time he spent with his father.

"We just taught them these tricks so that they can earn for themselves if need be, but I would prefer if they work hard and get a proper job instead of depending on Rs 40-50 that they earn from performing on the streets," says Sohil's grandmother. According to her, street magic had no future.

Sohil's family lives in such difficult conditions, so it isn't surprising that he likes the variety of food that is served at school. "My favourite is Dal Chawal, but we also get Roti, Halwa, Kheer, Rabdi and even biscuits and bananas at times." Even his grandmother is thankful that the three of them get one good meal in school.