Food and Education

Sigma Research and Consulting Pvt Ltd, one of India’s leading survey companies, recently conducted an impact study on Akshaya Patra’s mid-day meal programme titled ‘Assessment of Mid-Day Meal Programme in 8 States’. The study aimed to determine the need, impact and continuance of this school feeding programme – by Akshaya Patra particularly, as well as in general.

The study analysed the programme across all three verticals of centralised and decentralised kitchens, and Anganwadi centers. The study was undertaken keeping in mind the four main objectives of Akshaya Patra’s programme which are: elimination of classroom hunger; bringing about social equity; providing adequate nutrition and health; increasing school enrolment, retention and attendance.

The study was conducted across 17 locations in 8 states of India (Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Assam and Chhattisgarh).

Using a combination of quantitative and qualitative techniques, some of the results the study yielded were:

• All the states showed above 85% daily adequacy and availability of food. Gujarat was the highest with 99%
• Social equity was high with Odisha ranking highest at 99.2% and Assam, at the lowest, was not far behind with 89.9%
• The food served in all the states is extremely healthy and hygienic
• All the states showed impressively high attendance rates above 90%. Gujarat ranked highest with 99.6%

Analysing the data received, we were happy to see that the overall performance of every state was very high, with Gujarat coming out on top. It has also been heartening to see the positive impact that Akshaya Patra’s mid-day meal programme has had in fighting classroom hunger in India, eliminating social inequality and providing proper nutrition to children. This study has strongly reinforced the Foundation’s dedication to the cause and our desire for continual improvement in the future.

Read a summarised report of the impact study here.

To mark the turning of the New Year Akshaya Patra released the online edition of its Annual Report 2013-14 on 31st December, 2014. This online annual report has been narrated through the stories of the ‘Fab Five Superheroes’ – Badal, Vinayak, Ambika, Munna and Mamatha – beneficiaries of Akshaya Patra’s mid-day meal programme. Their stories exemplify the tremendous good that comes from nutritious food and education, and how Akshaya Patra’s work in eliminating classroom hunger has contributed to transforming their lives.

The online annual report presented using the illustrated characters of the five superheroes showcases salient points of the organisation’s work the past year. It features topics like an overview of the organisation’s mission, vision and highlights, financial reports, awards and recognition received, and much more.

A highly creative aspect of the Online Annual Report 2013-14 is the engaging and entertaining video. Presented by Akshaya Patra’s Vice Chairman Chanchalapathi Dasa, the video follows the animated characters of the five superheroes as they talk the viewer through a quick explanation of Akshaya Patra’s processes and its impact. In addition to these features, the Online Annual Report 2013-14 also carries a PDF and a Flipbook version of the book. Browse through Akshaya Patra’s Online Annual Report 2013-14 here!

The start of the New Year is approaching and it’s the time to make fresh resolutions. Perhaps you would like to live a healthier lifestyle, spend more time with your family, or take up a hobby.. or you could pledge to fund one child’s food for education every month for an entire year!

That sounds like a pledge worth taking up! By donating just Rs. 750 every month to Akshaya Patra you can feed twelve children for an entire year each! That’s one more year of keeping them in school and giving them the opportunity to achieve their dreams.

Every year we look within ourselves to find the best possible New Year resolution that has the potential to transform our lives. Imagine the joy and satisfaction of adopting a resolution that will transform the lives of twelve little children. Your helping hand in 2015 could give them the boost they need for the rest of their lives.

Make this New Year an auspicious occasion, and keep the goodwill flowing with monthly donations that will encourage, inspire and educate a child. Make a donation on the occasion of New Year here.

Its Christmas season, and families are making plans to spend the holidays together, parties and celebrations are underway and happiness is all around. The atmosphere is charged with positivity, and peace and brotherhood―the jingle of the season.

Aside from the togetherness seen during this time, the Christmas season is also characterised by one more important thing― ’tis the season of giving! Families and friends shower each other with gifts, and hatchets are buried under sumptuous Christmas dinners.

In the midst of all this celebration we must not forget those children who would love a merry Christmas too. This is the season to look at those in need, and dig deep into our well of generosity to provide for those who lack their basic requirements of food.

Many children in India go to sleep hungry on a regular basis. Choose to make this holiday season special for them by making a donation towards the mid-day meal programme. Help them go sleep secure and satiated with a belly full of hot food keeping the winter night away.

You have the power to make this holiday season unforgettable to a little child in need. Give generously, and you’ll have a very merry Christmas indeed!

Make a donation to Akshaya Patra on the occasion of Christmas here.

‘The Possibilities’, our new film, has crossed the 78,000 viewing mark on YouTube (in less than a week). This heart-wrenching story of a young boy’s journey to a plate of food has moved us all. But it wasn’t just the message that got everyone talking. We’ve had many people writing in to us appreciating the effort that went into the making of The Possibilities. We thank you for your kind words.

Today, we give you a glimpse into the production logbook. Read on to find out how the film was made.

6 days to go:
The actor just confirmed his schedule. Master Chethan is a Malayalee child artist, and his performance in the movie, ‘5 Sundarikal’, has impressed us all! But here’s the catch – he can’t miss school. He promised to get here a day before the shoot, for rehearsals.

5 days to go:
After visiting six locations and analysing its feasibility, the crew zeroed in on a bustling market place in the heart of Bangalore. Now here’s the challenge – how do we manage the crowd? Can we set things up without disrupting life?

4 days to go:
The art team got down to work. Props were being built or sourced. The tight rope was rigged, to make it child-safe. We all took turns to ‘walk the plank’ and test it.

3 days to go:
The entire crew, sans the actor, went to the location for rehearsals. The vendors in the market are curious but cooperative. That was good for us. We rigged a small camera to test the shot – can we pull this off in just one take? It seemed difficult, considering the crowd in the marketplace, but not impossible.

2 days to go:
Went back to the location and experimented with some more ideas. It’s starting to look good. We think we can pull this off! We test the props. But there’s one thing we were all worried about – is one day time enough for the child artist? Can he perfect his part?

1 day to go:
Master Chethan arrived this morning. By 11 a.m., we headed to the location. We were pleasantly surprised to learn that he was practicing at home. And he got it right, from the word go. His stoic expression was just the thing we needed. But by late afternoon, dark clouds started rolling in. Oops!

Day of the shoot:
Our worst nightmare had come true! It was a gloomy, rainy day. With heavy hearts, we headed to the school to shoot the latter half of the film, hoping the clouds would clear up. By noon, our prayers were answered. And just in time too! We wrapped up at the school and headed to our location.

By now, the vendors in the market knew the drill. They greeted us with smiles and wished us luck. It was a huge task to get all the character artists to time their moves and work in sync. After a grueling four hours and 8 takes, we called it a day. We had our shot – and we had achieved what we set out to do. Happiness!

3 days after the shoot:
The edit was almost done. But we were still looking for the right track to lift the whole film.

4 days after the shoot:
The editor had an idea. He suggested we use a track by A.R. Rahman – ‘Nan yen’. He had composed it for Coke Studio and we were not even sure about all the permissions and rights involved.

5 days after the shoot:
We wrote to him. What’s the worst that could happen?

7 days after the shoot:
He agreed! We were on cloud nine! He asked us to get in touch with Viacom and get the ball rolling.

20 days after the shoot:
Our permits were all in place, and our film was ready to go live! We can’t thank Mr. Rahman and Viacom enough!

November 14th:
The film was aired on social media. And the response was overwhelming.

That was your sneak peek behind the scenes of The Possibilities, the film created with the hope that it moves people to action. After all, children are our future. And it is in our hands to offer them a life full of ‘possibilities’.

Watch the video here.

Thank you, Gayatri, for your generous donations to Akshaya Patra on the occasion of your birthday over the years. You serve as an example to us all!

To view Gayatri’s letter to Akshaya Patra, click on the images below:

If you would like to make a donation to Akshaya Patra on the occasion of your birthday, click here.

The Akshaya Patra kitchens are not just inspiring because of the wonderful work they undertake through cooking the mid-day meal, but also because they serve as an excellent case study for large-scale production and management processes.

It was to study the kitchens from the second perspective that about 20 students from Mount Carmel College in Bangalore visited the Vasanthapura (VK Hill) kitchen on 29th November.

The students came to see the operations process of the kitchen as part of their Food Service Management course to help them understand the nuances of cooking food on a large scale – and the VK Hill kitchen is certainly an excellent model for research.

The highly mechanised kitchen, spread over four floors has adopted a gravity flow model to aid in the cooking process. The storage of raw material, as well as vegetable cleaning and cutting is done on the top floors, while the cooking and loading of food is undertaken on the lower levels. Huge silos filled with dal and rice are constructed on the top floor, from which the required amount of grain/pulses is dropped down chutes for cooking. These technologically advanced processes minimise human contact with the food, thereby ensuring the mid-day meals are not just tasty and nutritious, but hygienic as well.

In the Akshaya Patra kitchens everything runs like clockwork. Everyday fresh vegetables are received from vendors by 11 a.m., and it is cleaned and put into a cold storage room till 2 a.m. At this time, in the early hours of the morning the kitchen staff assembles from their accommodation provided on the campus, to commence cooking for the day. Between 2 a.m. and 9 a.m. food sufficient for almost 100,000 meals is cooked, packed and transported to the delivery vans for loading via a conveyor belt.

The students from Mount Carmel College, none of whom had previously visited an Akshaya Patra kitchen were impressed with the operation, describing the kitchen as ‘well organised’ and ‘hygienic’. Dr. Sangeeta Pandey, Head of the Nutrition and Dietetics Department at Mount Carmel, says, “I come here (to the Vasanthapura kitchen) every year. I have always been very impressed by the cleanliness and safety standards maintained in the cooking for the children. We bring the students here to help them understand how cooking on a large scale is undertaken. Earlier we used to go to the HK Hill kitchen, but we’ve started coming here as the scale of operations is larger at this kitchen.”

This glowing testimonial of the kitchen illustrates how Akshaya Patra’s mid-day meal programme exemplifies great production standards combined with excellent management practices. It is our hope that in the future more students will visit, so Akshaya Patra can continue to help educate and inspire the next generation of India’s entrepreneurs.

Thanks to Aditya Jaduri, a student of Standard VI, for donating Rs. 2,250 to Akshaya Patra on his birthday!

We are thrilled to have your support and we hope to have a wonderful, long association with you in the future! We sincerely appreciate your generosity.

Click on the images to enlarge.

For those who would like to make a donation to mark a special occasion, click here.

Hunger can cause a person, even a young person, to make terrible choices just to survive. Every day, millions of children in India are forced to choose between knowledge and nutrition, never believing that they could have both.

Akshaya Patra’s latest film ‘The Possibilities’ shines a spotlight on the struggles these children have to face every day, just to put together a single meal. Captured in a single take the film takes us on an enlightening, yet disturbing journey that reveals the things vulnerable, young children are forced to do for food. From stealing to child labour the film highlights the challenges that pervade their lives – challenges that need not exist. The free, nutritious mid-day meal provided at Government schools every day plays a huge role in helping children overcome their struggle with hunger, and focus on achieving their dreams.

Released on Children’s Day (14th November, 2014), The Possibilities has achieved its impact with the help of renowned musician A. R. Rahman and Viacom 18 Media Pvt. Ltd. (MTV) who donated the popular song ‘Naan Yen Piranthen’ to be used as the background track to the film.

“The Possibilities relays a strong message about the importance of the mid-day programme. We believe the film will touch many hearts and bring nutritious food to more underserved children of our nation. We are immensely delighted and honoured as the legendary musician Mr. A. R. Rahman has kindly agreed to donate his popular track ‘Naan Yen…‘ as a background track enhancing the impact of the film. We are also grateful to Viacom/ MTV for helping us use the track for the benefit of children. The music complements the essence of the film and sends out a powerful message,” said Chanchalapathi Dasa, Vice Chairman of The Akshaya Patra Foundation.

The film reiterates Akshaya Patra’s commitment to giving children in need a helping hand up in this world, and asks people to take part in and support the mid-day meal programme to do the same.

Diwali, one of the most important festivals of India, is a time of celebration and camaraderie. It is also the biggest gift-giving and shopping festival of India, where presents are showered lavishly on near and dear family and friends.

With crores of rupees being spent across India every year to celebrate this festival of prosperity, we thought of a more wholesome way to take part in the festivities this year. How about celebrating this occasion by contributing to help save a child from classroom hunger?

A donation to Akshaya Patra will provide a hungry child with the nutrition he/she needs and give him/her an incentive to attend school and get educated. In fact, a donation of Rs. 2250 will feed three children for an entire year! This special donation on the occasion of Diwali will make the festivities even more auspicious and memorable for you and your entire family.

So this year have a fabulous Diwali, celebrate in style or scale down for a quiet family dinner, but make your celebrations a little extra special by giving a child the invaluable gift of education.