India has established itself as one of the potential superpowers of the world but has a lot more to address on the malnutrition front. To achieve sustainable development, many ministries have lined up to achieve various goals. A few of them are listed below:

• Ministry of Education
• Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
• Ministry of Women and Child Development
• Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation
• Ministry of Finance

Over the last few decades, India is contributing rigorously to the second goal of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); which is to tackle all forms of hunger and malnutrition. To address this issue, the Indian government came up with various concepts and provisions like Public Distribution System (PDS) for food grains – provision of subsidized food, Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) – targeted food supplementation to pregnant women nursing mothers and children, National Midday Meal Scheme – provision of a cooked meal once a day to every school child.

Role of NGOs in supporting the Government of India
NGOs play an important role in the development of a community, a state or a nation. On a broad level, the major roles of NGOs are to be:
• An Implementer
• A Catalyst
• A Partner

NGOs bridge gaps between philanthropists and beneficiaries. With online donations, contributions, in-kind donations, etc., NGOs benefit the target group in various ways. It also helps in expanding its reach to bring more beneficiaries under its umbrella.

Given the population of India, it is a humungous task to feed every single child. This is why various NGOs joined hands with the Government of India to implement the midday meal scheme on a large scale.

Role of Akshaya Patra in supporting health and nutrition of school children
The Akshaya Patra Foundation is an NGO that has taken to serving school lunch to its beneficiaries since 2000. Today, it has the distinction of being the world’s largest NGO run school lunch programme, which serves freshly cooked, nutritious mid-day meals. After the mandate of the Supreme Court of India to begin the midday meal scheme across the country, other NGOs also started providing school lunches to children.

Did you know? Before the pandemic, Akshaya Patra served mid-day meals to 1.8 million children every day.

Studies have shown that midday meals improve attendance rates of school children, reduce dropout rates, improve classroom performance, help in cognitive development and improve nutritional levels drastically.

It becomes extremely necessary to nip the buds of problems right from the beginning. Eradicating classroom hunger is one such problem. Make online donations to Akshaya Patra to feed one child for a whole academic year. You never know which child needs your support the most; your contribution can bring a million smiles. All you have to do is think of their nutritional status and act to feed them nutritious meals.

We all are unique beings and have a unique story to tell from different walks of life.

Some may share high spirited stories while others may talk about the troughs of their lives. Some fortunate people have so much in their lives that they can afford to share with the have-nots of the society.

Did you know? Daan Utsav was initially called the Joy of Giving week

People who want to be a part of this festival of philanthropic act, will perform little acts of giving to ensure that needy people get all the help and support they require. The Akshaya Patra Foundation is an NGO in India that has always been acknowledged for their feeding service. This NGO is registered as a not-for-profit organisation under the Indian Trusts Act, 1882. It also has the distinction of being the world’s largest NGO run school lunch programme, serving freshly cooked nutritious mid-day meals to school children every single day.

During the onset of the pandemic, Akshaya Patra changed its focus from feeding children to feeding every person in need. With various programmes, marginalised sections of the society comprising of carpenters, construction-site workers, daily-wage labourers, auto rickshaw drivers, ambulance drivers, grave diggers, aged people, orphans, patient caretakers, traffic police, etc. were benefitted.

Impact of donating to Akshaya Patra
With Akshaya Patra, you can not only feed the hungry, but you can serve mid-day meals to children going to Government and Government-aided schools. 92% of the funds collected for the programme will reach the beneficiaries and the rest of it will be used for the programme cost. Create an impact with Akshaya Patra by donating towards:

Cooked meals – Freshly cooked meals are served to every person who suffers without the basic necessities like full-plate of meals. With your contribution, every beneficiary receives either dal and rice, or khichadi/roti and subzi.

Happiness Kits – Provide Happiness Kits to children who are bereaved of mid-day meals due to school closures in the pandemic. These kits ensure nutrition, health, hygiene and education of school children who used to otherwise go to government and government-aided schools.

Family Happiness Kits – Support the sustenance of marginalised families who find it difficult to provide even a single square meal a day. Your online donations will provide such vulnerable people with food items that they can cook at home according to their capacity.

Raksha Kits – Akshaya Patra conducts incentivised vaccination drives to reduce vaccine hesitancy in people from vulnerable sections of society. People who attend this drive get educated about the vaccine, receive a grocery kit as an incentive to make up for their daily or hourly wage loss.

Shakti Kits – Malnourished pregnant women need extra care and nourishment to ensure that they have a safe delivery and a healthy baby. These kits provide nutritional supplements like iron, proteins, etc.

With over 1.8 million children and millions of vulnerable people benefitting from Akshaya Patra’s feeding programmes, you can feed the hungry and be a part of the initiatives this Daan Utsav. Help the have-not’s narrate high-spirited stories of your gooodwill.