Adequate nutrition is vital for growth and development in children, especially during the early years of life. An NGO in India, dedicated to providing nutritious mid-day meals to children across the country, Akshaya Patra also provides nutritious meals in Anganwadi centres. At present, the NGO serves 1,39,272 beneficiaries in 6,251 centres across 10 locations of four states.

Anganwadis are care centres for children aged 0 to 6 years old, pregnant women, and lactating mothers belonging to socio-economically challenging backgrounds. These centres are a part of Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Scheme. Anganwadis implement the health, nutrition, and early education programmes of ICDS. Focussing on nutrition, Anganwadis provide support to improve the nutritional status and health of children aged 6 years and below. It also works towards educating mothers about nutrition and health thereby enabling them to provide better care for their children. Along with caring for children, Anganwadi centres also provide healthcare and nutritional support to pregnant women and lactating mothers.

In an endeavour to support the efforts of Anganwadi centres, the 21-year-old NGO in India, The Akshaya Patra Foundation stepped in to provide nutritious meals to the beneficiaries of these centres. Akshaya Patra is one of the most reputed mid-day meal NGOs in the country with a beneficiary base of 18,00,907 children in 19,039 government schools and government-aided schools located across 13 States and 1 Union Territory. Having been a provider of mid-day meals to children, Akshaya Patra is well-aware of the significance of adequate nutrition in growth and development of children. Hence, by initiating the Anganwadi Programme, the NGO aimed to feed the children and women in Anganwadi centres with nutritious meals daily.

Significance of Anganwadi Feeding Programme
Nutrition is of utmost importance during the initial years of children. It directly impacts overall health and growth in children along with supporting attainment of developmental milestones during the first six years of life. To ensure the beneficiaries receive the required quantity of nutrients every day, Akshaya Patra follows a cyclic and locally palatable Anganwadi food menu. This results in inclusion of a variety of nutritious food items, taste, and ready consumption of the served meals by the beneficiaries as well as prevents monotony.

The Anganwadi Programme is a great boon to children.

• It provides adequate nutrition.
• It supports age-appropriate physical growth and cognitive development.
• It supports health and increases immunity.
• It addresses malnutrition and related health concerns.
• It reduces mortality and morbidity rates.

Impact so far
Currently, 1,39,272 beneficiaries in 6,251 Anganwadi centres are benefitting from Akshaya Patra’s freshly prepared, nutritious Anganwadi food menu. Of these, 1,35,612 are children in the age group of 3-6 years in 5,928 Anganwadi centres across 10 locations of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana; and 3,660 are pregnant women and lactating mothers across 323 centres in Jaipur, Rajasthan.

As an NGO in India, Akshaya Patra is continuously striving to expand its programme to feed the children and women in more Anganwadi centres across the country.

Your support is essential
Anganwadi Programme is a crucial intervention to make sure each child receives a healthy start in life. Contribute generously to feed the children and women during the most crucial years of their lives. Your support will indeed make a big difference.

From the whole of the Akshaya Patra family, wishing everyone a Happy Kannada Rajyotsava!

The 1st of every November is Kannada Rajyotsava, a day when a sense of pride fills the hearts of Kannadigas as ‘Jai Karnataka’ reverberates in the entire state. On this day, all Kannada speaking areas were merged into a new state that was initially called Mysore. In 1973 on this very day, the name of this state was changed to Karnataka. The birth of a Kannada speaking state is celebrated as Kannada Rajyotsava where Rajyotsava comes from two words – ‘Rajya’ meaning state and Utsava meaning festival.

The whole state is decorated with red and yellow while Karnataka flags are hoisted in every location and the state anthem ‘Jaya Bharata Jananiya Tanujate’ is sung in communities, associations, other establishments, etc. Many NGOs too celebrate this day with great fervour, celebration and arrange for special lunch for their beneficiaries.

In many schools – both private and public, a sense of patriotism is tingled in every child by arranging for debate competitions, fancy dress competitions and enacting skits and plays. This is mostly followed by a special lunch for all the children.

Akshaya Patra, Akshara Dasoha and the connection with Karnataka
In 2000, The Akshaya Patra Foundation started providing school meals to children in Bangalore under its own school lunch programme to support their education and nutrition. To verify the efficacy of the lunch scheme, this NGO in Bangalore was called in for its testimony, post which, the Mid-Day Meal Programme was mandated. Integrating the centrally sponsored scheme – the National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education (NPNSPE), the State Government launched the Akshara Dasoha Scheme [Mid-Day Meal (MDM) Scheme] in June 2002.

Nutritious meals are prepared by Akshaya Patra in Karnataka from its seven kitchens – V.K. Hill (Bengaluru), H.K. Hill (Bengaluru), Jigani (Bengaluru), Hubballi, Mangaluru, Mysuru and Ballari. The kitchens in V.K. Hill, Jigani and H.K. Hill are ISO 22000:2005 certified, the Ballari and Hubballi kitchens are ISO 22000:2005, ISO 14001, OHSAS 18001 certified. The kitchens of Mysuru and Mangaluru are under the process of certification. In every kitchen, locally palatable meals are served to its beneficiaries to ensure that there is no wastage of food.

Akshaya Patra is extremely grateful to The Government of India, State Governments, District Authorities, individual partners, corporate donors and volunteers for constant support over the last 20 years.

Kannada Rajyotsava amid the COVID crisis
This is the second year in a row when the festivities of this special day will be minimized; all due to the pandemic. As schools were shut for a very long time, Akshaya Patra expanded from providing unlimited food for children to unlimited food for everyone in need.

This NGO in Bangalore has served a cumulative of 2,14,01,130 meals in the form of:
• Cooked meals served to every individual in need
• Happiness Kits to mid-day meal beneficiaries
• Family Happiness Kits to vulnerable families
• Raksha Kits as an incentive to help people get vaccinated
• Shakti Kit to nourish expecting mothers.

What Next?
As we all hope for the effect of the pandemic to decrease, life to go back to normal, schools and colleges to reopen, Akshaya Patra is gearing up to serve safe meals to children of Karnataka. All the kitchens of this NGO are being sanitized and cleaned to deliver hygienic food to children studying in Government and Government-aided schools. Donate online to support this NGO in Bangalore to take care of children’s nutritional requirements daily.

Dedicate this Kannada Rajyotsava to the children of Karnataka.
Support their food and education today!