New normal has just begun; slowly things are trying to get back to their old lifestyles with a few changes here and there. So is the case with Akshaya Patra, an NGO in India too. As schools have decided to start reopening with the guidelines given by the Central Government of India, the Foundation’s kitchens have also started gearing up. Here is the latest Akshaya Patra’s News – the NGO has inaugurated its centralised kitchens in Jamnagar, Gujarat and Guwahati, Assam.

More kitchens mean more places to serve mid-day meals to school children. So far in Gujarat, 6 kitchens were set up in Ahmedabad, Bhavnagar, Vadodara, Surat, Kalol and Bhuj. The NGO kitchen in Jamnagar will be a centralised unit that will prepare, cook and deliver mid-day meals to children studying in Government and Government-aided schools of the city.

However, the kitchen in Guwahati has been relocated in a different location in the city itself and has been upgraded to feed more mid-day meal beneficiaries when compared to the earlier number of 20,000 school children.

Akshaya Patra’s kitchens in Jamnagar and Guwahati
The centralised kitchen in Jamnagar was inaugurated on 15th January 2021 by the Chief Minister of the state, Shri Vijay Rupani and in Guwahati on 20th January 2021 by the Chief Minister of Assam, Shri Sarbananda Sonowal. The kitchens are sponsored by The Reliance Foundation and Jamnagar Municipal Corporation and Airports Authority of India respectively that have the capacity to cook 50,000 meals each, every day. Here is a glimpse of the inauguration of each of these kitchens:

Inauguration of Jamnagar kitchen

Inauguration of Guwahati kitchen

Utmost care is taken to ensure that children’s health is not compromised. Stainless steel of 304 grade is used in the kitchens for the endurance of high levels of temperatures. These include rice chutes, rice cookers, dal cauldrons, vegetable cutters, roti making machine, etc.

Top-notch equipment used for hygienic preparation of food
A series of high-end equipment is used to ensure minimal human interaction while food is being prepared. This includes:

Rice cauldrons
These rice cauldrons are a bigger version of the rice cookers used at home. However, these have a capacity of 500 litres. These cauldrons are easy to clean and handle with a steam jacket. Once the rice is cooked, the whole cauldron can be tilted to be packed into insulated vessels at a later stage of delivery.

Atta kneading and Roti making machine
Akshaya Patra caters to the local palate to avoid wastage of food. Since rotis are preferred more in the North States than in Southern India, to reduce time spent in kneading and rolling, a roti-making machine is installed in the Guwahati and Jamnagar kitchens. Each machine has the capacity of kneading 75 kilos of wheat flour per hour and making a whopping number of 10,000 rotis per hour.

Biogas and RO plants
Akshaya Patra has adopted biogas systems in its centralised kitchens to convert organic waste into heat energy. This plant has the capacity to convert 1,000 kilos into clean energy every single day. This energy is used for fire-based cooking like frying and seasoning.

The kitchens use a three-step purification technology called Reverse Osmosis. This method of purification is used to make drinking water more potable. This also ensures that children’s health is not affected.

The NGO kitchens in Jamnagar and Guwahati use high-end technology that will feed approximately one lakh children on a daily basis. This means that the NGO in India is one more step closer to achieving its mission of feeding 5 million children by 2025.

Support Akshaya Patra in its endeavours.

Wish you all a Happy 65th Kannada Rajyotsava!

1st November is Kannada Rajyotsava. It is the day the state of Karnataka was formed. On this very day in 1956, all Kannada-speaking regions of South India unified to form Karnataka. Karnataka is derived from the words Karu-Nadu meaning elevated land.

Karnataka Rajyotsava is the day where people living in Karnataka – ‘Kannadigas’, unite to celebrate with great pomp and grandeur, irrespective of their religion. Red and yellow Karnataka flag is hoisted at predominant locations, followed by the singing of the state song. People who have made great contributions towards the development of Karnataka are presented with Rajyotsava awards.

Birth of Akshaya Patra in Bengaluru
Akshaya Patra is an organisation that was born as an NGO in Bengaluru. The Foundation started feeding 1,500 school children with nutritious meals in Government schools of Bengaluru, Karnataka. Since its inception in 2000, it has fed 1.8 million children with wholesome mid-day meals every day. In these times of unprecedented crisis, the NGO is serving meals to the needy and marginalised sections of the society.

As a part of its COVID-19 Relief Service, cooked meals and grocery kits are distributed to people belonging to low-income communities. As of 14th October 2020, a cumulative of 9.2-crore meals were served.

Watch Akshaya Patra Children Stories:

There are various other ways in which you can celebrate the spirit of being a Kannadiga – by serving your needy fellow beings with Akshaya Patra.

• Cooked meals
Serve freshly cooked, nutritious meals to low-income sections of the society, comprising of daily-wage workers, labourers and people in need living in old age homes and night shelters.

• Grocery Kits
Each grocery kit comes with spices, pulses, legumes, vegetables and other essentials. Donate online towards providing grocery kits to help marginalised families sustain amid the crisis.

• Happiness Kits
To continue its service towards mid-day meal beneficiaries, Akshaya Patra initiated the Happiness Kits Programme. Each happiness kit supports nutrition, immunity, hygiene and education of school children studying in Government and Government-aided schools.

• Anganwadi Kits
To provide support to pregnant women, lactating mothers and children, essential kits are being distributed. Glucose biscuits, jaggery, milk powder, Horlicks, etc. are packed in the kit for Anganwadi beneficiaries.

With social distancing and new norms in place, this year’s Kannada Rajotsava is a tad bit different. But nothing can dampen our spirits to help our fellow citizens in the hour of this crisis. Extend your support and let us know how you have changed lives on this Rajyotsava.