Akshaya Tritiya, signifying ’the day of gold‘, falls on between mid-April and mid-May on the third day of the lunar month’s bright half. It is the birthday of the goddess of food – Annapurna Devi. The festival holds great importance for the Hindu and Jain communities.

The question is “Akshaya Tritiya is only about buying gold?”

The word Akshaya stands for ‘unlimited’, while Tritiya means ‘third day’. There are a lot of legends that are associated with this occasion. One famous reference is found in The Mahabharata, when the Pandavas had to go into exile for 13 years in the forest. During this exile, quite a lot of Brahmanas followed them. But Yudishthir requested the Brahmanas to turn back, since he couldn’t provide them with food or protection in the forest. However, the Brahmanas refused to return and decided to fend for themselves. Grieved over his inability to provide them with food, Yudhisthir then cried out and meditated on Surya, singing hymns in his praise. Surya then appeared before Yudisthira and gave him Akshaya Patra – the vessel of unlimited food. The entire troupe then set out to Kamyaka forest, since they now had an unlimited supply of food.

Much like the Akshaya Patra in the Mahabharata, The Akshaya Patra Foundation too aims to be an unlimited source of food for the unfed children of India. Through our school lunch programme, run alongside the Government of India, we feed the children in Government and Government-aided schools across India.

Thus for us, Akshaya Tritiya is the most auspicious occasion to encourage more donors to donate for the cause of Food for Education and join hands in feeding the children of India. Donating on Akshaya Tritiya gives you an added blessing as your charity is going for a noble purpose that completely lives up to the spirit of this occasion. As a gesture of homage on the birthday of Annapurna Devi, you can choose to provide ‘anna’ to the children by feeding them with nutritious meals through Akshaya Patra’s school meal programme.

We wouldn’t be the ‘unlimited vessel’ for the purpose of feeding the children had it not been for generous donors around the world. You may choose to make use of the auspicious occasion of Akshaya Tritiya in order to reach out to the future of our nation – our children.

This Akshaya Tritiya, support us to begin the journey of prosperity among 1.76 million children with regular school meals & rightful education.

“Water is essential for a healthy life and environment. Replenish water bodies and make an effort to stop polluting the seas with plastic and sewage.” – Manjushree L.

“Every living organism depends on water for survival and we must save water now so it will be useful for future generations. I hope more farmers can implement sprinkler irrigation, a proven measure to reduce water wastage.” – Savitha M.

“The water cycle is an essential part of life. Water is very important for agriculture and generation of electricity. We must treat wastewater and use it for irrigation purpose.” – Bavitha K.

“Water plays a role in all aspects of life. We’re completely dependent on it. We must store and utilise rainwater for bathing and washing vessels.” – Vishwaraj V.M.

“Water is very important for building, agriculture, drinking, and general household work. Rainwater harvesting and water treatment plants can solve a lot of water issues.” – Santosh P.

These are the opinions of our future philanthropist, Manjula L.; future teachers, Savitha M. and Bhavitha K.; future singer, Vishwaraj V.M.; and future lawyer, Santosh P. They are all aware of the significance of water. But, is it possible for them to achieve their dreams without access to clean drinking water? Quite possibly not! Because, it is estimated that consumption of contaminated water takes away lives of nearly 1,000 children, each day.

Water is the quintessential element of life. It not only quenches our thirst but also affects our health and livelihood. So, what about those who have to tread miles of distances to reach a source of clean drinking water? Yes, there are more than 663 million people who do not have access to safe drinking water thereby affecting their health, growth, and progress.

Upon recommendation at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) for an international day to spread awareness about the significance of freshwater and how to conserve it, the United Nations General Assembly declared 22 March 1993 as the first World Water Day. Since then, it has become an annual event observed globally on March 22. Each year, this day is dedicated to a specific theme related to freshwater with the theme for 2018 being ‘Nature for Water’. This theme will focus on exploring nature-based solutions to tackle and overcome water challenges of the 21st century. Since our ecosystem has already undergone excessive damage there is a need to restore ecological balance and only nature-based measures have the potential to provide sustainable solutions for rebalancing water cycle and conserving freshwater. Backing this situation is the Sustainable Development Goal 6 that targets to ‘achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all by 2030’ while also targeting protection of water-related ecosystems and effective sanitation management. It is reported that:

Mindful of this critical situation, several not-for-profit organisations have taken up water conservation as their core cause and many others have taken measures to save water in their realm of services. One such NGO belonging to the latter category is The Akshaya Patra Foundation. This Indian charitable trust works in the sector of Mid-Day Meal Scheme providing freshly cooked nutritious meals to more than 1.6 million government school children from their 34 kitchen units located in 12 states of India.

All the kitchens cook up a variety of nutrition-rich meals every day, making potable water one of the vital ingredients. To maintain hygiene standards, all the kitchens make use of RO purified water for its pre-cooking and cooking processes. Additionally, water is also required for other operational processes such as washing and cleaning of vessels, kitchens, equipment, and meal delivery vans. Being aware of the huge requirement and remaining steadfast in the hygiene and cleanliness standards Akshaya Patra has taken several steps to optimise the use of water in its realm of service. The NGO runs pilot projects in its kitchens focussing on every area of kitchen processes and upon achieving favourable results implements it in the daily operations. Some of the measures that have clearly resulted in reduced water consumption are:

In conclusion, let’s be grateful for having the basic necessity called ‘water’ readily available to most of us. And, as our beneficiaries mentioned at the very outset let’s take tangible steps to conserve the precious drops so that everyone gets an equal share of this life-sustaining element.

For the benefit of children and environment, Akshaya Patra invites your participation in its efforts to conserve water. Share your ideas in the comments section and also spread the word in your network about the Foundation’s cause.