We have all learnt the English alphabet by associating each letter with something we were familiar with as a child. Let’s reverse the process. To help you get familiar with Akshaya Patra’s work, we have summarised it all in 26 words.

A – ATTENDANCE

Akshaya Patra’s mid-day meal programme has been effective in bringing children to school. Many schools have witnessed an increase in attendance since children are assured of one wholesome meal a day. For teachers, it’s always a delight to hear children answer their attendance in schools.

B – BLUE BUS

After the food is prepared, Akshaya Patra’s Blue buses deliver the fresh meals to more than 11,000 schools in India. With over 1200 vehicles that are custom designed to carry hot meals safely, hot and heallthy meals are served to children.

C – CHILDREN

The entire programme of providing mid-day meals revolves around children. More than 1.5 million children are being benefitted by Akshaya Patra’s meals every day.

D – DONATIONS

Donations is undoubtedly the backbone for our work. The immense financial support from the government, corporates, individuals and well-wishers continues to help us reach millions of children every day. You can donate to NGO too!

E – EDUCATION

We truly believe that no child should be deprived of education due to hunger. By providing mid-day meals every day, Akshaya Patra ultimately encourages every child to attend school.

F – FUNDRAISING

With Akshaya Patra, you can create your own fundraising campaign on our website and help us receive support. It’s an engaging activity and your efforts will directly help the beneficiaries.

G – GOVERNMENT AND AKSHAYA PATRA

The support from the Government of India and State Governments has made the mid-day meal porgramme an affective one. Timely procurement of grains, fund collection and tax exemptions have helped in easing the process of reaching millions of children.

H – HEALTH AND HYGIENE

Hygiene is our topmost priority when it comes to quality. Each staff member in the kitchen follows a hygiene chart and vessels are sanitised before and after usage, among other things on the checklist. This directly impacts every child’s health.

I – INNOVATION

We are constantly working towards using technological innovations that enhance our productivity and help maintain quality standards.

J – JOBS

Each one of Akshaya Patra’s department is dedicated to making a difference. We have more than 6000 employees pan India who dedicate their work hours every single day towards the cause and help each other grow.

K – KITCHENS

All of Akshaya Patra’s kitchens are well crafted with beautifully planned schedules to help us operate in the best way possible. Today, 12 of our centralised kitchens are ISO 22000:2005 certified.

L – LARGEST NGO

The Akshaya Patra Foundation has been conferred as the world’s largest NGO-run mid-day meal programme. We currently feed mid-day meals to more than 1.5 million government school children every day.

M – MID-DAY MEALS

To put an end to classroom hunger, we rely on mid-day meal programme. It has emerged as a major solution to achieve 100 per cent school enrolment. Hot and nutritious meals are delivered to all of Akshaya Patra’s beneficiary schools on all school days.

N – NEWS

We are thankful to the media for the immense support that we receive in highlighting our work. Our website has a News section too where we showcase important updates.

O – OPERATIONS

It is a massive operation to procure raw materials, prepare food, pack them in vessels, deliver them to schools and bring the vessels back to the kitchens. To achieve these, we follow a standardisation module in all kitchens and departments.

P – PROCUREMENT

From an inventory of vegetables required to make and deliver food to schools to procuring the raw materials every day, the procurement team gets the best of all at the best of prices.

Q – QUALITY

While we are reaching out to hundreds of children on a daily basis, quality continues to be the main ingredient. To maintain the quality, we follow FSSAI specifications and ensure the food is fresh when it reaches the school. A daily feedback mechanism from school plays an important part in this.

R – RECIPES

The recipes are monitored regularly to meet the needs of children in terms of calories, protein and nutrition. Nutritious food is as important as good taste. Akshaya Patra’s ingredients achieve the right balance here.

S – SCHOOLS

More than 11,000 schools are covered under Akshaya Patra’s mid-day meal programme. While the teachers nourish children with knowledge, we believe in nourishing their minds through healthy food.

T – TRANSPARENCY AND TRUST

We believe that transparency is the key to trust. At the end of each financial year, we release an Annual Report, complete with financial audits. Did we tell you our award winning annual reports are a favourite among our stakeholders?

U – UNLIMITED FOOD

As the name suggests, children have access to unlimited food. The thought behind mid-day programme is to provide unlimited food for education—to ensure children’s education is not interrupted due to hunger.

V – VISION

Our organisation works towards its vision ‘No child in India shall be deprived of education because of hunger.’ It is also our mission to reach 5 million children by 2020.

W – WHOLESOME MEAL

Every meal served is packed with nutritious ingredients as per Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA). We ensure that the child’s daily intake of food has sufficient nutrient requirements to maintain good health.

X – FACTOR

We live with an X factor. Akshaya Patra started serving 1500 children in Bengaluru and today, the reach is more than 1.5 million. Every day we look out for opportunities to reach more children. We have recently embarked on a journey named ‘Giving Every Dream a Chance’—an initiative to help children realise their dreams and passion.

Y – YOU

You matter to us! When thoughtful and compassionate people like you join forces with us, we are empowered to bring a change.

Z – ZEALOUS PROGRAMME

It is our attempt to feed the millions of children in India who have the zeal to learn and achieve, but not the means. Akshaya Patra simply acts as the means to ensure children receive adequate support to further their education.

With that, it’s a wrap on the A-Z of Akshaya Patra! Stay tuned for more interesting reads!

Each year the world unites to celebrate Earth Day on 22 April to demonstrate their support and concern for global environmental issues. This modern environmental movement is observed to put an end to the escalating issues of environmental degradation and to increase awareness among people to make a bid for change!

We the 7.4 billion inhabiting this planet, must understand that this is our only home, and it is our collective responsibility to preserve it so that we can pass on a green planet to our next generation. Hence we at Akshaya Patra have adopted certain eco-friendly initiatives, in our attempt to redress our earth from this cesspool of environmental degradation.

Akshaya Patra as a part of its Go Green initiative has adopted a new organic waste to biogas system at its Ballari kitchen. This Biogas technology is among the most proven processes, which converts organic waste into energy. This Bio Gas plant processes 1,000 Kg of kitchen waste per day that includes vegetable rejects, cooked food waste, replacing LPG. On an average this technology helps us save around three LPG cylinders per day. Besides converting vegetable wastes and cooked food wastes and rejects into LPG it also generates large volumes of enriched organic manure through anaerobic fermentation, which can supplement or even replace chemical fertilizers.

A similar Biogas plant has also been installed in our Vasanthapura kitchen in Bengaluru. This plant produces 1,400 kilograms of Biogas monthly that is equal to 700 kilograms of LPG. Hence approximately Rs 38,500 is saved every month towards LPG purchase. Besides reducing cost towards purchasing LPG, it also helps in eco-friendly handling of food wastages approximately 20 metric tonne every month.

These Biogas plants significantly lower the greenhouse effects on the earth’s atmosphere. The plants also lower methane emissions by entrapping the harmful gas and using it as fuel. Biogas is also an efficient way of energy conversion as it saves non-renewable source of energy. It also helps in effective disposal of kitchen wastes and effluents thereby improving hygiene and most importantly the environment.

Another environment friendly initiative adopted by Akshaya Patra is the Solar plant in our Vasanthapura Kitchen in Bengaluru. This plant has the capacity to produce 1100 units of power a month that is used to run all kitchen appliances. This solar plant runs through the use of photovoltaic (PV) cells that convert sunlight to direct electricity saving Rs 8,000 per month. The electricity generated through these PV cells helps in running the entire kitchen facility till four am in the morning.

Besides the Biogas Plant and the Solar Plant, Akshaya Patra has also opted for other green practices. One such initiative is the implementation of effluent treatment plants in our kitchens that help in efficient handling of run-offs and wastes. We have also optimised our meal delivery routes to reduce carbon emissions. Akshaya Patra has also implemented the use of Biomass briquettes as fuel for our boilers substituting coal and charcoal, thereby conserving non-renewable source of energy that is fast depleting from our planet.

Akshaya Patra is also aiming to adopt these green technologies not only in our Karnataka kitchens but across all our kitchens in Pan India. Committed to working towards a greener future, we are constantly looking out for ways of implementing eco-friendly technologies in our kitchens that will ensure reduction of negative human impact on the environment as well as replace the use of LPG in our kitchens.

Akshaya Patra as a non-governmental organisation is happy to do its bit towards conserving our planet and its resources. We at Akshaya Patra sincerely believe that most of the environmental concerns would disappear if humans refrain from using coal, petroleum and natural gas for power generation, and shift their focus on renewable sources of energy like wind, solar and hydroelectricity that are naturally replenished!