Akshaya Patra has always believed that the development of the country can only be achieved through the inclusive development of every section of Indian society, especially its women. To achieve this, we strive to provide food for education to every single child in need, irrespective of their caste, religion, or chromosomal formation – XY for male, and XX for female.

Through this programme we have impacted the status of women in India in three significant ways:

Rise in female school enrolment

Very often, in economically challenged families, the girl child is denied the opportunity to enrol in school. If there is a choice in the matter, the son is encouraged to study, while the daughter must stay at home to look after her younger siblings, help her mother with the household chores, or even take up employment to contribute to the family income. However, with the introduction of the free, nutritious mid-day meal, parents are now more eager to send their daughters to school as it relieves them of the burden of feeding an extra mouth. This has resulted in the sharp rise in the enrolment of girls in schools. According to an AC Neilson study the number of girls enrolled in schools in Bangalore grew from 72.7 per cent in 2005-06 to 93.5 per cent in 2009-10. The same study also showed that the enrolment of class I – VIII girls in Puri increased from 73.3 per cent in 2006 to 86.7 per cent in 2009.

Improved nutritional status of girls

After eating the Akshaya Patra mid-day meal every day, the young girls who previously suffered malnutrition and other deficiencies, have blossomed. Our mid-day meals have been carefully designed keeping in mind the nutritional requirements of children, as laid down in the mid-day meal guidelines specified by the Government of India. These stringent measures have borne fruit as the AC Neilson impact study shows. According to the study the number of girls who do not suffer from malnutrition in the Akshaya Patra beneficiary schools in Puri rose from 58.9 per cent in 2006 to 60.4 per cent in 2010.

Empowerment of women through employment

With each of the 23 kitchens set up, we have provided employment to women across a range of functions. From being a part of the supervising, cooking, cleaning, quality control staff and more, women form an integral part of the Akshaya Patra work force. The Foundation has also established two decentralised kitchens, one in Baran and the other at Nayagarh, which are run primarily by women Self-Help Groups (SHGs). These two kitchens employed 1,530 female employees as of April 2014. These women who are actively employed, gaining financial independence and social respect, have become a source of inspiration to the young girls in their community.

Apart from the mid-day meal served to school children, Akshaya Patra also works toward providing women with the nutrition they need by providing meals at Anganwadi centres and undertaking the feeding of pregnant and lactating mothers.

Through the mid-day meal programme, Akshaya Patra reaches out to young girls and women across India to provide them with not just the nutrition they need to lead a healthy life, but to also give them the foundation for a valuable, fulfilling life in the future.

The Akshaya Patra Foundation was visited by a very distinguished guest on 16 July, 2014! Former US President Bill Clinton, accompanied by Gururaj Deshpande, Abhay Jain and 25 delegates, stopped by the Akshaya Patra kitchen at Jaipur during his visit to India.

The kitchen is a part of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) commitment between the Deshpande Foundation, Ravindra Chamaria and the Government of India made in 2008, to provide $7 million dollars toward scaling up the Akshaya Patra mid-day meal programme.

At the kitchen Mr Clinton was taken through the operations process and shown how the kitchen produces 250,000 rotis (Indian flat bread), 6 tonnes of dal (lentils) and 5 tonnes of rice on every school day, in just three hours!

Clinton with his delegation spent an hour touring the kitchen and then visited the nearby Government Praveshika Sanskrit Vidhyalaya (Government Secondary Sanskrit School) at Sanganer where he received a warm welcome by the students. He helped serve the mid-day meal to the children, and spent some time interacting with them.

Impressed with the work undertaken by the organisation Clinton said, “I want to thank all of the students and teachers for the warm welcome. Cooking and distribution of food is a commendable effort and this is a remarkable partnership between the government, private sector business community and non-government organisation. Such a huge quantity of food prepared and served in efficient, healthy and sanitary manner is unbelievable.”

Clinton saw firsthand the impact of what good nutrition can do for the cognitive development of children. He and his delegates were amazed to see two tenth standard students from the school solving a complex mathematical calculation using the Nikhilam method of Vedic Maths, completing it even before even Deshpande could finish on his calculator. So impressed was he with their skill that Clinton asked Akshaya Patra to contact his Foundation for any assistance needed with their education in the future.

Explaining why the mid-day meal programme is so important to him, Clinton says, “I think that one of the great challenges of the 21st century everywhere, is to prove that we can create an inclusive democracy. And that’s not just political inclusion but economic and social inclusion. The programme we visited today is one that has been a big part of my Clinton Global Initiative. We try to raise more and more money for it. I think these sort of feeding programmes are very often overlooked by the political system and yet they have the greatest potential to do good. If I can help galvanize action [toward the cause] it actually saves lives and creates a whole different set of futures for these children.”

The Clinton Foundation under the CGI helps raise awareness and funding for Akshaya Patra from corporates and other agencies to help the organisation run the mid-day meal programme. “This is the finest commitment made by the Clinton Foundation in its 10 years of existence. It is wonderful,” said Clinton, eager for more organisations to support the programme.

Clinton also thanked Caterpillar Foundation for their donation of $2 million toward Akshaya Patra that will be used to feed another 100,000 children in Lucknow.

Clinton’s visit to The Akshaya Patra Foundation marks a proud moment in history for the organisation and we look forward to welcoming him back to India soon. In the meantime we wish the Clinton Global Initiative all the very best in their endeavours for the future.

Information sourced from: The Clinton Foundation, The Times of India, Deccan Herald, The Hindu, and NDTV.