Swiggy supporting Akshay Patra Foundation

India is one of those countries which unfortunately stand high on the ranking index when it comes to social devils like malnutrition among children; World Bank concluded this on the basis of a survey. We have highest number of underweighted children and that’s too below the age of three, in spite of 50% growth in GDP since last century. The number is so huge in India that our contribution of malnourished children is one third in total of this population all over the world which is half the root cause of the child mortality rate.
Government is trying its best but it’s still lagging behind in implementing the effective-efficient schemes. Akshaya Patra Foundation is such a non-profit organization which is following the path of one of the schemes of government of India, i.e. midday meal and working towards providing the essential nutrients to more than 11 lakh school children in almost a dozen states across the nation on daily basis. Akshaya Patra is working with the motive “no child in India shall be deprived of education because of hunger”, of its existence on this planet. The organization mainly focuses on those schools where children who belong to underprivileged sector of society enroll themselves.
Recently on the Independence Day, a food ordering and delivering company based out of Bangalore named Swiggy, decided to contribute fifteen rupees from its every order to Akshaya Patra Foundation, which comes out to be covering cost of food for 200 school children. They also encouraged their customers this Independence Day to come forward and order food, this time not only for themselves but indirectly help in providing a day’s meal to a child who is fighting against hunger right now.

Akshaya Patra run kitchen visited by Bill Clinton in Jaipur

A kitchen run by Akshaya Patra Foundation was recently visited by Ex- US President Mr. Bill Clinton in Jaipur. The kitchen is used to prepare food for 1.5 lakh people in Jaipur as a part of the mid-day meal scheme. Out of these 1.5 lakh people, 1.25 lakh are school children studying in government schools of Jaipur. Clinton was given a warm welcome by the students who even sang a folk song for the guests. Accompanied by Madhu Pandit Dasa, Clinton went to the kitchen where the food was being prepared. He observed the equipments for preparing curry and took keen interest in knowing about the menu and operations.

Madhu Pandit Dasa briefed Clinton on these questions and also told him that the kitchen in Jaipur in total had 450 people involved, including many dieticians who prepare the menu for the mid day meals a month in advance. Clinton was also shown the rice cleaning machine and the roti maker. The kitchen has 2 roti makers, each being capable of making 40,000 rotis in an hour. Clinton was surprised to realize that all the food reaches people in time.

The dieticians ensure that the food is balanced and rich so that kids receive all the necessary nutrients. Usually, 2 chapatis, lentils or pulses, a vegetable dish and rice are served to every kid daily and once in a week they are treated with a healthy sweet dish.  Besides serving to kids, Akshaya Patra Foundation also provides food to about 20,000 Anganwadi workers and 4,000 daily wage labourers at over 40 locations across the city every evening at a price of Rs.5 per person.