PROJECT ISR

Name: YOGESH D JADHAV

Admission No: HPGD/OC14/0094
Social Cause: Malnutrition
Unlimited Food For Education
Name of NGO: AKSHAYA PATRA

PRIN. L. N. WELINGKAR INSTITUTE OF

MANAGEMENT
DEVELOPMENT & RESEARCH
FEB 2016
1

INDEX
SR
.NO
1
2
3
4
5
6
6.1
6.2
6.3
6.4
6.5
6.6
6.7
7
8

PARTICULARS

PAGE NO.

Introduction
Status
Causes
Cures
Government Schemes and NGOs
NGO: Akshaya Patra
Introduction
History
Technology
Reach
Growth
Impact on Society
Recognitions
Gallery
References
https://youtu.be/OKX9B1qpuCc

03
05
10
11
13
16
16
16
18
24
28
29
31
32
36

1.

Introduction:

India is home to the largest number of hungry people in the

world. The Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2010 ranks India at 67 out of 122
countries; whereas the 2012 Global Hunger Index (IFPRI) ranks it at
65 among 79 countries. Similarly, malnutrition in India, especially
among children and women, is widespread, acute and even alarming.
As per a Global Survey Report released by Save the Children on 19th
July 2012, India is ranked at 112 among the 141 nations as regards
child development index (CDI). And there are disparities across various
sections of the society and states.
India has relatively too little land (only 2.5% of the worlds area)
for its large population (17% of the worlds population). However, as of
now, plenty of food grains and the large number of hungry and
malnourished people coexist for want of purchasing power and
distributive justice.
As per The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2012, India
remains home to the largest number of undernourished people in the
world: 217 million (17.5% of its population) as of 2012. However, the
status of hunger and malnutrition in India varies according different
sources/estimates and goes up to 67% to 77%. Nevertheless, 75%
Indians suffer from hunger to varying degrees 50% of them acutely.
Hunger and malnutrition are to a large extent two sides of the
same coin. The recent Global Study referred to earlier says that 42%
children in India are under weight and 58% of children are stunted by
two years of age. The findings of the HUNGaMA Survey Report are also
the same except that 59%, instead of 58%, children are stunted.
Moreover, hunger and malnutrition have a distinct gender dimension
and are widespread among the women/mothers. Every second woman
in India is reported anaemic. Actually, anaemia affects 75% children
below 5 years, 51% women of 15-59 years and 87% pregnant women.
More than 70% women and kids have serious nutritional deficiencies.
So it is but natural for IMR and MMR to be high. Similarly, Scheduled
Tribes (STs), Scheduled Castes (SCs) and minorities ((Muslims) are
greatly disadvantaged as regards hunger and malnutrition. Moreover,
12 of the 17 major states fall into the alarming category, and one into
3

the extremely alarming category (ISHI); these 17 states comprise

95% of the population of India. Not the least, persisting food inflation
(based on WPI), 7.8% as of 15th October 2012, further aggravates the
problem, especially for the poor. Poverty, gender inequality and low
level
of
awareness
are,
however, the primary/major causes of hunger and malnutrition.
Government has been responding with a number of measures
to overcome hunger and malnutrition. Lately, as per the all-inclusive
National Food Security Bill, 2011, introduced in the Parliament in
December 2011 and referred to its Standing Committee, the
government proposes to assist 67% of the total (rural and urban)
households/people, comprising the poor, children, pregnant/lactating
mothers, aged, widows, destitute, disabled, etc. with food and
nutritional subsidy/support in kind and cash. However, implementation
of these measures leaves much to be done and desired.
Besides, small holder agriculture merits to be promoted for food
self-reliance, employment and income generation, poverty reduction,
hunger and malnutrition eradication, and distributive justice.
Nevertheless, in a large and diverse country like India with a
federal structure facing alarming situation with regard to widespread
hunger and malnutrition, it requires social will alongside political will
and well planned participatory massive decentralized efforts from top
to bottom and bottom to top by all the stakeholders government,
rural and urban local bodies, CSOs, private sector, professional
institutions, international organizations and donors to overcome the
problem and achieve zero hunger and malnutrition rapidly, using
optimally the National Alliance Against Hunger and Malnutrition.

2.

Status:

As per the State of Food Insecurity in the World 2012 (FAO, IFAD
and WFP) just released (on 09 October 2012), India remains home to
the largest number of undernourished people in the world: 217 million
(17.5% of its population) as of 2012; whereas 2012 Global Hunger
Index (released by IFPRI on 11th October 2012) ranks India at 65 with
a score of 22.9 among 79 countries. However, the status of the Indian
population suffering from hunger and malnutrition varies according to
different sources and estimates.
Admittedly, as per The National Food Security Bill 2011 (Bill
No.132 of 2011), to provide for food and nutritional security in human
life cycle approach, by ensuring access to adequate quantity of quality
food at affordable prices to people to live a life with dignity, introduced
in the Parliament in December 2011 and referred to its Standing
Committee, 46% rural and 28% urban households, both categorized as
priority households, proposed to be provided maximum food grains at
the lowest (nominal) cost, subsidized to the maximum, are in the worst
situation with regard to hunger and malnutrition. Additional 29% rural
and 22% urban households, categorised as general households, also
proposed to be provided subsidised food grains, though lesser in
quantity and higher in cost but still very low cost, also suffer from
hunger and malnutrition even if to a relatively lesser extent. These two
categories add up to 75% rural and 50% urban households, which
along with children, pregnant/lactating mothers, aged, widows,
destitute, disabled, etc. proposed to be assisted as per the Bill, would
make 63.5% of the total Indian population. However, lately, under
pressure from the civil society for universalisation of food and
nutritional security and Public Distribution System (PDS), the
government has reviewed the Bill and decided to assist 67% of the
total (rural and urban) households in various ways, doing away with
their categorisation into priority and general households. It implies
that this much of the households suffer from hunger and malnutrition
and deserve governments support. According to the Report of the
National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector
5

(NCEUS) (2009), headed by Arjun Sengupta, about 77% of the

population in India continues to live on less than Rs.20/- per capita per
diem on an average; obviously, considering various poverty norms, this
much of population suffers from poverty, hunger and malnutrition. So,
it may be safely assumed that about 75% of Indian population suffers
from hunger and malnutrition to varying degrees, 50% of it acutely. Not
the least, persisting food inflation (based on Wholesale Price Index
WPI), 7.8% as of 15th October 2012, further aggravates the problem
for the poor, more so following the recent raising of diesel price by
Rs.5/- a liter and capping of the supply of subsidised LPG cylinders to
only six per consumer per annum, besides other similar so-called
reforms likely to follow.
As mentioned earlier, hunger and malnutrition are, to a large
extent, two sides of the same coin. Accordingly, malnutrition in India,
especially among the children and women, is widespread, acute and
even alarming. As per the Global Survey Report released by the Save
the Children recently, 42% children in India are underweight and 58%
children are stunted by two years of age. The findings of the HUNGaMA
Survey Report 2011 (Fighting Hunger and Malnutrition) are also the
same except that 59%, instead 58%, children are stunted. Even in
relatively better off households, especially in urban areas, malnutrition
and obesity among children due to imbalanced diet has been
increasing; in the wealthiest 20% of the population, one child in five is
undernourished. Similarly, hunger and malnutrition have a distinct
gender dimension and are widespread among the women/mothers,
who are more disadvantaged as compared to men. Every second
women in India is reported anaemic. Actually, India is among the
countries with highest prevalence of anaemia affecting 75% children
below 5 years, 51% women of 15-59 years and 87% pregnant women.
More than 70% of Indian women and kids have serious nutritional
deficiencies. Likewise, scheduled tribes (STs) scheduled castes (SCs)
and minorities (Muslims) are greatly disadvantaged. In this situation, it
is but natural for the IMR and MMR to be high. As indicated earlier,
there are disparities across various sections of the society as well as
states. Ranking of the states according to the index of nutrition and
social development (INSD) is reflected in the accompanying Map,
depicting disparities. As per the India State Hunger Index (ISHI), 12 of
the 17 states surveyed fall into the alarming category and one into
the extremely alarming category. These 17 major states comprise
95% of total population of India. When compared to the GHI, Punjab
6

state is ranked 34th, whereas Madhya Pradesh (MP) is ranked 82nd. In

the states of Bihar, Jharkhand, MP, Chhattisgarh and UP, the child
malnutrition is well above the national average of 46%. Besides, there
is high level of adult malnutrition, affecting a third of the of the
Countrys adults.

Not the least, Indias spending on health is abysmally low; only

1.67% of the GDP has been earmarked for in the 12th Plan (20122017). However, It appears to be a case of poverty amidst plenty. India
has sufficient, rather surplus, stocks of food grains and the largest
number of hungry and malnourished people coexisting grain, grain
everywhere, not a grain to eat. It is so primarily due to lack of
purchasing power and distributive justice. There has been record food
grains production in 2011-2012: 257.44 million tonnes of cereals and
pulses. It works out to 209 kg per capita per annum. For want of
adequate storage, about 6.6 million tonnes of it, stacked in the open
9

and covered with polythene sheets, runs the risk of getting spoiled. In
a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition filed by a civil society
organisation Peoples Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), the Supreme
Court has passed an order that rather than letting food grains to be
spoiled like this, it should be distributed to the poor and hungry free of
cost. A similar recommendation has been offered by the Standing
Committee of the Parliament. However, the government has so far not
complied with the above order and recommendation under the excuse
that it is a policy matter under its own jurisdiction, and has rather
decided to export two million tonnes of wheat to reduce surplus stocks
in the current year. There is another side of the story as well. In India
there are too many people 1.23 billion (2012) (17% of the
worlds/population), but there is too little land 3,287,240 sq. km.
(only 2.5% of the worlds area). So it is imperative to produce more
food with fewer resources i.e., land, water and energy, while
eliminating wasteful practices and policies, in order to cope with the
growing food needs. Besides, even the availability of the above 209 kg
food grains per capita per annum in a record production year (2011-12)
is inadequate and just above 200 kg required to avert famine deaths as
determined by the Famine Commission of 1880; production in India has
been stagnating around this level as against the need of 300 kg per
capita per annum (including feed, seed and unavoidable wastage) to
feed the people well. So, the current surplus is unreal and illusory and
there is a need to produce about 33% more and go on increasing it to
keep pace with the growing population and matchi

10

3.

Causes:

What are the main causes of the largest number of hungry

people in India despite considerable stocks of food grains available?
Productive assetlessness, remunerative joblessness and social and
gender injustice and inequalities are the major causes of this malady,
besides destitution, illness, disability, old age, widowhood, etc. Another
equally important cause is inefficient and ineffective implementation
of, and huge leakage in, governments schemes meant to overcome
hunger and malnutrition. Besides, low level of awareness about dos
and donts of balanced food, health and hygiene as well as about
accessing entitlements and rights under the governments
schemes/resources
and
services
compounds
the
problem.
Centralisation of governance, resources, decision-making, and
development action as well as concentration of productive assets,
resources and wealth in a few hands further aggravates the problem.
Lack of adequate political and social will is yet another cause. Although
India is far better placed as regards availability and accessibility of
data, lack of disaggregated data of district level and below up to Gram
Panchayat (Village Council) level comes in the way of focused
measures and efficient and effective monitoring, mapping and
surveillance system. About 68.84% of the population of India is rural,
major part of which greatly suffers from poverty hunger and
malnutrition. Besides, major part of the urban population (31.16%)
afflicted by poverty hunger and malnutrition is actually rural that has
migrated to urban areas and landed in urban slums while exploring
employment and income opportunities.
As is well known, India is a large and diverse country with
disparities across various sections of the population, castes, classes,
ethnic groups, gender and age as well as across the states and their
constituents. It has a federal structure, comprising 28 states and 07
Union Territories. Further down, it has about 600 districts, 5470
blocks/sub-districts, 2,30,000 Gram Panchayats, 6,40,000 villages and
1.4 million habitations. Similarly, there are 5161 large, medium and
small towns in India. It is an uphill task to deliver efficiently and
effectively anti-poverty schemes/resources and services to such a
large, diverse and dispersed area, especially in a greatly centralised
11

system, which, therefore, needs to be replaced with a well-monitored

and well-managed participatory decentralised system already in place
in form, but yet to be strengthened with content (functions, funds and
functionaries).

4.

Cures:

As mentioned earlier, government, CSOs, private sector,

professional institutions, some of the international organisations and
donors are already involved in addressing the problem of hunger and
malnutrition in India in various ways. Numerous government measures
to overcome hunger and malnutrition include National Food Security
Mission, National Nutrition Mission, National Policy On Farmers,
National Horticulture Mission, National Mission on Pulses and Oilseeds,
National Rural Livelihoods Mission, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural
Employment Guarantee Act/Scheme, National Rural Health Mission
Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) for children below 06
years to provide nutrition and pre-school education, Mid Day Meal
(MDM) for children of 06-14 years, Public Distribution System, Janani
Suraksha Yojana (Mothers Protection Scheme) for pregnant/lactating
mothers and Social Assistance to the poor/needy (subsidised food
grains, pension, insurance, etc), besides the all-inclusive National Food
Security Bill as mentioned earlier. Some of these critical measures are
in the mission mode to ensure their efficient and effective planning
and implementation with missionary zeal, but still leave much to be
done and desired as regards their effective implementation. There are
1.1 million Angan Wadi Centres (AWCs) across the rural India, catering
to the children of 03-06 years; these are going to be restructured to
include children of 0-03 years and pregnant/lactating mothers as well,
but as of now, are not functioning efficiently. Similar is the case with
the MDM. Likewise, there are about 4,89,000 Fair Price Shops(FPSs)
under the PDS to distribute subsidised food grains, sugar, kerosene oil,
etc to the targeted poor households; but their functioning is ridden
with huge leakage and corruption. States like Chhattisgarh and Tamil
Nadu have set examples by revamping the PDS and ensuring its
efficient, transparent, accountable and clean functioning. However,
there is a pressing demand from civil society and other like-minded
12

individuals and institutions to retain, revamp and universalize the PDS.

On the other hand, there is another section of thought in government
and outside it, pressing for winding up of the PDS and replacing it with
cash assistance to the poor to enable them to buy food grains from the
open market. There are also suggestions for switch over to coupons
and smart and/or biometric cards to ensure efficiency and probity. It is,
however, pertinent to mention that the Central government has
adequate buffer stock of food grains procured from the farmers at
minimum support prices announced in advance to feed the PDS. The
above mentioned Bill also provides for revamped PDS. Moreover, there
is adequate recognition of the problem of poverty and hunger in the
government at the highest level as aptly reflected in the following
excerpt from the Acceptance Speech delivered by the newly elected
President of India immediately after his oath taking ceremony on 25th
July
2012:
Our national mission must continue to be what it was.. to eliminate
the
curse
of poverty There is no humiliation more abusive than hunger
We
must
lift those at the bottom so that poverty is erased from the dictionary of
modern
India. Internationally, MDGs also include eradication of poverty,
hunger, malnutrition and gender inequalities. As mentioned earlier,
alongside the government, CSOs, private sector, professional
institutions, some of the international organisations and donors have
also been making significant contribution to address the problem of
hunger and malnutrition in India by advocacy as well as action.

13

5.

Government Schemes and NGOs:

The Government of India has launched several programs to

converge the growing rate of under nutrition children. They include
ICDS, NCF, National Health Mission

1. Midday meal scheme in Indian schools:

The Indian government started midday meal scheme on 15
August 1995. It serves millions of children with fresh cooked meals in
almost all the Government run schools or schools aided by the
government fund.
Apart from this Food for Life Annamrita run by ISKCON Food
Relief Foundation and the Akshaya Patra Foundation run the world's
largest NGO-run midday meal programmes, each serving freshly
cooked plant-based meals to over 1.3 million school children in
government and government-aided schools in India. These
programmes are conducted with part subsidies from the Government
and partly with donations from individuals and corporations. The meals
served by Food for Life Annamrita and Akshaya Patra complies with the
nutritional norms given by the government of India and aims to
eradicate malnutrition among children in India.
14

2. Integrated child development scheme:

The Government of India has started a program called Integrated

Child Development Services (ICDS) in the year 1975. ICDS has been
instrumental in improving the health of mothers and children under
age 6 by providing health and nutrition education, health services,
supplementary food, and pre-school education. The ICDS national
development program is one of the largest in the world. It reaches
more than 34 million children aged 06 years and 7 million pregnant
and lactating mothers. Other programs impacting on under-nutrition
include the National Midday Meal Scheme, the National Rural Health
Mission, and the Public Distribution System (PDS). The challenge for all
these programs and schemes is how to increase efficiency, impact and
coverage.
'Bal Kuposhan Mukta Bihar'(BKMB) is a campaign launched by
Department of Social Welfare, Government of Bihar in the year 2014.
The campaign is based on five Cs namely communication for behavior
change, capacity building, community's access to tangibles and
intangibles, community participation and collective approach. The
multi-pronged strategy of the campaign shows that a health issue like
malnutrition can be tackled with the help of behavior change
communication (BCC) and other social aspects.

3. National Children's Fund:

The National Children's Fund was created during the International

Year of the Child in 1979 under the Charitable Endowment Fund Act,
15

1890. This Fund provides support to the voluntary organisations that

help the welfare of kids.

4. National Plan of Action for Children:

India is a signatory to the 27 survival and development goals laid

down by the World Summit on children 1990. In order to implement
these goals, the Department of Women & Child Development has
formulated a National Plan of Action on Children. Each concerned
Central Ministries/Departments, State Governments/U.Ts. and Voluntary
Organisations dealing with women and children have been asked to
take up appropriate measures to implement the Action Plan. These
goals have been integrated into National Development Plans. A
Monitoring Committee under the Chairpersonship of Secretary (Women
& Child Development) reviews the achievement of goals set in the
National Plan of Action. All concerned Central Ministries/Departments
are represented on the Committee.
15 State Governments have prepared State Plan of Action on the
lines of National Plan of Action specifying targets for 1995 as well as for
2000 and spelling out strategies for holistic child development.

5. United Nations Children's Fund:

Department of Women and Child Development is the nodal

department for UNICEF. India is associated with UNICEF since 1949 and
is now in the fifth decade of cooperation for assisting most
disadvantaged children and their mothers. Traditionally, UNICEF has
been supporting India in a number of sectors like child development,
women's development, urban basic services, support for community
based convergent services, health, education, nutrition, water &
sanitation, childhood disability, children in especially difficult
16

circumstances, information
programme support.

and

communication,

planning

and

India is presently a member on the UNICEF Executive Board till

31 December 1997. The board has 3 regular sessions and one annual
session in a year. Strategies and other important matters relating to
UNICEF are discussed in those meetings. A meeting of Government of
India and UNICEF officials was concurred on 12 November 1997 to
finalise the strategy and areas for programme of cooperation for the
next Master Plan of operations 19992002 which is to synchronise with
the Ninth Plan of Government of India.

6. National Rural Health Mission:

The National Rural Health Mission of India mission was created

for the years 20052012, and its goal is to "improve the availability of
and access to quality health care by people, especially for those
residing in rural areas, the poor, women, and children."
The subsets of goals under this mission are:

Reduce infant mortality rate (IMR) and maternal mortality ratio

(MMR)

Provide universal access to public health services

Prevent and control both communicable and non-communicable

diseases, including locally endemic diseases

Provide access to integrated comprehensive primary healthcare

Create population stabilisation,

demographic balance

Revitalize local health traditions and mainstream AYUSH

Finally, to promote healthy life styles

17

as

well

as

gender

and

The mission has set up strategies and action plan to meet all of its
goals

6.

NGO: Akshaya Patra:

18

6.1.

Introduction:

Looking out of a window one day in Mayapur, a village near

Calcutta, His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, saw
a group of children fighting with stray dogs over scraps of food. From
this simple, yet heart-breaking incident, was born a determination that
no child within a radius of ten miles from our center should go hungry.
His inspiring resolve has helped us in making The Akshaya Patra
Foundation, as what it is today.

VISION: "No child in India shall be deprived of education

because of hunger"
MISSION: To reach out to 5 million children by 2020

6.2.

History:

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Prabhupada inspiring resolve has helped in

making The Akshaya Patra Foundation, as what it is today. The
programme embraced the vision that No child in India shall be
deprived of education because of hunger". Over a period of time a
visible improvement in the health of the children was witnessed along
with increased enrolment, steady attendance and better concentration
during class hours. The initial days of implementing the programme
was not smooth sailing for the Foundation. The main concern was lack
of vessels and vehicles to pack and transport the cooked food to the
schools. Mohandas Pai and Abhay Jain, two of the pioneer
philanthropists of the Foundation were instrumental in bringing some
relief. Mohandas Pai stepped in by donating the first vehicle to deliver
food to the schools and Abhay Jain assured to get more donors to
further the programme.
Once the Mid-Day Meal Scheme was mandated centrally by the
Government of India in 2003, Akshaya Patra partnered with the
Government to serve cooked meals at all Government schools. To be
able to work towards tackling classroom hunger in association with the
Government on the format of Public Private Partnership was a welcome

19

progression for Akshaya Patra. This Partnership works towards meeting

the following objectives:

6.3.

Eliminating classroom hunger

Increasing school enrolment
Increasing school attendance
Improving socialization among castes
Addressing malnutrition, and
Women empowerment

Technology:

The Akshaya Patra Foundation operates in 24 locations across 10

States in India.
There are Two types of Kitchens at Akshaya Patra which are as follows:

20

6.3.1. Centralised Kitchens:

Centralised kitchens are large kitchen units that have the
capacity to typically cook up to 100,000 meals. These kitchens serve a
set of schools located around the unit. They are automated and thus
ensure hygiene during the cooking processes.

21

22

6.3.2. Decentralised Kitchens

On the other hand, in locations where factors like difficult
geographical terrain and improper road connectivity do not support
construction of large infrastructure, the decentralised kitchen format is
the ideal solution. These kitchens are run by the Women Self-Help
Groups (SHGs) under the guidance and supervision of Akshaya Patras
kitchen process and operations module.

23

 Akshaya Patra
Methodologies:

Kitchens

24

have

adopted

Six

Sigma

Cooking in the centralised units begins in the early morning. All

kitchens run by the organisation follow a scheduled menu. All the
centralised kitchens are equipped with cauldrons, trolleys, rice chutes,
dal/sambar tanks, cutting boards, knives and other similar equipment
that are sanitised before usage. The North Indian kitchens are
equipped with rice cauldrons and dal cauldrons. Each rice cauldron has
a capacity of at least 500 litres; and each dal cauldron has the capacity
to cook 1,200 litres to 3,000 litres of dal. As roti is an integral part of
the North Indian menu, the kitchens are equipped with roti making
machines, which have the capacity to roll out up to 200,000 rotis from
6,000 kgs of wheat flour.
The South Indian kitchens are equipped with rice cauldrons and
sambar cauldrons. Each rice cauldron has a capacity of at least 500
litres; each sambar cauldron has the capacity to cook 1,200 litres to
3,000 litres of sambar. All the vessels are of stainless steel 304 food
grade material.
Quality Assurance during procurement of raw materials:
The SQMS process covers sub processes like Supplier Selection,
Supplier Qualification, Supplier Rating etc. to ensure that the right and
best raw materials are procured. Our Quality Control process ensures
that raw materials are accepted only after thorough Quality Inspection
in order to meet all the requirements of our Raw Material
Specifications, which is generally taken and adopted from Food Safety
Standards Act 2006 (FSSA).

Storage, Handling, Preservation of raw materials:

Fresh vegetables are procured on a daily basis. After
procurement, sorting of vegetables is done to retain the best quality.
All the vegetables are cleaned with potable water and sanitised before
the cutting process. Cold storage is used to store ready-to-cook cut
vegetables to retain freshness. Rice is supplied by the Food
Corporation of India (FCI). Before the cooking process, the rice is
machine-cleaned and washed thoroughly. In order to ensure all the raw
25

materials are fresh, all the kitchens follow the FIFO (First In First
Out)and FEFO (First Expiry First Out) methods while issuing the raw
material for production.
By doing so, the kitchens are able to properly identify, store and
retrieve the raw materials in an appropriate manner.
Quality and Safety during cooking:
All the kitchens of Akshaya Patra follow a standard process for
preparing the mid-day meals. This process is charted out to ensure
hygiene and quality of the cooked meal and also to adhere to the food
safety standards. All the cooking equipment like cauldrons, trolleys,
rice chutes and sambar/dal tanks, cutting boards, knives etc. are
sterilised using steam before the cooking process begins. The vessels
used in the kitchens are made of stainless steel of 304 grade and is
best for cooking and handling food.
The decentralised kitchen units are equipped with necessary
cooking equipment like chapatti pans, cooking vessels for rice and dal
and vessels for transporting the cooked mid-day meals to the schools.
Personal hygiene and Food Safety trainings are provided regularly to
the kitchen staff to ensure hygiene standards are met.
All the kitchens have well trained Cooks and Production
Supervisors to manage and supervise the production. Critical Control
Points (CCPs) like cooking temperature are checked and recorded at
periodic intervals to ensure the right quality of the meal.
Quality is maintained, Quality Check is done by the Quality
Officers in each kitchen.
Food Packing and Transportation:
The cooked food is packed in steam sterilised vessels. We use
specially designed and customized transport vehicles to deliver food
which is packed in stainless steel 304 grade vessels. These vehicles are
steam sterilised before the loading process. These vehicles use a
puffed body to reduce the temperature loss and a honeycomb
structure to hold the vessels upright and keep the freshness of the
cooked meal intact till it is served to the children.
26

 Delivery:
Methods like Logistic charting for route optimisation, GPRS to
track the delivery vehicles for safety and on-time delivery are gradually
being adopted and implemented in the kitchens.
Post Delivery Process:
In order to consistently maintain quality of the meal, we take
feedbacks from schools on a daily basis while delivering the meal. The
Quality Officers in the kitchens review the feedback and initiate or
trigger appropriate corrective or improvement actions to improve the
quality and delivery of food. We also circulate Dos and Donts
pamphlets to all schools on a regular basis for creating awareness on
food safety and hygiene while serving the mid-day meals.
Audits and Reviews:
Audit & Review mechanisms play a key role in monitoring the key
processes & systems and their performance. So, we have
institutionalised Good Manufacturing Process (GMP) Monthly Audits,
Surprise Audits on Food Safety & Quality, to name a few. Quality
Metrics Performance is reviewed on a monthly basis. Detailed
Customer Satisfaction Surveys are done by the Quality Staff at periodic
intervals apart from the day-to-day feedback we take during the
delivery of food. In certified kitchens, ISO 22000 Internal Audits are
done twice a year by qualified Internal Auditors led by Quality & FSMS
Managers, and our Certification body does the surveillance audits twice
a year. The data from all the respective audits are reviewed and
appropriate improvement or corrective actions are taken. All actions
are further monitored till effective implementation.
Continual Improvement methods:
As we aim to maintain and better our services by sustaining the
quality of the mid-day meals we provide, there is a need for continual
improvement. We need to advance the performance of various
processes continuously so that every cycle of improvement leads to
the next level of achievement. We adopted a holistic approach and
designed a programme called AkshayaPragathi. As a part of the
programme we are adopting and implementing Kaizen, CI Projects and
27

Six Sigma methodologies to ensure and make every member a part of

these initiatives.
Training is an integral part of the Continual Improvement
Programme. The Financial Year 2012-13 saw training on 5S, GMP, Lean
and Kaizen, and ISO 22000 Awareness for kitchen employees across all
locations for more than 6,000 man hours. The Quality Department aims
to conduct 15,000 man hours of training on similar topics in the
Financial Year 2013-14.

6.4.

Reach:
28

Akshaya Patra feeds 1.4 million children every day across India. It
is operational across 24 locations in 10 states of India and It follows the
Centralised Kitchen format in 22 locations and De-centralised Kitchen
format in 2 locations. Below is the list of state-wise presence of
Akshaya Patra:

29

30

31

State /
Locatio
n
Andhra
Pradesh
Vishakhapat
nam
Assam
Guwahati

Year of
Establis
hment

Type of
Kitchen

Centralised
Kitchen

Number of
Childre
n

Number of
Schools

21,333

82

21,333

82

53,649

592

53,649

592

23,674

160

23,674

160

4,00,158

1,653

Aug-14

1,21,508

666

Nov-09

1,13,593

616

Jun-12

1,65,057

371

4,63,682

2,629

Jun-00

85,204

487

Jul-06

1,15,945

575

Jul-04

1,26,693

789

Dec-04

22,679

147

Aug-04

13,835

63

Jul-07

99,326

568

1,25,242

1,461

Jul-14

4,000

28

Jun-06

55,835

648

Oct-08

Centralised
Kitchen

Feb-10

Chhattisgar
h
Bhilai

Centralised
Kitchen

Jan-09

Gujarat
Ahmedabad
Vadodara
Surat
Karnataka
BangaloreHK Hill
Bellary
Hubli
Mangalore
Mysore
BangaloreVasanthapur
a
Odisha
Cuttack
Puri

Centralised
Kitchen
Centralised
Kitchen
Centralised
Kitchen
Centralised
Kitchen
Centralised
Kitchen
Centralised
Kitchen
Centralised
Kitchen
Centralised
Kitchen
Centralised
Kitchen
Centralised
Kitchen
Centralised
32

Nayagarh
Rourkela

Kitchen
Decentralise
d Kitchen
Centralised
Kitchen

Mar-07

24,580

352

Nov-13

40,827

433

1,35,910

1,830

Feb-04

92,763

1,081

Jun-06

25,274

435

Apr-05

11,456

166

Aug-13

6,417

148

1,50,663

1,983

Mar-15

11,401

109

Aug-04

1,39,262

1,874

718

718

54,849

454

54849

454

Rajasthan
Jaipur
Nathdwara
Baran
Jodhpur

Centralised
Kitchen
Centralised
Kitchen
Decentralise
d Kitchen
Centralised
Kitchen

Uttar
Pradesh
Lucknow
Vrindavan

Centralised
Kitchen
Centralised
Kitchen

Tamil Nadu
Chennai

Centralised
Kitchen

Jul-11

Telangana
Hyderabad

Centralised
Kitchen

Oct-08

33

6.5.

Growth:

With people's overwhelming and enduring support, Akshaya

Patra USA exceeded its fundraising goal of $3.2m for 2012 by raising
$5.6m. This included a generous grant of $2m by Caterpillar
Foundation for building a kitchen in Uttar Pradesh, India.
Akshaya Patra Foundation quotes: "We are touched by the ever
deepening commitment of the community to help bring about
widespread impact and ensure that hunger is not a barrier to education
for these 1.4 million children in India. We are forming a dynamic and
engaged community of individuals who value Akshaya Patra's dual
mission of eradicating hunger and promoting education simultaneously.
Our confidence in our ability as a community to create a truly
transformative change grows more steadfast each year.
We thank you for making Akshaya Patra your philanthropic
priority and we are counting on your continued support and
encouragement in 2013. TOGETHER we will reach our goal to raise
$4.3m for the deserving children in India this year."

34

6.6.

Impact on Society:

In general, surveys show that since the implementation of Midday Meal Programme by the Government and various NGOs, there has
been an upward surge in school enrolment and attendance of the
children. Studies also indicate that this programme has been able to
reduce drop-out rate.
The impact of the mid-day meal has been witnessed in all the
serving locations of Akshaya Patra. There have been few studies
conducted to evaluate the impact of the programme implementation
by the Foundation. The studies are as follows: AC Nielsen Impact Study
and Harvard Case Study. Some of the Government Studies are:
1. Governance Knowledge Centre
2. Ministry of Human Resource Development
Situation Analysis of Mid-Day Meal programme in Rajasthan
Report on Akshara Dasoha Scheme of Karnataka

Below is the summary of findings of the impact studies:

1. Increased enrolment The mid-day meal acts as a great
incentive for children to come to school. As more often than not,

35

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

this meal becomes the childs only meal for the day, it also acts
parents to send their children to school.
Increased attendance Children look forward to coming to
school every day because of the mid-day meal. As the Akshaya
Patra meal caters to the regional palate it further suits the taste
buds of the children and draws them to attend school.
Increased concentration A stomach full of freshly cooked
nutritious and healthy mid-day meal keeps classroom hunger at
bay and increases the child's concentration in class.
Improved socialization As the meal served by Akshaya Patra
can be consumed universally by children of all caste and
community it has fostered the habit of eating together. This
intermingling has increased the unity among children of various
religions and castes. It has also helped in removing divisional
hierarchy in terms of social standing thereby enhancing a sense
of equality among all children.
Addressed malnutrition Through the mid-day meal Akshaya
Patra is striving to meet the nutritional requirements of children
such as energy, carbohydrates, proteins and fat for school
children.
Empowered women Women have been employed by the
Foundation in different capacities in operations and other
functional areas. Women Self Help Groups (SHGs) have also been
appointed in De-centralized kitchen set-up for the cooking and
managing the processes involved in mid-day meal preparation
under the guidance of Akshaya Patras standard operating
process. This opportunity has doubly benefited them by boosting
their self-esteem and improving their social standing.

36

6.7.

Recognitions:

Akshaya Patra has been nominated to be the Member of

National Steering-cum-Monitoring Committee (NSMC) for MidDay Meal Programme
Akshaya Patra is the first NGO to have got enlisted in the ICAI
Hall of Fame and it is the third entry across all industries.
The Foundation is ranked 23rd among Top 100 NGOs by The
Global Journal in its 2013 edition.
It is featured as one of the 8 game changers in the inaugural
issue of Innowin- Indias first magazine dedicated to
innovation
Limca Book of Records[38] and India Book of Records
recognizes Akshaya Patra as running 'The world's largest
school meal programme.
A documentary on Akshaya Patra was featured on National
Television-Doordarshan

37

7.

Gallery:

38

39

40

41

8.

References:
http://www.akshayapatra.org/
HUNGaMA, New Delhi, Fighting Hunger and
Malnutrition Survey Report 2011 online;
International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI),
2012 Global Hunger Index The
Challenge Of Hunger, Ensuring Sustainable Food
Security under Land, Water, and Energy Stresses
(released October 2012);
FAO, IFAD and WFP, The State of Food Insecurity in the
World, 2012;
Save the Children released A Global Survey Report on
19th July 2012 (The Times of India, New Delhi, 20th July
2012);
42

 Save the Childrens subsequent announcement on 20th

September 2012 (The Times of India, New Delhi, 21st
September 2012);
Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public
Distribution, Government of India, New Delhi,
The National Food Security Bill, 2011 (Bill No.132 of
2011);
Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India, New Delhi,
Agricultural Census, 2005-06;
Planning Commission, Government of India, New Delhi,
Eleventh Five Year Plan 2007-2012,
Volume II Social Sector (2008), OXFORD University
Press, New Delhi;
Planning Commission, Government of India, New Delhi,
Faster, Sustainable and More
Inclusive Growth An Approach to the 12th Five Year
Plan (2012-17) (2011) online;
Planning Commission, Government of India, New Delhi,
Twelfth Five Year Plan 2012-2017(2012) (approved by
the Planning Commission and to be approved by the
Union Cabinet as well as the National Development
Council) online;
Registrar General and Census Commissioner, India,
Ministry, of Home Affairs, Government of India, New
Delhi, Census 2001 and Census 2011.
Report of the National Commission for Enterprises in
the Unorganised sector (NCEUS), headed by Arjun
Sengupta, Government of India, New Delhi (2009).
Several other sources/references used/tapped, but not
listed herein.
www.wikipedia.org

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