Akshaya Patra wins tiol child award

GUWAHATI, Nov 17: President of India Ram th Kovind presented tiol child award to ‘The Akshaya Patra Foundation’ for exceptiol achievements and tiol awards for the child welfare on Children’s Day at Rashtrapati Bhawan.

Swami Chanchalapati Dasa, vice chairman of Akshaya Patra Foundation, received the award.

In the recent past, there have been some adverse reports regarding the Government of Assam partnering with Akshaya  Patra Foundation for implementing the mid-day meal programme.

Since 2010, Akshaya Patra has been working in partnership with the Government of Assam with the sole aim of serving healthy, wholesome, hygienic and nutritious mid-day meals to children in government and government-aided schools in Assam. Akshaya Patra feeds 47,249 children in 607 schools in Guwahati, a press release said.

Akshaya Patra has ensured that no worker had to face loss of job due to the entry of the Foundation in Assam’s mid-day meal space. “On the other hand, we work with the government to see that the worker’s honorarium is made available to them on time. It is our experience that the workers are participative in their reassigned jobs,” the release said.

Akshaya Patra’soperations in Guwahati havealso ebled schools to be free of the stress of preparation of meals and the concerns therewith. The teachers have been able to dedicate their concentration on imparting quality education, the job for which they have been hired.

The Foundation claims subsidies only against the meals provided for actual attendance of children,and not on the basis of enrolment numbers. Due to this policy of Akshaya Patra, the government has been able to save more than Rs. 11 crores of cooking cost subsidy in the last seven years. Through diligent grain utilisation, we have conserved approximately 4300 tons of rice provided by Food Corporation of India (FCI). If calculated as per FCI’s rice valuation norms (at current price Rs.3 per kilogram), the effort had resulted in Rs.1.28 crores of savings. Thus, through its transparent approach, Akshaya Patra has contributed to the tune of Rs. 12.28 crores of savings for the government.

Akshaya Patra currently feeds 1.66 million children in 13,839 schools across 32 locations in 12 states of India, the release said, and added  Akshaya Patra kitchens continuously strive to meet world class standards of quality and hygiene. The Foundation has won several awards for the quality and hygiene maintained in the kitchens including the Quality Mark Award for Excellence, CII awards in various categories such as recognition level of ‘Commendation for strong commitment to Excel in Food Safety’. The Foundation has also received ‘Letter of appreciation’ from CII for Food Safety.