Mangalore: Milestone - Akshaya Patra provides 25 million mid-day meals

Pics: Dayanand Kukkaje
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore (NM)

Mangalore, Nov 5: The Dakshina Kannada unit of Akshaya Patra Foundation, which provides mid-day meals to students in government schools, marked a new milestone of providing 25 million meals in the district so far, and to celebrate the occasion, 'Zero to 25 Million' event was held at TMA Pai Convention Centre here on Monday November 4.

MRPL managing director P A Upadhyaya was the chief guest while Syndicate Bank former chairman and financial consultant K Janardhan Bhat, and Manipal Group president and chancellor Dr Ramdas Pai were the guests of honour.

Addressing the gathering, P A Upadhyaya said, "We (MRPL) are privileged to partner Akshaya Patra Foundation in its noble cause. It has helped attract more number of children towards education, and enrolment in schools especially in rural areas has increased because of this scheme. Consequently it will help in improving quality of life through education."

He added, "MRPL has been associated with the project since long. Our corporate social responsibility (CSR) guidelines change frequently but we will continue to support this project," he assured.

Janardhan Bhat, who has donated 12 vehicles worth Rs 1.15 crore to the Foundation to supply food from the kitchen to schools, spoke on what made him contribute to the cause. "Even a peon who works in a government school does not want his children to study in a government school. This suggests that the children in these schools are from the poorest of poor backgrounds. Therefore, I wanted to contribute somehow. When I purchased the first vehicle on installment, I was not confident whether it would work out, but today I have been able to sponsor 12 vehicles. I am very happy with the way the project works and it has given me lot of satisfaction," he said.

Karunya Sagar Das, president of Akshaya Patra Mangalore unit, said that the project was started in the year 2000 in Bangalore by providing mid-meals to 1,200 students, and today it has been implemented in 9 states, reaching 9,000 government schools. "By 2020 we aim to provide mid-day meals to 50 lac children every day," he said.

"Thanks to this project, enrolment in schools has increased by 28 percent, and attendence and classroom performance are also higher. The dropout rate has lowered and nutrition level among children has improved," he said.

"The motto of this project is that 'no child shall be deprived of education because of hunger'. It works on public-private partnership with subsidy and grant from central and state governments, corporates and NGOs," he said.

Capt Ganesh Karnik and others were present.