According to media reports, PM Modi served the 3 billionth ‘Akshaya Patra’ meal to underprivileged kids in Vrindavan today. Akshaya Patra is a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) which works with the Government of India to provide free mid-day meal.
Along with PM Modi, Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath was also present at the event. As per the spokesperson of the NGO, PM Modi served food to a few underprivileged school children in the facility at Vrindavan where Akshaya Patra’s kitchen is located. He added that a couple of children, who have been beneficiaries of the programme, also shared their experiences.
PM Modi attends Third Billionth Meal of Akshaya Patra Mid-day Meal Programme in Vrindavan. https://t.co/RoI6bUMUaJ
— BJP (@BJP4India) February 11, 2019
Since its launch in 2000, Akshaya Patra has been a partner of Government of India and several state governments in the successful implementation of the mid-day meal program. The event was organized to celebrate a cumulative serving of three billion meals till today.
Earlier in 2012, Akshaya Patra achieved its major milestone of serving 1 billion free meals. Afterwards, in 2016, the number reached a cumulative of 2 billion meals. “By 2016, the organization had already served a cumulative two billion meals. This milestone was commemorated in the presence of Pranab Mukherjee, the then President, on August 27 that year in Bengaluru,” the foundation said.
Moreover, Akshaya Patra has received support from the Ministry of Human Resource Development and various State Ministries for the implementation of the mid-day meal programme and has received acknowledgment and appreciation on numerous occasions. Speaking about the aim and ambition of the NGO, the spokesperson urged that Akshaya Patra strives to address classroom hunger and bring children to school by implementing the Mid-Day Meal Scheme. For now, the NGO is focusing upon the government and government-aided schools. Since 2000, Akshaya Patra has worked towards reaching more children with wholesome food on every single school day, he further added.
Interestingly, the organizations’ state of the art kitchens has been a center of attraction and various documentaries have been made on it. Commemorating the history of the NGO, the representative of Akshaya Patra added, “Our partnership with the Centre and various state governments, along with the persistent support from the corporate sector, individual donors, and well-wishers have helped us to grow from serving just 1,500 children in five schools in 2000 to serving 1.7 million children”.
The foundation claims to be running the world’s largest (not-for-profit run) mid-day meal programme serving the organization, providing wholesome food on every school day to over 1.76 million children from 14,702 schools across 12 states in India. The landmark is a testament to how well the initiative has served the nation.