Since the past two decades, The Akshaya Patra Foundation is serving as one of the implementing partners of the Government of India’s flagship school feeding programme – the Mid-Day Meal (MDM) Scheme. The organisation began by feeding 1,500 children in one city. Today, it servesover 1.8 million children across the country every school day. If the Foundation is effectively reaching out to over 1.8 million children across 12 states and two union territories, it is largely because of the partnerships it has forged andthe vast network of kitchens it has established over the last 20 years.This investment in partnerships and kitchen infrastructure also puts Akshaya Patra in a strong position as far as resource mobilisation for relief feeding is concerned.

Over the course of its journey, Akshaya Patra has gone beyond its school feeding operations to establish an efficient response system to assist the Government’s relief feeding efforts during times of distress. During natural calamities, the Foundation has used its kitchen infrastructure and resources to reachthe affected communities in various locations.It has previously undertaken food relief work in Karnataka, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Odisha, Assam, and more recently, Bihar. Its relief efforts have also gone beyond borders during the earthquake in Nepal in 2015.

In keeping with its essence to serve people, particularly in times of need, Akshaya Patra swiftly responded to the situation when the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in India demanded certain containment measures. In March 2020, as the country first went into a national lockdown, several communities – daily-wage earners, construction labourers, industrial workers, domestic helpers, migrant labourers, and rough sleepers –found themselves without a source of income and unable to access food. These communities, therefore, became highly susceptible to hunger.

Akshaya Patra, in collaboration with the Government and with the proactive support of its donors,set up packaging centres for food relief kits and used its vast network of kitchens for cooking meals to aid the Government’s efforts to provide relief to vulnerable communities. Owing to its effective Public-Private Partnership (PPP) established over the years through sustained partnerships with the Government, donors, and corporates, theorganisation’s COVID-19 relief feeding initiative has been able to serve over 9 crore meals cumulatively in 18 states and two union territories across the country.

The Essential Grocery Kits, each containing dry ration to cook 42 or 28 meals, were scientifically designed to ensure adequate nutrition delivery to families. Over 10 lakhs of these kits were distributed with items based on the local palate of that region. In the southern and eastern states of India, such as Karnataka, Telangana, and Odisha, these kits had rice, dal, refined oil, spices, sambar masala, and vegetables with long shelf-life, such as potatoes and pumpkins. In North India, rice and sambar masala were replaced with wheat flour, and garam masala, respectively.

Akshaya Patra’s kitchens across the countrywere vital to its food relief work. The organisation has been utilising its kitchens to prepare cooked meals and deliver themto the locations assigned by the local authorities. It has served over 51 million freshly cooked meals to the people in need.In addition to this, in Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi, and Gurgaon, ‘Meals-on-the-Go’ kits were supplied to migrants on Special Shramik trains to help them on their journey.

One of the beneficiaries of Akshaya Patra’s COVID-19 food assistance initiative, Mr. Prahalad Biswas, a migrant worker, shares, “When the lockdown started, I cannot explain how scared we were. Work had ceased and we couldn’t go outside to get food. All of us were left wondering where would we live, what we would eat, how would we survive?” He and 29 other migrant workers received food relief from Akshaya Patra. About this, Mr. Biswas says, “We had lost the will to live, but Akshaya Patra revived us. I do not know how to thank them enough for whatever they have done for us. There are no words.”

While schools have remained shut consequential to the containment measures, Akshaya Patra has reiterated its commitment to the responsibility of providing wholesome meals to children; it designed ‘Happiness Kits’ to provide nutrition support to its MDM Programme beneficiaries. The organisation has distributed over 1.17 lakh Happiness Kits to children. These kits focused on children’s health and immunity by providing glucose biscuit packs, ragi flour, peanuts, jaggery, and turmeric; hygiene needs by providing toothbrush and toothpaste; and education requirements by providing notebooks, pencils, crayons, and activity books.

As hunger and malnutrition are compoundedduring natural disasters, food assistance becomes a vital component of subsequent humanitarianefforts. Mindful of its responsibility towards the children as well as communities, Akshaya Patra has always strived to support the Government’s efforts – be it the implementation of welfare programmes, such as the MDM Scheme, or undertaking food relief during crises.

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