Based in Bengaluru, India, the Akshaya Patra Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation which aims to eliminate classroom hunger across the country. Having started on a small scale in the year 2000, supporting 1,500 children in five schools, their Mid-Day Meal programme is now the world’s largest programme of its kind, serving wholesome, freshly cooked food to over 1.76 million children each day, in more than 15,000 schools across 12 states.
Akshaya Patra recognises the link between hunger and educational attainment, and works to high quality and nutritional standards in its 46 kitchens across India. Working in partnership with the Government of India and various state governments, the organisation supports the right to education for socio-economically disadvantaged children. Its vision is that ‘no child in India shall be deprived of education because of hunger’. In 2019, India’s Prime Minister, Sri Narendra Modi, served Akshaya Patra’s 3 billionth meal to a child in Vrindavan.
Since 2010, the N Sethia Foundation has supported the initiative through the sponsorship of meals at four schools in Rajasthan.