User:Kenny Jain/sandbox

Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation

The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Ltd.’s (IRCTC) central kitchen is one of the largest kitchens of India. IRCTC has its central kitchen in Noida, Uttar Pradesh that works round the clock in order to provide hygienic, competitively priced and affordable meals to both rail passengers as well as corporate clients. This state-of-the-art food factory has an optimum capacity of about 25000 meals per day at Sector-64 Noida. Currently, IRCTC is operating major Base Kitchens at New Delhi and Howrah railway stations and Mini Base Kitchens at Patna and Ahmedabad. The one in Noida is fully automated and has all the latest equipment. The four-story facility makes 10,000 meals and 6,000 snack packets for trains and cater to PSUs, MNCs, BPOs and several educational institutions in and around Noida. Around 120 workers work in two shifts between 11 pm to 6 pm for the next day to supply the ever-increasing orders.^[1]

How does e-catering works?

Get Good Food Delivery in Train

IRCTC is a mini Ratna PSU of Indian Railways. To provide quality and variety in food to railway passengers, the e-catering scheme has been started. With e-catering scheme, passengers now have the freedom to order food of their choice.

IRCTC is the official agency for this scheme which it runs through its authorized partners. Passengers can order food on any of the stations.

Few of the major stations where passengers avail e-catering are as Mumbai Central(BCT) , Chatrapati Shivaji Terminal (CST), New Delhi Railway Station (NDLS), Old Delhi Railway Station(DEL), Bangalore City Junction(SBC), Chennai Central(MAS), Kanpur(CNB), Allahabad Junction(ALD), Varanasi (BSB), Lucknow(LKO),Itarasi (ET), Bhopal Junction (BPL), Vijaywada(BZA) etc.

From a simple combo of daal, roti, and chawal to Mughlai biryani and delicious pizzas, passengers can exercise their freedom and delve into yummy food in Indian railways.^[2]

How does Indian railway's food factory achieve 10,000 meals per day?

Massive chapatti makers that roll out uniform-shaped chapatti’s in less than 80 seconds, steam kettles, which cook up tones of well-made rice and a cutting machine that chops up about 400 kilograms of vegetables in an hour - the Indian Railway's mammoth kitchen is a state-of-the art wonder.

The kitchen is fully automated with latest equipment’s from the best of the manufacturers in India and abroad. Raw materials are stocked in a store room on the ground floor, with pulses, rice, spices, vermicelli, and other dry items segregated neatly with indicating labels.

Vegetables are sourced from Mother Dairy and the non-perishable food items come from the Metro Cash and Carry outlet near Karkardooma Court. The kitchen has just installed an Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP) to segregate different forms of waste into reusable air and water.

Potato peelers and batter makers, particularly for South Indian dishes like edli and vada are also used. Equipment is sourced from across the world like Hallde from Sweden, Rosinox from France, Hackmann from Finland and Sottriva from Italy besides the Ahmedabad-based Servotech.

Breadsticks, relished especially by children on train rides, is among the few food items that require manual labour, with the dough being shaped by hand. It is then baked in an Italian rotary oven at about 195 degrees. Giant steam kettles, brat pans, cold rooms, hot plates, and blast freezer are among other instruments used in the central kitchen.

The steam kettles cook uniformly and are based on the concept of using the steam generated for cooking rice. The mega kitchen also has solar panels set up exclusively for heating water that is used for washing dishes, while for drinking and cooking, there is an RO water treatment plant.

Quality Check and Packaging

Simultaneously, workers pack dals and vegetables in insulated containers, and dispatched in temperature-controlled vans to the railway station kitchen for final packaging. Also, chapatti are dabbed with butter and rolled in foil to keep them soft for hours.

Though they work at lightning speed, compromise in quality is not allowed. They check samples from each and every batch and if anything is found wrong, immediately the entire batch is recalled

German, French, Finn, Indian Under One Roof

The kitchen is well-equipped with high degree mechanization from around the world, they have someone from Germany to dice and shred vegetables, while the Finn one boils rice and dal and a France sauté sabzi. And they all work under Indian cooks and managers.

· "megakitchens".

·  "working".

Jagannath Puri

The Shree Jagannath Temple (Odia: ଶ୍ରୀ ଜଗନ୍ନାଥ ମନ୍ଦିର) of Puri is an important Hindu temple dedicated to Lord Jagannath, a form of lord Vishnu, located on the eastern coast of India, at Puri in the state of Odisha. The temple is an important pilgrimage destination and one of the four great 'Char Dham' pilgrimage sites, found at India's four cardinal points. The temple is famous for its annual Ratha Jatra, or chariot festival, in which the three principal deities are pulled on huge and elaborately decorated temple cars.

As we cross the main entrance on the east and ascend the flight of steps leading to the main temple, we find on the left-hand side, a vast kitchen area of the temple. Some tourists rightly observe that on account of this kitchen, the Puri temple may be described as the biggest hotel of the world. It can feed even one lakh persons with only two to three hours' notice. The method of preparation is most hygienic and the traditional process of preparation of food for so many people in so short a time, takes many by surprise. To the right, we have the Ananda Bajara which is the popular name of the food selling market within the enclosure. Ananda Bajara literally means, the pleasure market.

Four hallowed shrines located at cardinal points of the Indian sub-continent i.e. Puri,Rameswar,Dwarika and Badrinath are believed to have been liked by Lord Vishnu intimately. It is said and believed that He takes His bath at Rameswaram, meditates at Badrinath,dines at Puri and retires at Dwarika.It is therefore,a lot of importance is given to the temple food Mahaprasad (not simply prasad) here at Puri.

Cultural Aspect

According to Skanda Purana Lord Jagannath redeems the devotees by permitting them to partake his Mahaprasad,to have His darshan and to worship him by observing rituals and by offering of gifts .Mahaprasad is treated here as 'Anna Brahma'.

The word 'Bhoga' (in Sanskrit and Oriya) means enjoyment. Thus, the materials enjoyed by the deities comprising of varieties of food offerings made to them, is known as Bhoga. This word is commonly used in Odisha in the context of offerings made to the deities in the temples.

Bhogas in the Jagannatha temple are broadly of two kinds. The first consists of preparations of boiled rice, dal and vegetables, excluding- in particular, gourds, laties, potatoes, tomatoes, onions, garlics, cabbages and some others. The other variety of Bhoga consists of preparations of flour, ghee, candy, etc. Everyday and throughout the year, fifty-six varieties of dishes are prepared and offered to the deities. This apart, several other varieties of dishes are prepared and offered on the occasion of various festivals. Similarly, on specific occasions, special drinks are offered to the deities. These dishes and drinks have great significance from the climatic considerations and health-requirements of the people of Odisha. The word “Dhupa" is commonly used in the temple to mean the offering of a Bhoga to the deities, especially the Bhogas of the morning, midday and the evening, when the rituals performed are a little elaborate. Arati (waving of lamps) is offered at the end of each dhupa and also early in the morning and at the time of going to sleep.

The Suaras (authorised cooks) of the temple prepare sufficient quantities of food in the temple kitchen for the pilgrims on commercial basis and offer them to the deities in this occasion. Daily more,than 10,000 people depend on the Bhogas for their meals. The market where the Bhogas are sold is known as 'Ananda Bajar'. Apart from a variety of puddings, cakes, confections, delicacies etc., the principal items of food sold in the market to provide principal food to the intending purchasers are - boiled rice, dal, vegetable curries, green-leaf preparations and an item of sour preparation (known commonly as Khata). On some festive occasions, several thousands people visit the Ananda Bajara for their principal meal and eat the Mahaprasada then and there only. The steam-cooked food is offered to Lord Jagannath first and then to Goddess Bimala after which it becomes Mahaprasad. This Mahaprasad is freely partaken by people of all castes and creeds without any discrimination. The items offered include cooked rice, dal, vegetable curry, sweet-dishes, cakes etc. Dry confectionaries are prepared of sugar, gur, wheat flour, ghee, milk and cheese etc. When the steam cooked food is carried to Lord in slings of earthen pots no mes up from the food but when the same is carried back to the sale point after being offered to the Lord a delicious smell spells along in the breeze to the pleasant surprise of the devotees. Now the food is blessed.

Economic Aspect

The temple kitchen has got the capacity to cook for a lakh of devotees on a day. Mahaprasad is cooked only in earthen pots and medium of food is fire wood only.

Near about 500 people work daily in the temple kitchen. They engage 1500 people as helpers.

56 types of Bhogas are prepared in the kitchen to offer to deities.

It is the biggest open-air hotel in the world where every day thousands of devotees purchase and eat together forgetting their caste, creed and status. Most of the residents in and around Puri depend upon this Mahaprasad to entertain their guests during social functions such as threading and weddings.

Social Aspect

For the performance of various Nitis in the temple, a large number of Sevakas (attendants of the deities) have been employed on hereditary basis. It is said that king Anangabhima of Ganga dynasty, a sovereign ruler of Odisha in this 13th century, who had initiated a well-knit administrative system of the temple had established Chatisa Nijoga, i.e. 36 categories of temple attendants.

Bhitaracha Mahapatra sees to the sanctity of the Bhoga being offered to the. deities and also to the cleanliness of the temple premises. Talucha Mahapatra likewise sees to the cleanliness of the kitchen. Mudiratha does all works of the Raja in the latter's absence as his representative. All the above Sevakas themselves perform Arati, Vandapan etc, of the deities at different times.

Mahaprasad consolidates human bond, sanctifies sacraments and grooms the departing soul for its journey upwards. Mahaprasad are sold in Anand Bazar or the Pleasure Mart of the temple which is situated on the north east corner of the outer enclosure of the temple.  

Annapoorna Kitchen, Dharmasthala

The Annapoorna kitchen is located inside Dharmasthala, an Indian temple town on the banks of the Nethravathi River in the Belthangadi taluk of the Dakshina Kannada district in Karnataka, India. The temple is one the major locations for the worship of Lord Manjunatha. The kitchen was featured in Mega-kitchens of National geographic channel as one of the most efficient and resourceful mass kitchens of India.

History

Dharmasthala Temple: https://www.shridharmasthala.org/

Dharmasthala from time and on has been known for its Chaturdanas. Namely Annadana, Aushadha dana, Abhayadana and Vidyadana. Annadana, of all has always been considered as the most revered service to humanity, as it caters to the basic existence of life. Every one of the thousands of pilgrims, who enter the portals of Dharmasthala to seek the blessings of Lord Manjunatha, is offered free food.

In 1995, Veerendra Heggde decided to build Annapurna. Every visitor is a welcome guest irrespective of caste, creed, culture or status. At the Annapoorna kitchen, the poor and the rich are fed alike, that is the power of spirituality is the ideology that the temple reinforces.

The Kitchen and Operations

Everyday around 30000-40000 people are expected in the kitchen of Annapurna and on special occasions like the last day of Deepotsava as many as 100,000 of people are drawn in by the festivities.

The kitchen complex has been constructed in a bottom up design architecture to facilitate ingredient procurement and waste disposal most efficiently. The dining hall is approximately 19800 sq. ft. which is enough to contain 4 basketball courts. The hall is divided into 7 bays of 6.5m breadth. Each bay has a capacity of 400 people. The cooking process starts around 8am in the morning and is wound by 11.30 ,the pilgrims start heading to the food area around 12.15pm. The kitchen is self sufficient in every way, all the required ingredients namely vegetables, spices, milk, milk products, grains and cereals are cultivated and produced in house by the farmers facilitated by SKDRDP.

Funding

As mentioned the Dharmasthala makes maximum efforts to fulfill its requirements through self-cultivation. It however procures the remaining half of its requirements through other different sources. The devotees also contribute large amounts of rice, pulses and other ingredients to the temple. One of the rituals performed, the Tulabhara Sevas involves the contribution of gifts equal to body weight, also provides for the needs of the kitchen.

Purpose

Service to God. It has been a folklore and a tradition not to leave Dharmasthala without savouring the meal, doing so leaves your pilgrimage incomplete; the helpers working in the Annapurna choultry, do their best to preserve this sacred belief.

Dharmadhikari: Shri Dr. D.Veerendra Heggade

The Team

A dedicated team consisting of volunteers and the Heggade family work towards sustaining and attaining the purpose of the Annapurna Kitchen.

The position of the Heggade of Dharmasthala is a unique one, unknown in any other religious center in India. In the tradition of this Kshetra, he represents Lord Manjunatha. He is a pious grihastha or householder with numerous religious, social and cultural responsibilities towards the society.

The Heggade is religious and installed head of Shri Manjunatha Swamy Temple, he becomes the representative of Lord Manjunatha and performs all his responsibilities accordingly as per tradition. After installation as the Heggade, his religious duties include propagating the tradition of Dharma in accordance with the command of the Daivas, who accept him as their foster son and ensure that the traditional rituals are observed regularly in the temple of Lord Manjunatha.

Discharging his responsibilities true to his conscience and acting on the precepts of religion, the Heggade acquires an aura of divinity which enables him to function as a representative of Lord Manjunatha and other Dharma Daivas. He executes his social responsibilities as a pious grihastha by extending the four traditional Danas – Anna Dana (Feed), Aushadha Dana (Heal),Vidya Dana (Educate) and Abhaya Dana(Protect from fear). These being the gifts of food, medicine, education and freedom from fear. Since the Heggade is regarded as the voice of Lord Manjunatha, he is expected to dispense justice, advice and munificence to whoever approaches him with his problems and needs.

Annapoorna’s hall and kitchen are high on mega scale. It is managed entirely by a single family, the Heggades, who have done this duty for 21 generations. Keeping up the tradition is the full time occupation. Annadana of meals offerings to pilgrims has been the tradition of Heggade family. Dr Veerendra Heggade as the chief administrator of Dharamsthala’s temple properties. The temple runs mega kitchen and need its dedicated crew of workers to hit the ground running and whip up the large amounts of meals.

Quantity and Type of food served/prepared

Around 1 lakh people are expected on the 5^th day of the Deepotsava. 6500-8000 kilos. of high quality Sauta Masuri Rice is washed and cooked using steam boilers for one time slot. 4000 kilos of vegetables are chopped by 25 workers for 4-5 hours. 3000 litres of Sambar is prepared using around 45 kilos of spices along with 4000 liters of Rassam. A curry called Kuttu is a curry of tomatoes and cucumber is also prepared along with Buttermilk and the sacred Prassadam, sweet made of jaggery, flour, ground pulses and ghee.

Hygiene Policy

A dedicated crew of people is assigned to clean and look after the halls after each batch of people. When one of the batches is eating, simultaneously other batches are being served or cleaned up after. It takes 13 minutes to seat, serves and clean up after diners leave. One of the most notable aspects of the Annapurna kitchen is the waste disposal system, any waste that is collected from the kitchen is then transported to the Dharmasthala waste management plant, and dumped into the composts to generated manure. The same manure is then used in cultivation of vegetables for the kitchen, so ideally in this process there is absolutely no waste generated, or is close to 1 to 2%. 1000-3000 kilos of organic compost is generated from the chopping to the eating including the disposable leaf plates.

Survival Strategy

The Annapurna kitchen team consisting of the volunteers and the Heggde family are active towards the inclusion of new technology for faster and efficient processes. The architecture of the disposal system is of a kind that helps foster the implementation of sustainable energy forms. Whenever they find something new in the market which they think will be helpful for the kitchen they explore and implement it. Many devotees also come with their ideas and innovations to the family and if the family feels that it has potential they look into it. The traditional systems are not forgotten and the head of the Heggde family, Veerendra Heggde seeks permission of Lord Manjunatha before the implementation of any new technology. To make Annapoorna Choultry truly eco friendly, Shri D.Veerendra Heggade makes sure that the kitchen is run on alternate forms of energy.

Shri Sai Prasadalaya

Shirdi is one of the most revered pilgrimage destinations of India. Located in the state of Maharashtra, it is frequently visited by thousands of people on a daily basis. And the iconic Saibaba temple in Shirdi stands tall in its grace of being the holy place. The temple has one of the biggest kitchens in India and one of the largest cooking systems.

History

The Sri Sai Sansthan Prasadalaya in Shirdi, Maharashtra was set up in 2009. Built at a cost of Rs 240 million, it was inaugurated by the honarable former President of India, Mrs Pratibha Patil. The complex is built on 7.5 acres of land and has a developed area of 183,000 sq feet and it is 700 meters from the main Sai Baba temple. A gigantic hall has been constructed on the ground floor, which can seat 3,500 devotees. Two separate halls have been built on the first floor with a seating capacity of 1,000 each. Fourteen domes made of polycarbonate and Manglorian tiles have been constructed to give sufficient natural light to the hall, so that power cuts do not disturb the activities in the prasadalaya during daytime.

The Sri Sai Sansthan Prasadalaya has also bagged the coveted Concentrated Solar Thermal (CST) and Solar Cooker Excellence Awards- 2016 by the ministry of new and renewable energy (MNRE).

The Kitchen and Operations

Sri Sai Baba Sansthan is very well known for being one of the largest solar kitchens in India and this Solar System Projects for community cooking was installed in 2014 which could cook food for 3,000 people. Owing to this success, the plan was expanded. 73 solar dishes each of 16 sq meter size, are mounted on the rooftop and these dishes concentrate sunlight on receivers that contain water, generating steam that is piped down to the kitchen for cooking meals per day. The system operates for 3 hours for preparation of breakfast. More than 2 tonnes of rice is cooked through this plant every day, saving cooking gas of up to Rs 20,000. Till date, the plant has saved Rs 60 lakhs for the trust.

The steam system at Shirdi generates about 3,500 kg of steam every day. The system can generate steam for cooking even in the absence of electricity to run the feed water pump for circulating water in the system. The hot water pumped in, can cook 2000 kg of daal and rice and can clean all the used oily vessels. There are manual helpers as well who work in shifts. Huge refrigerating rooms have been built for keeping vegetables fresh. The kitchen also empowers the local farmers by buying fresh veggies from them owing to a demand of 2,000 kg of vegetables every day. Furthermore, they have installed solar water heaters and solar lights in residential areas for devotees. The temple also houses two imported dish washing machines, two imported vegetable cutter machines, three vegetable and rice washing machines, and a grinding flour online mill unit along with living up to the tag of a self-sustainable kitchen. The temple also follows the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), standards of cooking.

The total system has an area of 1168 meter sq. comprising of 40 concentrators. The system was commissioned during 2009 by Gadhia Solar Energy Systems Pvt. Ltd. Prior to the implementation of the CST system the establishment was using LPG as a fuel for its end use consumption.  The solar cooking system is integrated with the existing gas-fired boiler and helps save 50 per cent of the boiler’s fuel, which amounts to 314 kg of LPG per day. The savings per annum total up to Rs 7.5 lakh.         

 Quantity and Type of Food served

The mega kitchen of Shirdi in Maharashtra draws thousands of devotees every day. It consists of three mega kitchen halls and prepares 40,000 meals every single day along with breakfast packets. The prasadalaya serves simple Maharashtrian food comprising dal, rice, chapatti, two vegetables and a sweet. The complete meal is available for the devotees at highly reasonable price of Rs 10/- and for those devotees who cannot afford to pay, there is another hall, which has a capacity of 150 people and the trust serves food for free. At present, in the new Sai Prasadalaya, everyday 25 to 30 thousand Sai devotees take meal as a prasad. During the time of vacation and festivals of Lord Sai baba the number of Sai devotees hikes up to 55000. People also come here to voluntarily help. Every day more than 100 people come here to just make chapattis.

Funds

The project is set up at a cost of Rs. 100.37 Lakhs with grant availed from MNRE of the order of Rs. 58.40 Lakhs. The plant has an IRR without subsidy of 42.20 % and payback period of 7 Years and 8 Months. With subsidy the IRR is 58.19 % and payback period is 4 Years.

Akshaya Patra, Hubli

History

Looking out of a window one day in Mayapur, a village near Calcutta, His Divine Grace A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada saw a group of children fighting with street dogs over scraps of food. From this simple, yet heart breaking incident, came the determination that: No one within a ten mile radius of our centre should go hungry. It is his inspiration which helped us to create The Akshaya Patra Foundation as it is today.

The history of the non-profit organisation came to realisation with a humble beginning in the year 2000.

The operational history of this non-profit organisation began in June 2000. The Akshaya Patra Foundation started the mid-day meal programme in Bangalore, Karnataka by providing mid-day meals to 1500 children in five Government schools in the city. The first beneficiary schools were chosen after detailed research by Venu Vadana Gopal Dasa, a full time missionary of ISKCON Bangalore. Reminiscing Akshaya Patra’s history he says, “Once the idea was conceptualised, I went to explore the surrounding areas in Bangalore and found that the schools in the outskirts and rural areas were in maximum need of a mid-day meal programme. I visited Government schools in areas like Peenya, Chikkabidarakalu and Makali and was moved by the plight of the kids there.” He goes on to add, “We then approached these schools and started serving the meals.”

The impact of this initiative was witnesses over a period of time with increased enrolment, steady attendance and better concentration during class hours. A visible improvement in the health of the children was also noticed. This was a major boost in the history of this non-profit organisation.

The Akshaya Patra Foundation’s history was not an overnight journey. The initial days of implementing the programme was not smooth sailing for the Foundation. Reiterating the challenges faced, Venu Vadana Gopal Dasa says, “Our main concern was the lack of vessels for rice and sambar, and a vehicle to transport the food. We had to hire transport vehicles from outside and send food from The Akshaya Patra Foundation.” At this juncture, Mohandas Pai and Abhay Jain wrote a fresh page in the history of this non-profit organisation. Mohandas Pai took the initiative of donating the first vehicle to transport food to the schools and Abhay Jain promised to get more donors to contribute for the further expansion of the programme.

The overwhelming response from the schools brought to fore the need for the programme and led us to increase our reach to more schools. Along with the support from donors, the partnership with the Government under the Mid-Day Meal Scheme was a turning point in Akshaya Patra’s history. This development helped the non-profit to further improve and increase its reach from 1,500 children to 1.7 million children, today.

What is Akshaya Patra?

The Akshaya Patra Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation headquartered in Bengaluru, India. Our organisation strives to eliminate classroom hunger by implementing the Mid-Day Meal Scheme in the government schools and government-aided schools. Alongside, Akshaya Patra also aims at countering malnutrition and supporting the right to education of socio-economically disadvantaged children.

Since 2000, Akshaya Patra has been concerting all its efforts towards providing fresh and nutritious meals to children on every single school day. We are continuously leveraging technology to multiply our reach. The state-of-the-art kitchens have become a subject of study and have attracted curious visitors from around the world.

Our partnership with the Government of India and various State Governments, along with the persistent support from corporates, individual donors, and well-wishers have helped us to grow from serving just 1,500 children in 5 schools in 2000 to serving 1.7 million children in 14,173 schools.

Today, Akshaya Patra is the world’s largest (not-for-profit run) Mid-Day Meal Programme serving wholesome food every school day to over 1.7 million children from 14,173 schools across 12 states in India.

Vision

The Vision of Akshaya Patra is "No child in India shall be deprived of hunger because of hunger".

Mission

The Mission of Akshaya Patra is to feed 5 million children by 2020.

Governance

The Board of Trustees

The Akshaya Patra Foundation (TAPF) is a public, charitable, secular Trust, registered in Bengaluru. The Board of Trustees comprise missionaries of ISKCON Bengaluru, corporate professionals, and entrepreneurs.

Our empowered teams spread across India, the USA and the UK play a large role in understanding the complex issues faced by children and spreading our cause through well-defined processes.

At Akshaya Patra, we firmly believe that good governance and ethics are the necessary foundations of any Non-Governmental Organisation. In pursuit of the same, the Foundation’s Board of Trustees play a primary role in ensuring good governance and functioning of the Foundation.

The Foundation’s Board comprises of Board of Trustees and Board of Advisors. Presently, there are eight Trustees and seven Advisors in the Foundation’s Board.

• Madhu Pandit Dasa (Chairman)
• Chanchalapathi Das (Vice Chairman)
• Jaganmohan Krishna Dasa (Trustee)
• T.V. Mohandas Pai (Chairman, Manipal Global Education Services)
• Ratnangada Govinda Dasa (Trustee)
• Abhay Jain (Advisor–Group Corporate Affairs - Manipal Education & Medical Group)
• V. Balakrishnan (Founder & Chairman, Exfinity Venture)
• Raj P Kondur (Founder and CEO, Kondur Corp.)

Board of Advisors

• Rajendra Babu S (Chairman - Advisory Board,The Akshaya Patra Foundation,Former Chief Justice of India,Former Chairperson of NHRC, Chair Professor - NLSIU )

• Ravindra Chamaria(Vice Chairman - Advisory Board The Akshaya Patra Foundation, Chairman & Managing DirectorInfinity Infotech Parks Ltd.)

• Rajendra J Hinduja(Managing Director, Gokaldas Exports Ltd.)

• Sangita Jindal(Chairperson, JSW Foundation)

• Dr. Devi Shetty(Cardiologist,Narayana Hrudayalaya)

• Shane Kaw(Director- Global Business Services,Cisco Systems)

• Ramesh Ramanathan(Co-Founder,Janaagraha)

Presidents

Each centre of The Akshaya Patra Foundation operates under the guidance of Presidents who, on a voluntary basis, oversee the functioning of the organisation. The Presidents, with their missionary zeal and expertise, manage the governance and administration of Akshaya Patra at the location level.

• Chanchalapathi Dasa(Vice Chairman and President, Bengaluru & Ballari)
• Jai Chaitanya Dasa(President, Mysuru)
• Amitasana Dasa(President, Maharashtra)
• Satya Gaura Chandra Dasa(President, Hyderabad)
• Rajiv Lochan Dasa(President, Hubballi)
• Suvyakta Narasimha Dasa(President, Vrindavan)
• Ratnangada Govinda Dasa(President, Rajasthan)
• Janardhana Dasa(President, Guwahati)
• Vyomapada Dasa(President, Bhilai)
• Jaganmohan Krishna Dasa(President, Gujarat)
• Karunya Sagar Dasa(President, Mangaluru)
• Achyutha Krishna Dasa(President, Odisha)
• Niskinchana Bhakta Dasa(President, Vishakhapatnam)

Management Team

The organisation’s Executive Management Team consists of individuals with specific skills in fields of Management, Operations, Finance and Accountancy, Communications and the like. Their knowledge base, along with the guidance of the Unit Presidents, helps in the operation of the organisation in an efficient manner and ensures best usage of resources.

• Shridhar Venkat(Chief Executive Officer)
• Ganesh R (Chief Financial Officer)
• Sandeep Talwar(Chief Marketing Officer)
• Ajay(Head - Communications)
• Vijay Kumar(Director, IT)
• Muralidhar Pundla(Head - Quality & Continual Improvement)
• Saanil K Bhaskaran(Head - Individual Giving and Donor Care)
• Vinay N Kumar (Head – Operations (Bengaluru, Ballari, Lucknow & Vrindavan)

Mid Day Meal

Mid-day meal (MDM) is a wholesome freshly-cooked lunch served to children in government and government-aided schools in India. On 28 November 2001, the Supreme Court of India passed a mandate stating, "We direct the State Governments/Union Territories to implement the Mid-Day Meal Scheme by providing every child in every Government and Government assisted Primary School with a prepared mid-day meal."

Mid-Day Meal Scheme aims to:

• avoid classroom hunger
• increase school enrolment
• increase school attendance
• improve socialisation among castes
• address malnutrition
• empower women through employment

Objectives

The objectives of Mid-Day Meal as issued by the government:

•    Improving the nutritional status of children in classes I-V in Government, Local Body and Government aided schools, and EGS and AIE centres

•    Encouraging children, belonging to disadvantaged sections, to attend school more regularly and help them concentrate on classroom activities

•    Providing nutritional support to children of primary stage in drought affected areas during summer vacation

Other Initiatives

The organisation has taken many other feeding and social initiatives other than Mid Day Meals Programme. Here are some of the feeding initiatives and social initiatives that are undertaken by Akshaya Patra.

•    Anganwadi feeding

•    Disaster relief

•    Feeding expecting and lactating mothers

•    Feeding programmes in old-age homes

•    Feeding programmes in special schools

•    Feeding runaway children

•    Feeding the homeless

•    Subsidised lunch for the economically disadvantaged

Apart from the above initiatives, the Foundation also works towards social initiatives like:

•    After class tuitions

•    Community health camps

•    Health check-up camps

•    Life-skills programmes

•    Scholarship programmes

Impact

The impact of the mid-day meal witnessed in all the serving locations of Akshaya Patra is indicative that the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) with Akshaya Patra in implementing the programme has been successful in meeting the six objectives of the mid-day meal programme.

The work of Akshaya Patra in implementing the mid-day meal in India has been recognised by the National Steering-cum-Monitoring Committee (NSMC) for mid-day meal programme. NSMC has accredited Akshaya Patra as a part of the monitoring committee, and Vice Chairman of the Foundation, Chanchalapathi Dasa, is one among the 13 nominated members to be part of this committee. Also, the NP-NSPE has stated Akshaya Patra’s Centralised Kitchen as a model infrastructure in their guidelines for large scale production of mid-day meals.

Below is an overview of the impact of the Akshaya Patra mid-day meal programme for school children:

i. Increased enrolment – The mid-day meal scheme has become a great incentive for children to come to school. As more often than not, the mid-day meal is the child’s only meal for the day, parents prefer to send their children to school.

ii. Increased attendance – Children look forward to coming to school every day due to the delicious menu. In addition, regional delicacies are also a big draw for them to attend school.

iii. Increased concentration – The nutritious and healthy mid-day meal increases the child’s concentration in class and helps them perform better.

iv. Improved socialisation – The intermingling and eating together habit has increased the unity among children of various religions and castes. It has helped in removing divisional hierarchy in terms of social standing and has fostered a sense of equality among them.

v. Addressed malnutrition – Akshaya Patra is striving to meet the nutritional requirements of children such as energy, carbohydrates, proteins and fat through its mid-day meal for school children.

vi. Empowered women – Women have been employed in different capacities in operations and other areas as cooks, helpers etc., with the advent of the mid-day meal scheme. This vocational opportunity has given a boost to their self-esteem and improved their social standing.

Our Reach

Akshaya Patra runs 34  kitchens across 12 states in India. Overall the organisation provides the mid-day meal to over 1.7 million children across 14,173 Government and Government-aided schools every day. Of these 36 kitchens, 34 are centralised and 2 are decentralised kitchens.

• Andhra Pradesh
• Assam
• Chhattisgarh
• Gujarat
• Karnataka
• Odisha
• Rajasthan
• Tamil Nadu
• Uttar Pradesh
• Maharashtra
• Tripura

Awards

The awards conferred to The Akshaya Patra Foundation are a testimony to its efforts and sincerity towards implementing the mid-day meal programme. Here is the list of awards received by The Akshaya Patra Foundation.

• The Akshaya Patra Foundation was awarded with the prestigious Kalam Innovation in Governance Award 2016 (KIGA 2016) on October 15, 2016. The award was presented during the 1st Edition of Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Memorial Summit on ‘Innovation in Governance’ held in Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi.

• Akshaya Patra wins Gold at the LACP ((League of American Communications Professionals LLC) 2014/15 Vision Awards in the Annual Report Competition. It is for the fifth time in a row that Akshaya Patra has bagged Gold at this prestigious award for its annual report in the non-profits category. The Foundation’s annual report has secured the 37th position out of the top 50 annual reports worldwide.

• At the 10th PRCI Awards, which was conducted in Kolkata on 22 and 23 January 2016, Akshaya Patra won the highest honour, the Platinum award for its Annual Report 2014-2015. The organisation struck a rich haul with a Silver award in the calendar category and a Bronze each in the documentary film and digital newsletter categories in addition to the Platinum, to take its tally to four.

• Akshaya Patra has added another feather in its cap as it has been awarded with the ABP News Positive Award 2015, for being an emblem of positive change in the society on 10 December in New Delhi. The award was bestowed to recognize and acknowledge organizations from various walks of life for their indispensable contribution towards the amelioration of the society.

• The Akshaya Patra Foundation won the 14th Mother Teresa Award. The award was presented to Akshaya Patra by Konijeti Rosaiah Governor of Tamil Nadu at a felicitation ceremony at the Loyola College of Business Administration (LIBA). Akshaya Patra won the award in the Best NGO category for its contribution towards feeding children in India. The Best NGO Award is given to an NGO, which is trusted, respected and popular for their contribution towards social causes.

• Akshaya Patra received the Award for Excellence in the 21st Annual Communicator Awards. The Foundation received this prestigious award in the Print not-for-profit category for the Annual Report 2013-14, and in the Video not-for-profit category for the film ‘The Possibilities’.

• Akshaya Patra won Gold at the at the PRCI Global Communication Conclave 2014 in the Annual Reports category conducted at Mumbai in February 2014.

• Akshaya Patra won the LACP Gold Award in the annual report category at the League of American Communications Professionals LLC) 2013/14 Vision Awards. Akshaya Patra was ranked 26 amongst the top 50 annual reports worldwide.

• Akshaya Patra was awarded Platinum in the AVA Digital Awards 2015 for its short film ‘The Possibilities’.

• Akshaya Patra won the SAFA (South Asian Federation of Accountants) Awards in December, 2013 for the Best Presented Annual Report Awards 2013. Akshaya Patra is now a five time winner of the SAFA Awards.

• The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII-Jubilant Bhartia Food & Agriculture Centre of Excellence) has conferred The Akshaya Patra Foundation with the CII National Award for Food Safety 2013.

Recognitions

The Akshaya Patra Foundation has received recognitions both on the national and international platforms. These Akshaya Patra recognitions speak for itself the continued effort put by the Foundation in implementing and sustaining the mid-day meal programme. Below are the recognitions received by The Akshaya Patra Foundation.

• Barack Obama in his Letter of Appreciation dated September 2008 wrote, “In just a few years, Akshaya Patra has become the largest single feeding programme in the world. Your example of using advanced technologies in central kitchens to reach children in 5,700 schools is an imaginative approach that has the potential to serve as a model for other countries. Thank you again for all of your efforts.”

• Harvard Business School chose Akshaya Patra as a part of their MBA Curriculum Project in the area of Precise Time Management.

• In 2007, Akshaya Patra was chosen as a recipient organisation for The Mickey Leland International Hunger Fellows Programme.

• Akshaya Patra was invited by World Economic Forum to share its experiences for The Project Hunger in Africa.

• In March 2009, Akshaya Patra entered the Limca Book of Records as the “World’s Largest School Meal Programme”.

• In June 2010, Akshaya Patra entered the India Book of Records for running the “World’s Largest School Meal Programme”.

Guru Ka Langar

The golden temple is a sikh gurudwara located in Amritsar, India. A langar is a common kitchen located in many gurudwaras. The food served particularly in The Golden Temple is known as Guru Ka Langar. The food is served in these langars regardless of the background of an individual. The langar as a tradition was started by Guru Nanak Dev Ji (the first Sikh Guru) and then was further established by Shri Guru Amar Das Ji ( the third Sikh Guru) at Goindwal. The langar served in these gurudwaras is free for all and works on donations which may be in form of money or food. The institution of langar was systemized by Guru Angad Singh ( the second Sikh Guru) so that visitors could get a free simple meal in communal seating.

Information
Name Guru Ka Langar
Location Amritsar

How it works

Langar, The Golden Temple, Amritsar The langar at The Golden Temple, Amritsar serves its first meal of the day at 5 a.m comprising of tea and snacks. The kitchen staff only take a break between 4:30 a.m. to 5 a.m. in the working of  24 hours. They begin their day with serving around 50,000 cups of tea along with biscuit or bread. The serving further is continued by breakfast, lunch and dinner where on a daily basis around 40,000 visitors are fed and on special occasions or weekends the number reaches around 1,00,00 people. The food include lentils, rice, vegetables, roti and kheer (daily). There are two halls that has the capacity to feed around 5000 diners at a time. The food is served by the volunteers which is consumed by the visitors while sitting on the floor. All men, women and children eat together and before entering they have to take off their shoes and their head should be covered particularly. The visitors take their plates and cups and sit on an empty spot found in the rows on the floor. All the people eat together to symbolize that everybody is equal. The visitors generally consume their food quickly so that next set of visitors can also have their food. The visitors are also provided with the “prashad” as the holy offering. After dining the utensils are also washed by the volunteers who particularly wash every article 5 times in order to maintain hygiene and then utensils are dried and made available for the next set of visitors.

Cultural Aspect

There are langars at gurudwaras across the world but the one located at the golden temple is the most grand. The langar works on the teachings of Sikhism which include equality, sharing, regardless of the age, gender, religion or socio-economic status of the visitors. Langars help in reflecting the Sikh ideology as they treat everybody equal and they do not hesitate in doing any form of work while serving at langars from stacking the shoes in a rack to cleaning the dishes. The Sikhs believe in the concept of “kar-seva” that is the service provided by them in the gurudwara. It is a way of serving the religion/community as believed by the Sikhs. Sharing a meal sitting in a Pangat is an act of piety for a Sikh. Men, women and children equally contribute in the working of the langar where in men handle most of the heavy tasks, women focus on the details of the preparation of food and children help in serving and cleaning the dishes. The food which is served has to be blessed and therefore small amount of each and everything is taken by the volunteers beside the Guru Granth Sahib and there it is first ceremonially offered. When the kirpan touches the food, the blessing is ritualized. This ritual symbolizes that Guru first tastes the food and also transforms the food as the food becomes “God-intoxicated’. The Sikhs believe in eating before visiting the Guru as the idea behind a langar according to Sikh faith is for people of all caste and religion to eat together before they visit Guru. The tradition at langar has managed to survive for centuries in the same manner maintaining it’s form and structure.

Social Aspect

The Sikhs throughout the world feel proud that they get a chance to welcome and feed outsiders at gurudwara. This institution has served the community in different ways by ensuring that even women and children get a chance to serve mankind. The women participate by preparing food and children help by serving the food. The langar has also played an important role in teaching the manners of eating and sitting in a community situation. The system followed at langar promotes equality by feeding each and every visitor irrespective of their caste, creed, race, religion, etc. They all sit and eat together and are served by various people. It also eradicates the division of society on the basis of money and power for an example in the 15th century King Akbar had food in the langar along with the ordinary people and recently the Prime Minister of India also had food there. They being the highest authority were treated in the same way as the other visitors.

Political Aspects

The langar at The Golden Temple is generally not interrupted by political issues but in the history of Golden Temple it has been interrupted twice. Once in the 18th century because of Mughal invasion and the other time during the operation Blue Star in 1984. In the current times langar is facing contemporary issues such as Goods and Services Tax, i.e, GST. The budget now has increased because of the recent amendments in the tax system in India. The budget of langar which used to be 30 crores is now assumed to be increased by 10 crores because of the policies of the government. However there is no sort of political intervention in the functioning of the langar.

Economical Aspect

A langar works on the concept of “Wand Ke Chhako” which means sharing with others. The concept was given by first Sikh Guru - Guru Nanak Dev Ji. A Sikh is obliged by religion to donate 1/10th of his earnings for community’s welfare therefore people visiting gurudwaras donate accordingly. The money which is received by the gurudwara is used for running and maintaining the gurudwara and the langar. Sometimes people even donate food stuff like milk, lentils, vegetables, flour, rice, utter, etc. The langar is not dependent on any sort of professional catering service instead is run by sewadars or volunteers. People volunteer for cutting, cleaning, serving, and preparing the food for people at langar. Certain people even decide to bear a day’s expense at gurudwara or a day’s breakfast/lunch/dinner, but een for that they have to wait for weeks since there is already a queue for it. Gurudwaras even put a notice regarding the unavailability of a particular product so that people can donate that instead of donating money. The daily requirement of langar kitchen includes 16 quintals of vegetables, 16 quintals of pulses, 30-35 quintals of flour, 14 quintals of rice and 7.50 quintals of dry milk powder (for kheer). To reach this requirement the per day budget of the kitchen is 11 lakhs and on weekends and special occasions ( diwali, gurupurab) the budget reaches 16 lakhs. Among the 11 lakhs around 4 lakhs is only used for ghee. However, the money is required only for buying the material as all the work is done by sewadars or volunteers.