The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Akshaya Patra Foundation sets an ambitious target

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Akshaya Patra Foundation sets an ambitious target

Special Correspondent

It plans to serve one billion meals by the end of 2011

PHOTO: K. MURALI KUMAR

Exchanging ideas: (From left) National Human Rights Commission chairman S. Rajendra Babu; former Chief Justice of India M.N. Venkatachalaiah; Infosys Chief Mentor N.R. Narayana Murthy; and Akshaya Patra Foundation chairman Madhu Pandit Dasa at a conclave in Bangalore on Friday. —

BANGALORE: The Akshaya Patra Foundation, which provides midday meals to schoolchildren in partnership with the Union and State governments, has decided to increase the cumulative number of meals served by it to one billion by the end of 2011.

The new target was announced by the foundation at its conclave of industry and community leaders titled “Zero to Billion”, organised in Bangalore on Friday. Infosys Technologies HR Director T.V. Mohandas Pai who is also co-chairman of the Host Committee of the Zero-to-Billion, conclave told presspersons that so far the foundation had served about 235 million meals since its inception in 2000.

Foundation chairman Madhu Pandit Dasa said the Foundation was feeding about 8.50 lakh children in over 4,500 schools in various States.

Speaking on the occasion, Infosys Chief Mentor N.R. Narayana Murthy called upon the foundation to ensure longevity of the midday meal programme by institutionalising the process involved in supply of meals and also ensuring availability of adequate funds. Making a reference to the success story of Infosys, he remarked: “If we (Infosys) survive and also continue to succeed for 100 to 200 years, then I can say it is a true success.”

Stressing the need for fighting hunger, Mr. Narayana Murthy recalled how he had to survive by eating just a chocolate bar a day on the last week of every month when he was working in Paris in the 1970s as his salary was too low to take care of the entire month’s expenses. “I was too shy to ask for financial assistance from others. Hence, I used to silently disappear from the workplace during lunch time as I did not have money to pay for the food. In fact, such a starvation affected my memory to an extent,” he noted.

The former Chief Justice of India M.N. Venkatachalaiah hailed the public-private partnership model of the foundation that had brought the NGO, the State and the Union governments and the corporates together. Such a synergy was the only hope for the country to tackle the problems in various sectors, including education and health, he observed.

National Human Rights Commission chairman S. Rajendra Babu spoke.

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