MUMBAI: Midday Meal is a strategic program to liberate the underprivileged children from scourge of hunger and malnutrition, this program is a project of the Government of India, and is being implemented by ISKCON Food Relief Foundation under the Brand name of “ANNAMRITA‘ in select schools in Delhi, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Uttaranchal, Jharkhand and Assam.
ISKCON Food Relief Foundation is a non-profit, non-religious, non-sectarian charitable trust. This project is being implemented in Government aided and Municipal schools for the benefit of underprivileged children, it is done without any commercial motive and the benefits will be available to students at large without any discrimination on grounds of religion, caste, creed or sex.
Since the launch in 2004, we have set up state-of-the-art kitchens in the above mentioned states. As of now, we cater to approximately 12,00,000 children every day from our centres in Mira Bhayander, Palghar, Nigdi, Tardeo, Juhu, Wada, Delhi, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Noida, Kurukshetra, Palwal, Tirupati, Nellore, Rajahmundry, Kadapa, Ranga Nara Gadda, Vishakhapatnam, Jaipur, Guwahati, Panipat, Haridwar, Jamshedpur and Ujjain.
Most of these children come from slums and tribal areas. The purpose of implementing this scheme is to facilitate the Government in increasing the enrollment in these schools, reducing the drop out rate and improving the attendance. Also as these are the formative years for the future adult, nutrition is of prime importance.
Corporate bodies such as Accenture, Piramal Group, Reliance Industries, Sterlite, Apar Industries, Mafatlal Industries, Yash Birla Group, Glaxo Smith Kline, DSP Merill Lynch, JSW Group, Godrej, HDFC, Raymonds have been kind enough to support the program with their benevolence. Individuals such as Mr. Alfred Ford of the Ford Motor Company, Late Shri Sunil Dutt, Smt. Indu Jain have given their unstinted support to bring the program to the present level.
With a generous contribution, for the cause of the underprivileged children in India, we hope to maximize the capacity of this program by setting up more kitchens to cater to more schools and increase the number of beneficiaries many folds.
The professionally managed Midday Meal Program has trained cooks, who use the most advanced technology in cooking under hygienic conditions using fresh and pure ingredients. The meals are packed and sealed in specially designed stainless steel containers and are transported in vehicles most suited for the logistics. Cooked in the most cost-effective manner, the nutritious, sumptuous and sanctified meal consists of different menus such as khichadi (a mix of rice, dal and vegetables, cooked in pure ghee with spices and tomatoes), ChapatiSubji, Rice Sambar, etc. according to local tastes.
Foundation caters to over 2,75,000 children in Maharashtra daily .
Recently ISKCON Food Relief Foundation participated in the first ever Lifebuoy National Child Health Symposium and Awards. Out of the hundreds of entries received ISKCON Food Relief Foundation was awarded as a leading organization in the sphere of child health with an outstanding contribution in the area of Nutrition. The esteemed jury comprised of Dr. D.Nagaraja, Director & Vice Chancellor National Institute of Mental Health And Nuero-Sciences; Dr. B. Sesikeran, Director National Institute of Nutrition; MsRanjanaSaikia, Associate Director, Social Transformation Division, TERI; Dr. Swati Y. Bhave, (Executive Director, Association of Adolescent Child Care in India (AACCI) and Sudhanshu Vats, Vice President, Home Care & Personal Wash, Hindustan Unilever Limited.
