Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Akshaya Patra midday meal kitchen in Varanasi on Thursday in his first visit to his constituency after the BJP won the Uttar Pradesh assembly election. Managed by the Akshaya Patra Foundation, which also runs one of the world’s largest school feeding programmes in collaboration with the government’s Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman (PM POSHAN) scheme, the kitchen will feed over one lakh children in a bid to ensure that they don’t miss out on education due to poverty.
PM Modi also toured the facility and reviewed the daily food production processes including plans for hygiene maintenance and augment scale. He also spent time with students. Speaking at another event later, PM Modi said: “I had the opportunity of inaugurating a centralized kitchen for the mid-day meal scheme (PM Poshan) today. There during the ceremony, I had the privilege of interacting with a few 10 and 12-year-old children from a government school from my city Varanasi.”
PM Modi said the next time he comes to Varanasi, he should meet the teachers of these students. “I was with them for merely 15 minutes, but the kind of talent these kids had, the confidence and the variety in skills they demonstrated… and to think they study in a government school, and come from ordinary families is worth noting,” he said.
Green kitchen
The project is special to PM Modi not only due to it being in his constituency but also its alignment with his pledge to make India carbon-free by 2070. The kitchen boasts several world-class sustainable manufacturing facilities.
Its salient features include a roti machine that can churn 40,000 rotis in an hour, a 700-litre capacity rice cauldron with a hydraulic system, a 1,200-litre capacity daal cauldron with automatic motors and an RO plant for water purification using reverse Osmosis, which is a technology that removes giant particles, bacteria, and unwanted molecules or ions from water. The kitchen also uses solar panels for electricity production, heat pump and solar water heater to boil water.
In adherence to the MDM guidelines and food in accordance with the local palate, the kitchen’s menu will include mixed vegetable soya masala, chole masala, rajma masala, roti, jeera rice, plain rice, veg pulao, masala bhaaji pulao, kheer and a fruit.
On Thursday, PM Modi was accompanied by UP Governor Anandiben Patel, and UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. They were hosted by Madhu Pandit Dasa, Chairman, Akshaya Patra, and Chanchalapathi Dasa, Vice Chairman, Akshaya Patra.
Holistic development
PM Modi was accompanied by UP Governor Anandiben Patel and UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath during his visit to Varanasi. They were hosted by Akshaya Patra Chairman Madhu Pandit Dasa and its Vice Chairman Chanchalapathi Dasa.
Speaking on the important role mid-day meals play in the overall development of young children, Dasa said the kitchen was another chapter in our endeavour to end childhood hunger and address the issue of malnutrition in children. “Such collaborative efforts will take us closer to our mission to ensure a world where children do not have to choose between education and food,” he said.
“Nutrition forms the pillar for sustainable growth of the human body and mind. The mid-day meal scheme is a promise of nutrition to those children who do not have direct access to it. Our vision that no child should miss out on education due to an empty stomach is based on this promise,” he said.
“We firmly believe that the nutritious meal no doubt serves as an incentive for children to come to school, thus opening for them the door to education and opportunities. When children are healthy, they are less likely to miss school due to illness, reducing absenteeism. In India, where hunger and malnutrition are serious issues, long-term exposure to a nutritional program as an educational intervention is a game changer,” he added.
The Akshaya Patra Foundation has been a part of India’s mid-day meal scheme for over two decades. The NGO runs one of the world’s largest (not-for-profit run) mid-day meal programmes, serving wholesome food to over 1.8 million children from 19,039 schools across 14 states and two union territories in India.
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