Awarded cash prize of $50,000 in the category of Education
Bengaluru, Karnataka, November 24, 2009 /India PRwire/ — The Akshaya Patra Foundation, the world’s largest NGO run school meal programme bags the Tech Awards 2009, a signature program of The Tech Museum, San Jose, California, USA. Akshaya Patra won the Microsoft Education Awards, in the category of education under The Tech Museum Awards 2009. The Award was presented with a cash prize of $ 50,000 at a glittering ceremony in San Jose, USA, for social entrepreneurs leveraging technology to benefit humanity. The Tech Awards, a signature program of The Tech Museum and presented by Applied Materials, Inc., selected Akshaya Patra from among 650 nominations representing 66 countries.
Established in 2000, The Tech Awards recognizes 15 Laureates in five universal categories: education, equality, environment, economic development and health. These Laureates have developed new technological solutions or innovative ways to use existing technologies to significantly improve the lives of people around the world. One laureate in each category receives a $50,000 cash prize. The winners were announced at a ceremony at which Al Gore, former U.S. vice president and Nobel Peace Prize winner received a humanitarian award.
Akshaya Patra has won accolades from all corners for its yeomen work for the mid-day meal program in India and their astounding performance in feeding over one million school children every day. Recently former US president Bill Clinton commended Akshaya Patra during his key note address at the PAN IIT conference in Chicago.
Akshaya Patra, was selected for being a pioneering program in India’s social and developmental sector, using technology extensively to provide freshly prepared, wholesome meals to over one million school children daily in over 6,500 government schools in seven states of India This meal is an incentive for children to come to school, stay in school and provides them with the necessary nutrients they need to develop their cognitive abilities to focus on learning. The program is a strategic intervention aimed at unlocking the vicious cycle of poverty and hunger.
Shri. Madhu Pandit Dasa, Chairman, The Akshaya Patra Foundation, said, “This award is actually a recognition of thousands of supporters from the corporate world, individual donors, professional governance provided by my co-trustees, board of advisors, support of the state and central government and thousands of Akshaya Patra staff, to bring a smile on the faces of the underprivileged children of our country and to empower them with education.”
He further added “We have been following the best practices of the corporate world in terms of transparency and governance which we believe is essential to conduct the program on such a grand scale. We also thank God for making us instruments in this great service and pray that we will be able to extend this service to lakhs of more children to support them with good education.”
Notes to Editor
About The Akshaya Patra Foundation
The Akshaya Patra Foundation, a non-profit, Bangalore-based secular trust, evolved the free meal program in schools in the year 2000. What started as a pilot project in five schools in Bangalore, feeding 1,500 children, has now grown into a mammoth endeavor covering over 11,86,206 children in about 6,500 government, government aided schools and anganwadis (day care centers) in 18 locations spread across seven states in India, day after day. This is amongst the largest NGO run school meal program in the world. The foundation expects to reach a magical figure of five million children by 2020.
Six days a week, without a stop, the foundation provides unlimited, nutritious, hygienically cooked noon meals in government schools and government-run day-care centres (anganwadis), Ushering in a technology-intensive operating model that ensures high-quality, hygienic food on one hand and increases internal efficiencies on the other, the program has brought about policy changes at the state government levels and created a new image for mid-day meals in India. Akshaya Patra is an eloquent demonstration of public private partnership as it is run with part subsidies from the government, besides financial support from corporates and individual philanthropists.
The program is independently governed by a Board of Trustees, an Advisory Panel consisting of professionals from the corporate world & bureaucracy, dedicated employees and a team of volunteers. The program is advised in rigorous accounting standards and services by KPMG to ensure transparency and accountability to all its donors. A study in the year 2006 by AC Nielsen Org Marg, has vouchsafed for the efficacy of the program in increasing attendance in schools, improving nutritional status of these children, enhancing their learning abilities and reducing drop out rates.
All contributions to The Akshaya Patra Foundation are eligible for 100% tax deduction under section 35AC/80GGA (bb) of the Income Tax Act 1961 in India.
Log on to www.akshayapatra.org for more information.
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