Wednesday, June 7, 2017

Akshaya Patra Feed The Future Now in Mumbai


Hearty, Starry & Musical Launch of Feed The Future Now : MUMBAI

The Akshaya Patra Foundation along with nine leading corporates and Government of India pledge for a Nourished India, Educated India!   Aims to serve 5 billion mid-day meals by 2020


The Akshaya Patra Foundation, in presence of Shankar Mahadevan (composer and playback singer), Vivek Oberoi, Sonali Bendre  (Indian actor) and  Sanjeev Kapoor (Celebrity Chef and Entrepreneur) launched Feed the Future Now in Mumbai on Wednesday at PVR, Juhu Dynamix Mall. Feed the Future Now is a national movement to raise awareness about importance of nourishment amongst children and its impetus to education. This movement aims to serve 5 billion meals to children across India by 2020 with a view to create a ‘Poshit Bharat, Shikshit Bharat.’



The Akshaya Patra Foundation’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Shridhar Venkat said, “We are very thankful to all our partners especially the Government of India (GoI) who have come together today to raise awareness about the growing need to ensure children are well nourished at the age of 0 – 12 years and join us in our mission to serve 5 billion meals by 2020. Food is not charity. Food is life. Setting a child on a proper course with good daily nutrition and the ability to attend and succeed in school is our collective social responsibility and one which reaps unlimited rewards as new generations grow and thrive.”

                                               

Shankar MahadevanComposer and Playback Singer, also a goodwill ambassador for the foundation, said, “The Akshaya Patra Foundation is one of a kind institution in the world and is doing great service for the nation." 

                                                 

Vivek Oberoi, renowned Indian actor,  said, “The Akshaya Patra Foundation’s work towards eradicating malnutrition is not only relevant for our country but extremely inspiring. We, as a country have had so many achievements at the global platform but hidden hunger still remains an obstacle to sustaining education and achieving one’s full potential.” 

Reputed Indian actress and model, Sonali Bendre said, ““I am honored to be part of the ‘Feed the Future Now’ movement, which would give all of us a chance to make a difference to the lives of those in need.”

Sanjeev Kapoor, celebrity Chef and entrepreneur said, “We, especially our strong chef community across the globe, must all strive to make nutrition our agenda to make Feed the Future Now a mass movement and commit to the cause wholeheartedly."


L-R Damodar Mall, CEO Reliance Fresh, Sudhanshu Vats, Group CEO Viacom18, Sonali Bendre, Vivek Oberoi, Shankar Mahadevan, Sridhar Venkat, CEO The Akshaya Patra Foundation, Sanjeev Kapoor at the launch of Feed the Future Now in Mumbai at PVR, Juhu

Nine top corporates have joined the movement - GSK Consumer Healthcare, NestlĂ©, PepsiCo India, PVR Nest, Reliance Fresh, Facebook, The LaLiT, Reliance Broadcast Networks Ltd. & Viacom 18 along with the support of Government of India. 

Deepa Menon, Senior Vice President (Corporate ommunications & CSR), PVR Ltd, said, “ PVR is supporting ‘Feed the Future Now’ initiative through the use of its physical infrastructure. ”
 Damodar Mall, Chief Executive Officer, Reliance Fresh said, “In our stores and on our communication platforms, we will take the message of this movement, to millions of our customers. Jointly with our customers!”

Sudhanshu Vats, Group CEO, Viacom18 said: “According to the UNESCO Institute of Statistics 2016 report, every year 47 million Indian children drop out of schools by the time they reach 10th standard. There has been direct correlation between dropping out of schools and classroom hunger. We are delighted to partner with the Akshaya Patra Foundation for the ‘Feed the Future’ movement.”

Based on three pillars – Awareness, Nutrition and Education, the campaign will create a rallying call-to-action and promote policy advocacy as well as behavioral change on the twin issues of nutrition and educationThe snacks at the launch were courtesy The Lalit, hospitality partner of Feed the Future Now.
                           

Feed the Future Now movement is a movement for social change that aims to provide 5 billion meals by 2020. It is based on the premise that every child deserves a nutritious diet, a fulfilling education and a bright future. The movement envisions a public-private partnership and engage the civil society at large, so that this becomes a common mission for everyone. Moving forward, the partners hope to create a sustained momentum towards reducing malnutrition in India.

This is a seminal movement that will bring everyone on a common platform and pledge to the cause of ‘Nourished India, Educated India’!

Core Objectives of Feed The Future Now:

·         Build a collaborative multi-stakeholder campaign and ensure an increase in pro-nutrition investments
·         Create awareness drives on the problem of hidden hunger
·         Collaborate through a public-private partnerships to reach the goal of providing 5 billion meals to underserved children by 2020
·         Advocate for the National Nutrition Mission, address region-wise nutrition requirements and education for all
The Akshaya Patra Foundation   works with the objective of providing nutritious mid-day meals so that no child in India is deprived of quality education due to damaging impact of malnutrition. Our mid-day Meal programme, started in 2000 in 5 government schools in Bengaluru, is a benchmark intervention for food security and education for children - a matter of national priority. This programme also acts as a catalyst to attain the objective of the government’s ‘Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan’. As of today, the foundation has enabled provision of 2 billion meals delivered through its state-of-art kitchens.

8 comments:

Rachna said...

Akshaya Patra is an excellent initiative. Nothing can be better than providing hot, nutritious food to children. I regularly contribute to them.

rupam sarma said...

Great initiative.

Babit Kumar said...

Nice initiative

Purba chakraborty said...

This is a wonderful initiative :)

SUJATA TAWDE said...

That's great Rachna, your contribution to Akshaya Patra is most welcome.

SUJATA TAWDE said...

Yes Rupam , Akshaya Patra is doing an excellent service to humanity .

SUJATA TAWDE said...

Hey Babit , Akshaya Patra is godly savior for our children.

SUJATA TAWDE said...

Yes Purba , Akshaya Patra is feeding our future generation with Food as well as with inspiration .