Feeding millions of children

Gulf News

The mid-day meal scheme is the world’s largest food programme and was launched in 1995 as a National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education and aims to boost school enrolment, retention and attendance and also to fight malnutrition among children. See more at: http://gulfnews.com/gntv

Transcript

00:00On a wet July morning in Hassanpur village, children are queuing up at a shallow water

00:11well hand pump. It's lunch break at 10.30 am and the school's dining area is flooded

00:15with ankle-deep water following an overnight seasonal downpour. Today's meal is special,

00:19a generous serving of hot vegetable rice and milk pudding for dessert. The food is served

00:24to students in batches as plates are limited. However, no one is complaining.

00:28Welcome to the world's largest food program where tens of millions of children are provided

00:32hot meals for 200 days in a year. Popularly known as Mid-Day Meal Scheme, the world's

00:37largest food program was launched in 1995 as a national program of nutritional support

00:42to primary education and aims to boost school enrollment, retention and attendance and also

00:47to fight malnutrition among children. The meals come from a kitchen located 20 kilometers

00:51away and is run by the Akshaya Patra Foundation, an NGO that prepares 1.6 million meals daily

00:57at 26 facilities in 11 states in the country. This massive facility is built on a two-acre

01:02plot and prepares up to 100,000 meals a day, six days a week and delivered to over 1,300

01:07schools located in remote locations. It requires 6,500 kilograms of rice every day, consumes

01:131,400 kilograms of spices and 3,000 kilograms of salt every month. Food must be packed at

01:1980 degrees and served at 60 degrees Celsius. In one corner, a conveyor belt pushes the

01:23steel containers out of the kitchen to the loading bay. Outside, 54 vehicles are loaded

01:28and each driver is given a thermometer to record the temperature after reaching the

01:31destination. This mid-day meal program helps to feed millions of children a day and provides

01:36much-needed hope for those born on the poorer side of the population demographic.

01:41Logan Fish for Golf News.

Category

Transcript

Recommended