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| Founded | 2000 |
|---|---|
| Type | Non Profit Organisation |
| Location |
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| Products | Mid Day Meals |
Revenue | |
| Website | http://www.akshayapatra.org/ https://www.akshayapatrausa.org |
The Akshaya Patra Foundation is a non-profit trust of International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), located in Bangalore, Karnataka, India. The organisation operates the Midday Meal Scheme (a school lunch programme) in India. [1]
Akshaya Patra is the largest partner of the Union Government of India to implement the Mid Day Meal scheme in the government run schools of India. The scheme is based on a public-private partnership. [1]
APF is run by International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), Bangalore. The organisation was established in 2000. [1]
In 2020, four of the independent trustees of APF resigned alleging misuse of funds of the foundation and governance issues in the APF.
These trustees had alleged that the chairman of APF, Madhu Pandit Dasa, and his supporters on the board were targeting the audit committee that was looking into the allegations of the misuse of funds. According to the trustees, the chairman and his supporters were doing this to resist transparency. In the years around 2020, the cost of a meal that APF provided had shot up by at least 5₹ in comparison to the other NGOs. This increase in cost was being investigated. [3]
The Akshaya Patra kitchens produce about 350 kilograms of organic waste each day. [4] To reduce the amount of waste going to landfill, the foundation has set up biogas plants in some of its kitchens. This initiative started with the centralized kitchens at Bellary and Vasanthapura (Bengaluru) on Earth Day (April 22) 2016 [5] and now extends to six kitchens across the country. [6] The biogas plants, with a capacity to process 1 tonne per day (TPD) of organic waste, generate 120 to 150 m3 of biogas the equivalent of 30 kilograms of LPG. [7] This gas is consumed in the kitchen's cooking operations and saves APF INR 38,500 per month. [5] This translates to savings of about 10% in total energy consumption required for cooking. [4]
APF has installed solar photovoltaic (PV) systems at some of its kitchens. Based on the weather these systems produce 80-100 units of electricity per day and this power's the facility's daytime energy requirement e.g. the Bengaluru plant generates 10 kW of power and this is entirely consumed by the facility, whereas the Surat plant generates 12 kW of power with some of the surplus power being fed back to the grid for a credit. [4]
After the COVID-19 lockdown was announced, Akshaypatra began a food program to feed the migrant workers. They provided cooked food as well as dry grocery kits. [8] [9]
Biogas is a gaseous renewable energy source produced from raw materials such as agricultural waste, manure, municipal waste, plant material, sewage, green waste, wastewater, and food waste. Biogas is produced by anaerobic digestion with anaerobic organisms or methanogens inside an anaerobic digester, biodigester or a bioreactor. The gas composition is primarily methane and carbon dioxide and may have small amounts of hydrogen sulfide, moisture and siloxanes. The gases methane and hydrogen can be combusted or oxidized with oxygen. This energy release allows biogas to be used as a fuel; it can be used in fuel cells and for heating purpose, such as in cooking. It can also be used in a gas engine to convert the energy in the gas into electricity and heat.
The Mid Day Meal Scheme is a school meal programme in India designed to better the nutritional standing of school-age children nationwide. The scheme has been renamed as POSHAN Scheme. The programme supplies free lunches on working days for children in government primary and upper primary schools, government aided Anganwadis, Madarsa and Maqtabs. Serving 120 million children in over 1.27 million schools and Education Guarantee Scheme centres, the Midday Meal Scheme is the largest of its kind in the world.
Anaerobic digestion is a sequence of processes by which microorganisms break down biodegradable material in the absence of oxygen. The process is used for industrial or domestic purposes to manage waste or to produce fuels. Much of the fermentation used industrially to produce food and drink products, as well as home fermentation, uses anaerobic digestion.
A garbage disposal unit (also known as a waste disposal unit, food waste disposer (FWD), in-sink macerator, garbage disposer, or garburator) is a device, usually electrically powered, installed under a kitchen sink between the sink's drain and the trap. The device shreds food waste into pieces small enough—generally less than 2 mm (0.079 in) in diameter—to pass through plumbing.
Food for Life Global is a non-profit vegan food relief organization founded in 1995 to serve as the headquarters for Food for Life projects. Food for Life Global has its roots in ISKCON dating back to 1974. It is a completely independent non-profit organization that supports the work of Food for Life projects both inside and outside of ISKCON. Its network of 291 affiliates span the globe, with projects occupying over 65 countries. Volunteers provide over 1 million free meals daily. Food For Life engages in various sorts of hunger relief, including outreach to the homeless, provision for disadvantaged children throughout India, and provision for victims of natural disasters around the world.
Renewable natural gas (RNG), also known as biomethane, is a biogas which has been upgraded to a quality similar to fossil natural gas and has a methane concentration of 90% or greater. By removing CO2 and other impurities from biogas, and increasing the concentration of methane to a level similar to fossil natural gas, it becomes possible to distribute RNG via existing gas pipeline infrastructure. RNG can be used in existing appliances, including vehicles with natural gas burning engines (natural gas vehicles).
Food rescue, also called food recovery, food salvage or surplus food redistribution, is the practice of gleaning edible food that would otherwise go to waste from places such as farms, produce markets, grocery stores, restaurants, or dining facilities and distributing it to local emergency food programs.
Despite India's 50% increase in GDP since 2013, more than one third of the world's malnourished children live in India. Among these, half of the children under three years old are underweight.
Gururaj Deshpande is an Indian American venture capitalist and entrepreneur, who is best known for co-founding the Chelmsford, MA-based internet equipment manufacturer Sycamore Networks, the Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation at MIT and the Deshpande Foundation.
Sri Radha Krishna-Chandra Temple is one of the largest Krishna-Hindu temples in the world. It is situated in Bangalore in the Indian state of Karnataka. The temple is dedicated to Hindu deities Radha Krishna and propagates monotheism as mentioned in Chandogya Upanishad.
T. V. Mohandas Pai is a is an Indian businessman and Philanthropist. He is current Chairperson of Manipal Global Education. He was a former board member at Infosys, and Head – Administration, Education, and Research, Financial, and Human Resources at the Infosys Leadership Institute.
Sharad P Kale is a scientist known for developing a biogas plant based on biodegradable waste resource (Nisargruna). He is the head of Technology Transfer and Collaboration at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC). On 26 January 2013, the Government of India honoured him with the Padma Shri Award in the Discipline of Science and Engineering.
Food waste recycling is a process to convert food waste into useful materials and products for achieving sustainability of the environment. Food waste is defined as all parts of food, inedible and edible, created before, during, and after food processing, production, and consumption. Greenhouse gases, especially methane can be reduced by food waste recycling. Food waste recycling can also alleviate the saturation of landfill sites in Hong Kong.
Madhu Pandit Dasa is a spiritual leader and the President of ISKCON Bangalore. As a humanitarian, he has been actively involved in programs like Akshaya Patra that provides free mid-day meals to children studying in Government schools. He is the Founder and Chairman of The Akshaya Patra Foundation, guiding the organisation to realise the vision - "No child in India shall be deprived of education because of hunger”. The Government of India has conferred upon him the prestigious Padma Shri Award in recognition of the distinguished service rendered by Akshaya Patra Foundation for the children of India. He is also the Chairman of Vrindavan Chandrodaya Mandir, the upcoming iconic cultural and heritage complex in Vrindavan.
HomeBiogas is a biogas company based in Beit Yanai, Israel. The company produces and sells anaerobic digesters that convert organic waste into methane gas and liquid fertilizer.
Tejaswini Ananth Kumar is an Indian politician and social worker.
Hare Krishna Golden Temple is located at Banjara Hills, Hyderabad, India. It is the first Golden Temple to be constructed in Telangana. It was inaugurated in 2018 by Vice President of India Sri Venkaiah Naidu.
Stoka Krishna Swami has been serving the mission of Srila Prabhupada as a full-time missionary with ISKCON Bangalore since 1989. He served as the president of ISKCON Mysore.
Divya Sathyaraj is an Indian nutritionist. She is the daughter of actor Sathyaraj and sister of Sibi. Divya is the goodwill ambassador of The Akshaya Patra Foundation (TAPF), an NGO implementing the Government of India’s Midday Meal Scheme for school children. She has also started a movement in 2020, Mahilmadhi Iyakkam, an initiative to provide healthy and nutritious meals to the malnourished and under-privileged communities, free of cost.
Bulawayo Solid Waste Energy Plant, also Bulawayo Waste–To–Energy Plant, is a planned solid waste-fired thermal power plant in Bulawayo, the second-largest city in Zimbabwe. The waste-to-energy power station is expected to convert 325 tonnes of solid waste into 78,000–110,000 liters of biodiesel and 60 cubic metres (2,119 cu ft) of biogas on a daily basis. In the process, the plant will generate 11.35 MW of electricity".
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