Home to over 1.36 billion people, India holds the 6th position in the food and grocery market. Yet almost 15% of its population is undernourished and starving. So, lack of food isn’t what causes hunger, it is the lack of accessibility.
Although the Government of India has several safety nets like the Public Distribution System; the Antodaya Anna Rozgar Yojana, the Mid-Day Meal Scheme; the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, food still doesn’t reach the hungry mouths.
As an Indian NGO dedicated to food relief, we are trying to solve hunger by helping the government amplify its initiatives like the mid-day meal programme.
We believe that the only way to solve hunger is by ensuring every community including- children, women, men and senior citizens have access to daily meals. While each one of these segments have different nutritional requirements, our unique food relief programs are designed to deliver just that.
The advent of the COVID-19 pandemic in the year 2020 had a devastating impact on our country. The poorer sections of our society were the worst affected. This unprecedented crisis further divided the food inequalities and resulted in many more hungry individuals.
Hundreds of thousands of daily wage earners were left stranded in cities post the COVID-19 pandemic without a means of income. On the other hand, quarantined people, patients, and medical staff didn’t have the luxury to roam around freely to meet their essential requirements.
Our approach to tackle this situation started with making sure that no community was left under-nourished in these challenging times. We leveraged on our kitchens and distribution infrastructure to provide food relief to the marginal and underprivileged sections of our society throughout the country.
The objectives of this program are:
In 2001, the Supreme Court passed an order stating “A basic entitlement of every child in every Government and Government-assisted Primary Schools with a prepared mid-day meal with a minimum content of 300 calories and 8–12 grams of protein each day of school for a minimum of 200 days.”
The mid-day meal programme is an initiative of the Government of India designed to improve the nutritional status of school-age children nationwide.
As one of the top food NGOs in India, Annamrita carries out the mid day meal programme to amplify the government policy. For the primary section, each meal provides 12 grams of protein and 450 cal energy and for the secondary section, each meal provides 20 grams of protein and 700 cal energy.
The objectives of the mid-day meal scheme are:
