Message From the Chairman and the President

Desh Deshpande Chair, Akshaya Patra USA Board		Madhu Sridhar President

Dear Friends,

Hunger and malnutrition continue to haunt India despite its robust economic growth of recent years. India is home to 57 million malnourished children, more than in Sub-Saharan Africa. Hunger not only keeps these children out of school but also limits their ability to concentrate once there. The role of proper nutrition in improving education is well documented.

With 13.5 million children, in the age group of 6-13 years, out of school in India, the need to concentrate on eradicating hunger and poverty cycle is more glaring than ever before. We can no longer continue to watch hunger and poverty pass by us silently.

Our mission at Akshaya Patra is to simultaneously address the twin challenges facing India, hunger and education among underserved children. We believe that no child, in India and the world, shall be denied education because of hunger.

The Akshaya Patra program is a strategic intervention in education aimed at unlocking the vicious and self-perpetuating cycle of hunger and poverty. This program is not about providing a meal to a hungry, but about providing an opportunity to a young child to realize his/her full potential.

Akshaya Patra raises the aspirations of organizations around the world and sets a new bench mark by exemplifying what non-profit organizations with public-private partnership and engagement of the civic society can achieve in a short period of time: a cost-effective, scalable solution, not to mention the largest, and certainly the most innovative school lunch program in the world.

Today, Akshaya Patra serves over 830,000 underprivileged children which is just the tip of the iceberg. Our short term goal is to feed one million children by 2010 and our long term goal is to duplicate this model throughout India and the world.

Our children are the future of our civilization. It is our individual and collective responsibility to bring light and hope to those who need it the most – the beacons of tomorrow’s world.

We invite you to be part of our efforts to build a more just world that bridges the divide between the haves and the have-nots. We call upon the compassion, energy, and generosity of each of you to make a sustained commitment to eradicate hunger and promote education one child at a time.


Desh Deshpande
Chair, Akshaya Patra USA Board

Madhu Sridhar
President