Bengaluru: Akshaya Patra distributes 'Happy Kit' among poor city kids

Bengaluru: The Akshaya Patra Foundation which runs the largest school lunch programme in the State has come up with a new scheme in order to provide food for underprivileged children.

It may be mentioned here that its lunch distribution programme was disrupted during the lockdown and several families were pushed into poverty as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Realising that the children from marginalised groups were headed towards triple ills of hunger, malnutrition, and starvation, the foundation has launched the new initiative.

With the aim to mitigate childhood hunger in times of pandemic, the foundation announced the launch of the 'Happiness Kit' to support children from vulnerable communities and their families.

Happiness Kit comprises food items that provide essential nutrients for daily consumption leading to the health, growth and development of a child. Pulses, spices, peanuts, jaggery, biscuits and other food items in the kit are meant to supplement and enhance the nutritional intake of children and their families, above and beyond the set allocation of grains by the Central and the State governments and the MHRD.

The kit also includes a soap, a toothbrush, toothpaste, and sanitary pads to promote hygiene in children. To exercise their cognitive abilities, activity-based learning workbooks are also included in respective regional languages.

The kits were distributed in areas such as Gokula, Mathikere, Jalahalli, Santhe Beedhi and Krishnanandhana in Bangalore. 18,655 Happiness Kits equivalent to 3,73,100 meals were distributed in the State capital.

Speaking about the Happiness Kit, Shridhar Venkat, CEO, the Akshaya Patra Foundation said, "As Indians, we must focus on creating high quality human capital which will define our demographic dividend. Stakeholders need to work together to create a robust and healthy population for the betterment of the nation through an inclusive society.

This September as we observe the National Month of Nutrition, we launched the Happiness Kit initiative which has been created to take care of the nutritional and educational needs of children who are missing school due to the Covid-19 pandemic."

Till now, the number of kits that have been distributed is close to 41,000. They are being distributed in locations such as Vadodara, Silvassa, Thane, Lucknow, Hyderabad and Guwahati.