India is one of the world’s largest food producers. Ironically, the country is also home to the largest population of hungry people and one-third of the world’s malnourished children. The Global Hunger Index ranks India 102nd among 117 countries.
The Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in its direction in 2001 has linked the feeding Programme of the children to quality education Programme of Government. This was done to ensure that lesser number of children go to school hungry.
This resulted in encouraging poor families to enroll their children in Government schools and thereby enable them to guarantee at least one square meal a day, called as Mid Day Meal. All State Governments in the country had to ensure that every child coming to a Government school gets one wholesome meal for lunch on school days.
On 28 November 2001, the Supreme Court of India passed a mandate, “Cooked mid-day meal is to be provided in all the Government and Government-aided primary schools in all the states.” And, Annamrita Foundation was also called upon to provide testimonies to the Supreme Court.
Hence, the Annamrita Foundation embarked on a massive mission to build India’s human resource base by facilitating the education of underprivileged children through endless food for life program, a proven attraction for deprived children to come to school. Over 1.3 Million needy children are benefited every day in 8,000+ schools across 7 States of India.
In partnership with Central & state governments, we enjoy the distinction of operating world’s largest mass meal program feeding 2 million women and children every day across 50+ countries in 6 continents across the Planet. This includes our 1.3 Million mid-day meal beneficiaries in India alone.