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| Madu Pandit Dasa (left), Chairman, Akshaya Patra and Chanchalapati Dasa, Vice-Chairman, Akshaya Patra, displaying the award. |
Ever since its inception in 1958, the
award has granted entry to the Hall of Fame to only two organisations
apart from The Akshaya Patra Foundation. Furthermore, Akshaya Patra is
the first one to receive this honour in the not-for-profit sector.
After a thorough review of accounting
practices and financial reporting policies adopted by the participating
enterprises, the awardees were shortlisted by a panel of judges from the
legal and financial fraternities of India.
The Akshaya Patra Annual Report is an
amalgamation of the organisation's operational and financial policies
that highlight transparency which is of paramount importance in the
implementation of the mid-day meal programme. The Annual Report contains
an exhaustive breakup of the expenditure of funds granted by the
government and funds donated to us. It creates a clear picture of the
capital allocated for the variety of resources that are utilised into
making the mid-day meal programme run by the organisation a success.
The Akshaya Patra Foundation has a
strong hold on quality and hygiene while preparing meals for the 1.3
million children it reaches out to in 8 states and 20 locations across
India. Utmost care is taken while preparing the meals to ensure that
every meal that goes to every child is free of germs, elements that
could cause food-borne infection and other hazardous agents.
In order to ensure the purest quality of
food, The Akshaya Patra Organisation operates through two models of
culinary units— centralised and de-centralised. Centralised kitchens are
large kitchen units that are almost a replica of a food factory since
they have the capacity to cook up to 1,00,000 meals per day. They are
automated so that there is minimal human contact with the food while
preparation is in process to ensure hygiene. A total of eleven
centralised kitchens run by this NGO have adopted various process
improvement technologies like Six Sigma and Kaizen.
There are two de-centralised kitchens
located at Baran in Rajasthan and Nayagarh in Orissa. These kitchens are
run by Women Self Help Groups (SHGs) under the guidance of Akshaya
Patra's kitchen process and operations module.
Thus, the funds required to operate
these kitchens ensure complete hygiene and quality while maintaining
transparency are recounted and updated in the Annual Report of The
Akshaya Patra Foundation.
Manish Tiwari, Union Minister of State
for Information and Broadcasting and Justice G.S. Sistani, Judge, Delhi
High Court distributed the award at a function held to felicitate the
organisation in New Delhi.
The selection committee for the year
2012-13 is chaired by T.S. Vijayan, Chairman, IRDA followed by a
10-member jury, to name a few, M.J. Joseph, Additional Secretary,
Government of India, Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Suresh Senapaty CFO
and ED, Wipro Limited, B. P. Rao Chairman and Managing Director, BHEL.
Based on the degree of compliance with
the accounting standards, statutory guidelines and other relevant
pronouncements, the Gold Shield, the Silver Shield and the Plaque are
awarded for the best, the second best and commendable entries
respectively.
"The Governance philosophy of The
Akshaya Patra Foundation refers to a set of regulations and good
practices that enabled us to maintain transparency, accountability and
create value for all our stakeholders. We have and we will continue to
adhere to the world class accounting standards and norms," said Madhu
Pandit Dasa, Chairman, The Akshaya Patra Foundation.