Govts alone cannot feed hungry, NGOs like Akshaya Patra needed: Former CJI

Unlike the governments, the Akshaya Patra Foundation was doing an overwhelming job of feeding lakhs of hungry children going to government schools, former CJI NV Ramana said

Sangareddy: Former Chief Justice of India (CJI) NV Ramana said he did not believe that governments alone could feed the hungry people in the nation. Governments over the years had introduced several schemes spending thousands of crores to feed the hungry but they could achieve little amount of success in more than 75 years of Independence.

Unlike the governments, the Akshaya Patra Foundation was doing an overwhelming job of feeding lakhs of hungry children going to government schools, he said.

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Addressing the gathering during the 15th anniversary of the Akshaya Patra Foundation at Kandi in Sangareddy district on Wednesday, Ramana said the recent National Family Health Survey had found that 7.7 per cent of school-going students in the country were still malnourished while 2.6 per cent of them were seriously malnourished.

“Lack of proper feeding will result in mental retardation and other serious illnesses. Since we consider every person as a human resource in the modern world, the malnourished will become a burden to the family and society due to just lack of proper food,” he said, adding that it was a sad reality in India that lakhs of children still could not attend school with a good number of them turning to child labour at very young ages of 3 to 4 four years.

While most of the Western world is aging, India was feeling that India would shine in the world because the average age of India was very low compared to other nations. However, human resources would not be efficient unless the country gives them nutritious food. Underlining the importance of serving the children in the Akshaya Patra way across the nation, the former CJI said the governments and rich people in the country must support the good cause.

Feeding the hungry would be possible with the involvement of NGOs such as Akshaya Patra, not just by the governments. Talking about the right to get nutritious food, the former CJI said the State government had to provide nutritious food to the malnourished under Section 6 of the National Food Security Act. The right to food was part of the fundamental right to life in the Indian Constitution, he added.

Founder Chairman of Akshaya Patra Foundation Madhu Pandita Dasa, Regional President Gaura Chandra Dasa and others were present.