Clinton treats school kids at NGO kitchen in Jaipur

Former US president Bill Clinton, who is on a two-day visit to Jaipur, showed up at the kitchen of Akshya Patra, an NGO run by Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), and served food to schoolchildren at a government school in Pratap Nagar.

Former US president Bill Clinton, who is on a two-day visit to Jaipur, showed up at the kitchen of Akshya Patra, an NGO run by Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), and served food to schoolchildren at a government school in Pratap Nagar.

Clinton was all praise for the way food was prepared and distributed at the NGO.

“This is the finest commitment ever made, where Akshya Patra is distributing food to 1.3 million children in 10,000 schools across 10 states,” said Clinton, while addressing the gathering at the government school. “By the year 2020, Akshya Patra aims to provide food to 5 million children,” he added.

Clinton, who is on his third visit to India, said he has learnt that Caterpillar Foundation has donated $2 million (`12 crore) to Akshya Patra for building a modern kitchen in Lucknow, which will get ready in two months and provide food to 1 lakh children.

The Akshya Patra kitchen at Jagatpura feeds 1.06 lakh children under the mid-day meal scheme in 1,493 government schools, including 61 madarsas, in Jaipur and nearby areas.

The kitchen has two automatic chapatti-making machines that can make 40,000 chapattis per hour. The machines make 2.5 lakh chapattis every day.