Akhtar, Mahadevan Team Up With Akshaya Patra Foundation

To commemorate the one billionth meal served by the award-winning Indian nongovernmental organization Akshaya Patra, lyricist Javed Akhtar and singer/composer Shankar Mahadevan will release a song this August celebrating the joys of childhood.

“I am very happy to be associated with Akshaya Patra, as the cause is very close to my heart and something that I have always wanted to do — feed children,” said Mahadevan in a statement June 13. 

With this partnership, Mahadevan joins the league of socially conscious celebrities by becoming brand ambassador for the Akshaya Patra Foundation  

The Akshaya Patra Foundation runs one of the world’s largest mid-day school feeding programs, in partnership with the federal and participating state governments of India, serving over 1.3 million children daily, in over 9,000 schools in 10 states. 

“Akshaya Patra combines good management, innovative technology and smart engineering to deliver school lunch at a fraction of the cost of similar programs in other parts of the world,” said a spokesperson It costs Akshaya Patra only $15 to feed a child for an entire year. 

Madhu Sridhar, president and CEO of Akshaya Patra USA, commented, “Javed  Akhtar and Shankar Mahadevan teaming up for the Akshaya Patra children — it will be a powerful message with a powerful voice to ensure hunger is not a barrier to education for these deserving children.”
Courtesy: India West