Empowering India’s Children Through Nutrition: A Glimpse Into Sri Sathya Sai Annapoorna Trust’s Legacy

New Delhi: The 21st-century malnutrition report, as published by UNICEF, points towards a triple burden for children worldwide. While some grapple with being underweight and overweight, there is a large chunk of the little ones suffering from hidden hunger, i.e. the deficiency of micronutrients. Despite producing sufficient food to meet the caloric needs of its citizens, India too has for long battled the challenges of malnutrition and hidden hunger. If we refer to the National Family Health Survey, conducted over 2019 to 2021, it suggests that more than 35% of Indian children are stunted while over 19% are impacted by wasting, hinting at an acute situation with regard to undernourishment.
The silver lining, however, is that steps are being taken to improve the condition on ground zero effectively, whether through initiatives like Food Security Act and National Nutrition Mission, or through the world’s largest free-fortified morning nutrition program helmed by Sri Sathya Sai Annapoorna Trust. Sharing details about the mission, its Trustee-Secretary Anand Kumar Kadali said that Sri Sathya Sai Annapoorna Trust is committed to ensuring that no child should go to school hungry, and in the course of its journey, it has already served more than 1 crore children in Indian rural hinterlands across 25 states and 4 Union Territories, and aims to serve at least 10 crore in the near future.
“When children suffer from deficiency of micronutrients or hidden hunger, it hinders their overall cognitive development, immune system and subsequently their long-term health. It is thus important that the children are served fortified breakfasts that are rich in calcium, iron and vitamins. Thanks to several corporate leaders & entities, state governments, foundations and members of the Annapoorna family, we have been eradicating hidden hunger among school going children across India. We have also joined hands with Anganwadis to serve children who are below school-going age, so that the problem can be tackled at the foundational level itself,” he said.
Sri Sathya Sai Annapoorna Trust is a part of the Global Humanitarian Mission spearheaded by spiritual teacher Sri Madhusudan Sai. The mission is committed to uplifting the society by addressing the key issues of Nutrition, Health and Education. Sri Sathya Sai University of Human Excellence, a free value-based higher educational institution founder by Sri Madhusudan Sai, recently concluded the 8th edition of Sri Sathya Sai Human Excellence Award, which honoured legends who have devoted their entire life for the betterment of the community. The names of the winners included eminent citizens and community icons, including Forest Man of India Jadav Payeng, Indian archaeologist KK Muhammed, Padman of India Arunachalam Muruganantham and Paralympic medalist Deepa Malik, among others.
In his address at the event, Sri Madhusudan Sai said, “We sincerely appreciate all of the work that each awardee has done and is still doing. None of these awardees finds what they are doing simple. As a result, they are legends because they make impossible, possible. Their passionate lives, dedicated to do so much good for their fellowmen, has invigorated the inspiration within us. On the 99th Birth Anniversary of Baba, it is fulfilling to meet and recognise such noble personalities from across the nation.”