The prime minister served food to about 20 schoolchildren from underprivileged background
Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Vrindavan today and served food to underprivileged schoolchildren. He also unveiled a ceremonial plaque to mark the serving of "3rd billionth meal" by Akshaya Patra Foundation at Vrindavan Chandrodaya Mandir campus in the holy city.
"The prime minister will serve food to about 20 schoolchildren from underprivileged background in the campus, marking the three billionth meal offered by Akshaya Patra," Naveena Neerada Dasa, head of strategic communications in ISKCON, had said.
Funded by International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), Akshaya Patra is a Bengaluru-based not-for-profit organisation that works with the government on mid-day meal schemes. It has a state-of-the-art kitchen in Vrindavan and PM Modi served food to children near the facility.
Here are the Live Updates of PM Modi's visit to Vrindavan:
PM Modi's speech at the Akshaya Patra Foundation programme:
PM Modi shared a video of him serving food to the children.
Main pointers from PM Modi's speech in Vrindavan: 
- After a short while, I am going to have the opportunity to serve the food with my hand.
- As many meals will be served, one of them will be the three billionth.
- These campaigns were started with 1500 children and today 17 lakh children have been provided with food now
- With nutrients in replaceable conditions, adequate and good quality food is being served to the children.
- Everyone involved in Akshay Patra, ranging from cooks to servers, are helping the country
- If we succeed in delivering the nutrition campaign to every mother, every child, many lives will be saved.
- With this thought, our government had started the national nutrition mission across Jhunjhunu in Rajasthan last year.
- The month of September last year was devoted only to nutrition
- Mission Indradhanush aimed at reaching every child of the country
- So far under this mission, about 3 crore 40 lakh children in the country and about 90 lakh pregnant women have been vaccinated.
- The speed at which work is being done, the goal is not too far
- We have fastened the vaccination campaign as well, the number of vaccines has also increased.
- In the earlier programme, 5 new vaccines have been added, one of which is also for encephalitis, which has been seen in Uttar Pradesh.
- Now a total of 12 vaccines for children will be brought in
- Mission Indradhanush is being appreciated worldwide today
- Recently, a famous medical journal has chosen the program in the world's 12 Best Practices
- Another important aspect of children's safety armor is hygiene.
- We raised the gauntlet to overcome this menace through Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.
- An international report says the mission has likely saved a life of about 3 lakh people from a clean India Mission
Akshaya Patra serves as an implementing partner of Mid-Day Meal Scheme
In its 19-year journey, Akshaya Patra foundation has served mid-day meals to 1.76 million children in twelve states covering 14,702 schools. In 2016, Akshaya Patra commemorated the serving of 2 billion cumulative meals in the presence of the then President of India, Pranab Mukherjee.
The Foundation works closely with the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) and State Governments to serve quality, hygienic, and nutritious food to millions of children.
Mid-Day Meal Scheme is considered to be the largest of its kind programme in the world. The program aims to boost enrolment, attendance, and retention in schools and to improve the health profile of children in the age group of 6-14 years.
PM mentioned about Akshaya Patra Foundation on October 24, 2018, during the launch of 'Self4Society' App in New Delhi. He said,"Akshaya Patra is a social start-up, which has turned into a movement that provides food to school children".
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said cow has been an important part of India's tradition and culture and his government has taken several steps to improve the health of cattle.
PM Modi said cow has been a vital element of the rural economy.
"We cannot repay the debt of cow's (gau mata) milk. Cow is an important element of India''s tradition and culture," PM Modi said.
He stressed his government has taken several steps to improve the health of cattle and started the Rashtriya Gokul Mission.
In the Union Budget, PM Modi said, his government has also taken a decision to establish ''Rashtriya Kamdhenu Aayog'' with an allocation of Rs 500 crore.
The event will commemorate the NGO's serving of cumulative three billion meals since its inception in 2000.
"The programme would be streamed live on the Web across all 42 centres of Akshaya Patra in the country.
"In Gujarat, where we are a partner for the Mid-Day Meal Scheme, all government schools will be hosting the streaming. People will join on the ground and online for the big event," he said. A silver ''patra'' (container), as symbolised in our logo, will be gifted to the prime minister, head of strategic communications in ISKCON said.
Twelve LED screens have been put up for the audience and 70 mobile toilets and four VIP washrooms have been arranged for the event, organisers said.
The police and security personnel are keeping a tight vigil in the town in view of his visit, and the venue and the main stage have been decked up.
PM Modi will also pay floral tribute at the Vigraha of Srila Prabhupad, the Acharya of ISCKON, the Union government said. This would be the prime minister's "first visit to the Chadrodaya Mandir campus" and elaborate arrangements have been made for it.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, HRD minister Prakash Javadekar, BJP's Mathura MP Hema Malini will also join the prime minister at the event.
"Arrangements have been made for over 10,500 people, including parents, teachers of schoolchildren, our donors and other well-wishers of the foundation, and enclosures have been made for them," head of strategic communications in ISKCON told .
The prime minister and the UP chief minister will address the gathering.
PM Modi will unveil the plaque to mark the serving of 3rd billionth meal by Akshaya Patra Foundation at Vrindavan Chandrodaya Mandir.
A massive stage has been erected at the venue and beautifully decked up.
"The prime minister will serve food to about 20 schoolchildren from underprivileged background in the campus, marking the three billionth meal offered by Akshaya Patra," Naveena Neerada Dasa, the head of strategic communications in ISKCON, said.
Funded by International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), Akshaya Patra is a not-for-profit organisation that works with the government on mid-day meal schemes.
The foundation has a state-of-the-art kitchen in Vrindavan and Modi will serve food to children near the facility.
Ahead of arriving in Vrindavan to serve meal to underprivileged schoolchildren, Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised the efforts of an NGO towards eradicating hunger from the country.
"I will be in Vrindavan today for a unique programme- to mark the serving of the 3rd billionth meal by the Akshaya Patra Foundation. Congratulations to all those associated with this mission. Their efforts towards eradicating hunger are exemplary," he tweeted.