Madhu Pandit Dasa

Madhu Pandit Dasa is the President of ISKCON Bangalore,[1] Chairman of The Akshaya Patra Foundation,[2] and Chairman of Vrindavan Chandrodaya Mandir.[3] The Government of India has recently conferred upon him the prestigious Padma Shri Award[4] in recognition of the distinguished service rendered by Akshaya Patra Foundation for the children of India.

Madhu Pandit Dasa
Born
Madhusudhan S

Trivandrum, India
NationalityIndian
Alma materCivil Engineering (IIT Mumbai)
Known forPresident of ISKCON Bangalore, Chairman of Akshaya Patra Foundation, Chairman of Vrindavan Chandrodaya Mandir
Spouse(s)Bhakti Latha Devi Dasi
Websitehttp://www.madhupanditdasa.info/

Biography

Madhu Pandit Dasa (formerly known as Madhusudan S) was born in 1956 in Nagercoil, India. IIT Alumnus, he completed his B.Tech in Civil Engineering from IIT-Mumbai in 1980. While at university he was chosen by India's national talent search program. [5] In 1984, he married Bhaktilata Devi Dasi. After joining ISKCON movement in 1981, he served as the President of ISKCON Trivandrum in 1984.

The Akshaya Patra Foundation

July 2000 saw the beginning of an initiative led by Madhu Pandit Dasa[6] - the Akshaya Patra Foundation. The purpose of the Foundation was to serve underprivileged children by providing mid-day meals at Government schools of Bengaluru Rural District. To meet the requirement of preparing meals in large quantity, a centralised kitchen was designed by Madhu Pandit Dasa. He also gave the Foundation a working Governance Model, where transparency and accountability are the core values. Based on these values, Akshaya Patra has become one of the few trustworthy NGOs in the country. Demonstrating this point, Akshaya Patra has been awarded the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI)’s Gold Shield Award for Excellence in Financial Reporting consecutively five times, placing the Foundation in its Hall of Fame.[7] Akshaya Patra has spanned 17 years and during this has grown from providing mid-day meals to 1,500 children to 1.6 million children.

Inspiration

The teachings of Srila Prabhupada, the Founder-Acharya of ISKCON and the Inspiration behind the Akshaya Patra programme has been Madhu Pandit Dasa's guiding light throughout his journey as a missionary. Srila Prabhupada’s biography inspired Madhu Pandit Dasa to join the International Society of Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON).

Padma Shri Award

Honors and recognition
  • National Living Legend Award [8]

(The award has been conferred in recognition of the distinguished service rendered by Akshaya Patra Foundation for the children of India.)[10]

  • Distinguished Alumnus Award 2010 by the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay[11]
  • Distinguished International Gandhi peace award in 2019 for his contribution towards society by feeding midday meals to the school going poor children, marking a remarkable 3-billion plus meals

References
  1. "The project, which has been conceived by Madhu Pandit Dasa, president of ISKCON, Bangalore, will feature a grand temple of Lord Krishna". Hindustan Times/. Retrieved 28 January 2016.
  2. "Rajnath lauds foundation for serving mid-day meal - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 28 January 2016.
  3. "President Pranab Mukherjee hopes Vrindavan to be world centre of spiritual enlightenment | Latest News & Updates at Daily News & Analysis". dna. Retrieved 28 January 2016.
  4. "List of Padma Shri". The Hindu.
  5. Sri Madhu Pandit Dasa
  6. "Cooking up a storm for India's school lunch scheme". www.deccanchronicle.com. Retrieved 28 January 2016.
  7. Urs, Anil. "Akshaya Patra gets award for excellence in financial reporting". The Hindu Business Line. Retrieved 28 January 2016.
  8. {{cite web|url=https://indiaeducationdiary.in/national-living-legend-award-conferred-shri-madhu-pandit-dasa-chairman-akshaya-patra-foundation/
  9. Madhu Pandit Dasa, Chairman of Akshaya Patra Foundation and President of ISKCON Bangalore has been awarded the prestigious Padma Shri. The award has been conferred in recognition of the distinguished service rendered by Akshaya Patra for the children of India
  10. "Padma Honours for 11 Hailing from Karnataka".
  11. "Mr. Madhu Pandit Dasa | Alumni and Corporate Relations". www.iitb.ac.in. Retrieved 28 January 2016.
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