Children will suffer starvation from Mumbhai suit (ISKCON) ys pd

PADA: The lawsuit filed against Madhu Pandit and Bangalore ISKCON will harm their FREE FOOD program (Akshaya Patra) run by Bangalore temple leaders, and as a result many children will not get their free mid-day meals. This is what we suspected, Bombay ISKCON's program is to starve the children of India. Bombay ISKCON leader Jayadvaita swami already said the free food program was "food for death" because it was a mundane charity, so they want to halt the feeding of children program. Why is the Bangalore court agreeing to stop the free food program? Why are children being forced to starve so that a few millionaire people can take over a building? ys pd 

Akshaya Patra Stalls Extensions
BY: RASHMI BELUR

Jul 30, BANGALORE, INDIA (DNA) — Will hapless students bear the brunt of a discussion in the state assembly? Disappointed by allegations made against the Akshaya Patra Foundation in the assembly on July 23 by president of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC), DK Shivakumar, the chairman of the Foundation has indicated that the mid-day meal scheme will not be extended to any more schools.

The Akshaya Patra Foundation's midday meal scheme currently extends to four lakh students in the state. Madhupanditha Das, chairman of the Foundation, said, "We are not ready for further extension of the programme after what happened in the assembly. We have received several requests for extension of the scheme from schools and parents, but we have decided against it."

Trustees of the Foundation expressed hurt over the allegations, and clarified that they were willing to shut the whole programme, should the government desire so. "If the state government wants it, we could shut the whole thing tomorrow. We are open to the inspection that will be conducted by the committee formed by the assembly. We are in fact, open to everyone," remarked Das.

"It would be sinful to stop the work on our own accord, but we are willing to do so if the government wants it," Das said. He added that the missionaries begin work at 3 am to get the meals to children in time.

Das said that it was painful that allegations were being made without any evidence at all. "We would request that the inquiry be expedited, so that any doubt about the authenticity of the work is addressed," he explained.

Trustees clarified that the Akshaya Patra Foundation and ISCKON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness) are different entities. The Akshaya Patra Foundation is an independent trust; ISCKON is a society, they said.

'Nothing wrong with property deals'

Addressing the allegations of fraudulence made by DK Shivakumar, an angry Madhupanditha Das said, "Why is real estate a dirty word? What could be wrong in generating funds? Why cannot the trust develop its property to generate funds?"

Das added, "The India Heritage Foundation has constructed and sold 600 apartments near Kanakpura, not far from Krishna Leela Park. That was not done on government land--the money generated through the sale was used for the Rs350 crore theme park. Those funds were raised by another trust, and funds are not mixed across different trusts. We are not ashamed of these activities. We pay tax even for the prasadam we distribute."

Das said that he would like to invite Shivakumar for a face-to-face interaction to clear the air. He alleged that Mumbai ISKCON was behind the allegations: "This is nothing new. only this time, the old song is being sung by a different singer," said Das.