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Former US president Bill Clinton serves mid-day meal to children on his trip to India

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ANI Jaipur
Last Updated : Jul 16 2014 | 9:35 PM IST

Former United States (US) President Clinton visited a kitchen in Jaipur, which is part of a school lunch programme feeding over one million children daily across India.

He arrived in Rajasthan on Wednesday as part of his tour to the Asia/Pacific countries of Vietnam, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Australia, to review the work of the Clinton Foundation.

Clinton visited a kitchen being run by the non-governmental organization Akshaya Patra where he also took a round inside the kitchen where meal for thousands of children was being cooked.

He then visited a school where he served the mid-day meal to the children, interacted with some of the students and praised the efforts of the organisation running the kitchen.

Clinton also announced that Caterpillar inc., an American machinery and engine corporation, had also come on board to provide a grant to Akshaya Patra for the mid-day meal scheme.

"This is a remarkable partnership between the government, the private sector - the business community, and this wonderful non-government organisation. I just learned that Caterpillar is going to give you two million dollars to feed another hundred thousand children in Lucknow," said Clinton.

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Clinton spoke about his contribution to food schemes for students across the world and explained the importance of such meals in fuelling school enrolments and bettering the education system.

"In my last year as president, I secured 300 million dollars to give to 20 countries to provide meals to schools for children who would come. And I know what happened. Involvement goes up, drop-out goes down, learning improves," he said.

This was his third visit to the pink city where he first visited as the US President and later on re-visited as part of his Clinton foundation.

On the second day of his visit, Clinton will also visit a school and community centre in Lucknow ,which , through the Clinton Health Access Initiative, are providing health care training and information about using zinc and oral rehydration salts to treat diarrhea, as well as educating mothers through self-help groups and school children through classes on these lifesaving treatments.

After stepping down from office, Clinton has widely worked towards improving access to life saving medicines, addressing the growing concern of climate change among others, in the Asia/Pacific region.

Clinton also shared his joy at becoming a grandfather.

"I always hoped that I would become a grandfather and the men in my family normally don't live very long. So, I have been blessed by God to witness this event," he said.

Clinton will deliver remarks at the 20th International AIDS Conference in Australia.

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First Published: Jul 16 2014 | 9:21 PM IST

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