Former US president Bill Clinton arrived here late Monday night to take a look at a lunch programme that feeds over a million school children everyday across the country, an official said.
“Clinton arrived here at around 12.30 in the night by a chartered flight. He was taken to Oberoi Rajvilas hotel,” a police official said, adding that there is no pre-fixed or official programme of Clinton for Tuesday.
“On Wednesday, he (Clinton) will visit will a kitchen run here by an NGO to oversee a lunch programme that feeds over one million school children daily across India,” official said
The kitchen in Jaipur is northern India’s largest run by the NGO Akshay Patra.
It feeds almost 1.5 lakh people, including 1.25 lakh school children studying in 1,100 government schools in Jaipur district daily as part of the mid-day meal scheme.
The foundation also provides food to about 20,000 Anganwadi workers and 4,000 daily wage labourers at over 40 locations across the city every evening at a nominal price of Rs.5 per person.
Besides Jaipur, the foundation also has similar kitchens in Nathdwara, Jodhpur and Baran in Rajasthan.
Later in the day Wednesday, Clinton is also expected to visit a Sanskrit school in Pratap Nagar area of the city.
Clinton will visit Lucknow the next day. He will go to a school and a community centre that, through the Clinton Health Access Initiative, are providing health care training and information on treating diarrhoea, as well as educating mothers through self-help groups and school children through classes on lifesaving treatments.