NORTH ANDOVER — School lunches in India are about more than nutrition.

For the 830,000 Indian children that get free lunches through the Akshaya Patra Foundation, the meals are incentive to go to school.

Next week, a touch of India will come to North Andover where Akshaya Patra is hosting a performance of Odissi Dance on March 30 at Merrimack College to raise money for the school lunch program.

The cost of a ticket? $28, or the cost to feed a child in India for one year.

Other tickets options include $14, the cost to feed one child for six months; and up to $112, the cost to feed four children for one year.

"Lately when everybody thinks of India, they think of growth, they think the country is doing well," said Akshaya Patra President Madhu Sridhar of Andover. "But there is a vulnerable population living in poverty. If you neglect this big group of people, that has an impact on the global economy."

All of the money raised will go directly to Akshaya Patra, a name that means Unlimited Vessel. Fourteen kitchens open at 2:30 every morning around India. They produce 830,000 meals that are then shipped out in the morning to arrive by lunchtime. The kitchens have been designed to cook the food fresh, but fast. They are highly mechanized so less human hands are involved.

For many of the children, this is the only meal they will get all day. In a country now known for its presence in the technical industry and its booming economy, Sridhar said many families still struggle to find a space to live and food to eat. In those families, children are often sent to work menial jobs instead of school. Because they don't get an education, those children have trouble advancing in life.

Gururaj Deshpande, chairman of the Akshaya Patra Foundation Board, said the goal is to feed one million children by 2010. Deshpande, who lives in Andover, said that will be possible because the meals cost just 10 cents each and private foundations have partnered with the government.

The program has been recognized by Harvard Business School, who visited the kitchens and is now doing a case study, and by the U.S. Senate. Massachusetts Sens. John Kerry and Edward Kennedy have both written letters in support of the program.

Deshpande said he would someday like to see programs in other places children are starving, such as Africa and South America.

"What is exciting here is that when you have millions of people, there are a lot of kids who are exceptional. They don't get to achieve if they don't get to go to school," he said. "Akshaya Patra is having a huge impact in terms of height, weight and attendance."

Sridhar said the benefit to her was apparent when she was talking with a young man who had started with the program and gone on to finish college and find a job. He told her he wasn't going to school when he was a child, but then he started watching the Akshaya Patra trucks go by and could smell the food. His parents decided to send him to school.

"You can find children in the street to feed," said Sridhar. "But when you give the food at school, it engages the students in their studies and has a long-term impact."

India comes to North Andover

What: Akshaya Patra presents Odissi Dance Performance

When: March 30, 2 to 4 p.m.

Where: Rogers Center for the Arts at Merrimack College

Tickets: $14 to $112

Tickets available at foodforeducation.org or by calling 781-438-3090, ext. 3.