Project Hunger in India
Many families in India rely on seasonal employment, such as the community of families in the Jhandewalan area of Delhi of artisans whose primary source of income was earned through their work during the festival period of Dusshera and Durga Puja.
This year, as a consequence of the pandemic, the demand for their products fell, and now these families who had helped beautify and enrich our cultural experience, find it difficult to even feed themselves.
It is evident that the topple down effects of a pandemic as sever as the one the world is going through affects more than just the health of the individuals, and it is important to be cognizant of the intersectionality of these issues.
Hunger, which has been a perennial problem in our country, with the largest population of undernourished people in the world, has been amplified owing to the far-reaching impact of the pandemic.
In such times, Tapas decided to conduct another ration drive to assist these communities in making ends meet.
Our ration drive in June which reached 600 families with one week’s rations, also made us realise that we needed to reassess our approach for deeper impact, and so this time we decided to provide ration kits to fewer families, but for a longer duration of three months.
In November 2020, teams of volunteers from Tapas initiated the Hunger in India campaign, and distributed ration kits to 45 worst-hit families in areas of Jhandewalan and Pusa, in Delhi.
One ration kit includes:
- Wheat flour (30 kgs)
- Rice (30 kgs)
- 2 types of pulses (20 kgs)
- Oil (2 litres)
- Salt (2 packets)
- Red chilli powder
- Turmeric powder Sugar (1 kg)
- Drinking-Water (big bottle)
- Detergent bar – 10 bars
- Bathing Soap – 10 bars
Small steps can often go a long way in creating impact, and at Tapas we strive to do something even if small, than doing nothing at all.
