Posted On: 2021-06-29 11:38:41
According to a report released by World Vision in 2020, worldwide more than 690 million people go to sleep hungry, among which almost 190 million people are from India. The most shocking fact is that more than a sixth of India is starving, and is undernourished. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), more than 33 percent of the food cultivated in the world never reaches the plate of people who need it due to inefficient supply chains.
Hunger
The hurricane of the pandemic hit the world and left a trail of chaos in each part it hit. People were dying and everyone was afraid that maybe their death would be next on the line. There were some people who considered the pandemic lockdown as an opportunity to live a life indoors and spend quality time with their families while a vast majority struggled to live. The lives of people like daily wage earners, ones who lost their job, and whose businesses were shut down were devastated. Many families were left to fend for themselves after their bread earner lost lives due to the pandemic.
The whole world went into multiple lockdowns, leaving many workers with no job and no money to feed themselves and their families. They too were afraid of getting infected but their biggest fear was seeing their family starve and going to sleep with an empty stomach. Though the situation of hunger was not new for them, the pandemic made it worse.
The novel coronavirus brought the world to its knees and overwhelmed the health systems across the world. The economic system was jolted and the mayhem led to the global hunger crisis. With the understanding of the necessity of food among the underprivileged, the Government along with the United Nations under the World Food Programme(WFP) worked vigorously along with civil society and NGOs to provide food security to these communities. The situation of hunger was starting to get stable worldwide and people were starting to have food security. But, the pandemic wrested food security and pushed millions of people towards the deep ditch of starvation. Decades of consecutive triumphs against the evil of poverty and hunger went down the hill and the situation reverted to the stage it was decades ago. Currently, nearly a billion people are suffering from hunger calamity.
Before the pandemic, everyone was aware of global warming and soil pollution decreasing the growth of crops on lands that were once filled with abundant foodgrains. This shortage of crops has led to inflation and has disrupted the supply chains within the country or between nations. It has left the WFP community helpless. If the situation of the Covid pandemic continues, then WFP’s biggest fear of almost 3 million people dying of starvation will come true. This situation can be compared to the devastation after World War 2 as millions of lives will be on the verge of death.
The second wave distraction
The chaos created by the second wave is much worse than the first one. A spike in the number of Covid positive cases was seen, creating a shortage of beds, medical facilities, and most importantly supply of oxygen facilities. Oxygen, being the most important thing that humans need for survival, has become the center of attention during the second wave. Many people including celebrities came forward in huge numbers to donate oxygen cylinders and concentrators. Million of rupees have been raised for providing oxygen support to help the covid affected patients. The oxygen shortage made people neglect the fact that many were dying of starvation in many parts of the country. The hunger of millions went invisible in front of the highlighted need for oxygen in the media.
Non-Governmental Organization(NGO)
NGOs work independently without any or minimum aid from the government to work for the welfare of people. They have always proved to be an important segment of society especially when supporting the requirements of the deprived. Their contribution to helping people in the form of rescuing the stuck people during calamities, providing many with food and shelter, giving financial aid to sick ones, helping in providing kids education, educating people, helping with the knowledge of skill development, making people aware about various topics like menstrual health, hygiene, indiscrimination with the girl child and many more is bigger than one can think of.
Like many other times, during these Covid times, NGOs gave their best to help as many people as possible. Though helping people meant risking their lives but still, without a doubt, they came forward and provided aid to many and are continuing to do so. They educated people about coronavirus and vaccination, provided them with protective masks and sanitizers, contributed to arranging oxygen cylinders and concentrators for patients, distributed ration kits to many families, served warm meals to children, and helped the needy in many other ways.
The volunteers involved in the Covid relief operation took precautions by wearing appropriate maximum clothing, masks, gloves, sanitizing and washing hands regularly, and also by maintaining social distance while distributing relief materials.
The government help
The government came forward in helping the underprivileged by offering them ration kits based on their ration cards. PM Narendra Modi also announced that free ration will be provided to 800 million people till Diwali 2021 under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY)
Helping the underprivileged
Filaantro, a crowdfunding platform has partnered with Child Help Foundation (CHF), an NGO to provide daily meals to underprivileged children daily under its “Zero Hunger” initiative. The project was launched with an initiative to erase malnutrition. They believe that every child deserves the nourishing food that they need for development. Currently, they are providing meals to more than 2000 children in different cities of India and are looking forward to providing meals to more children in various other cities. In addition to this, CHF is also providing ration kits to the needy who have been affected miserably by the pandemic and are fighting for survival. You can try helping those who are in desperate need of food by donating as much as possible on https://filaantro.org/fundraiser/view/zero-hunger
Khushiyaan Foundation in association with Ananta, Dil Se, and Child Help Foundation has started ‘Roti Ghar’ a project to distribute warm meals to needy children who are in desperate need. They have started serving fresh meals to children every day in Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Odisha & Delhi. Not just food but under their #FreeOxygenSeva initiative they are trying to arrange as many oxygen cylinders as possible for the patients fighting Covid. They have also made 3 helplines that take calls 24*7 and guide people with verified leads by providing them details of availability at covid treatment centers, medicine, and oxygen. You can do your part by contributing on https://filaantro.org/fundraiser/view/roti-ghar
We waste tons of food every single day but these children are dying because of malnutrition. It is not only our duty but the right thing to build our nation's future. It is time that we understand the importance of food and hunger and also understand that not everyone has privileges so if we have it we should use it correctly and do it right by everyone.
“Hunger makes one understand the true value of a piece of bread”
Author : Hritika Singh
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