#PPCovid19Relief
Last Wednesday, a man named Khoken came to our office in Thakurganj, Kishanganj District, Bihar to ask for food. For the past five years, Khoken has not been able to work due to physical ailments; he has no other family members either who are capable of supporting him, so he has relied on neighbors and others in town to provide him with food.
Unfortunately, due to an overall atmosphere of uncertainty and a fear of food shortages, he essentially had not eaten anything since Sunday, three days prior. This scenario is likely to persist over the coming months, so Khoken ji may continue to suffer from food shortages.
While Khoken ji may seem like an anomaly, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)’s “The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World, 2019” found that:
- 194.4 million people were undernourished — more than 2.75 times the population of France
- 20.8% of children under 5 are underweight
- 37.9% of children under 5 years of age are stunted
- 51.4% women in the reproductive age (15–49 years) are anemic
While undernourishment has many components, one of the most common predictors is poverty, and a large number of India’s poor are in Bihar.
These realities are important to highlight, because while the coronavirus is a very stressful and confusing time for everyone in the world, there are millions for whom this crisis could be a matter of life and death.
In Bihar, the Chief Minister Nitesh Kumar has transferred Rs. 1,000 to all ration card holders to help soften the economic blow and the and the central government has also announced a host of aid packages as well. In spite of this support, there will be many who fall through the cracks due to not having a ration card to begin with, lack of awareness that they have received the money, lacking access to transportation, living too far from the ATM, ATMs with no money, and various other challenges.
The primary area which we work in — Thakurganj Block, Kishanganj District, Bihar — mainly consists of daily wage workers who work in tea gardens, brick factories, and larger farmers’ fields. These groups are the most vulnerable economically, and also tend to be the most likely to lack the formal registrations and cards required to access government schemes.
After learning Khoken ji’s story, my co-founder Abodh gave him his lunch and a packet of sattu (gram flour which is mixed and water and drunk as a snack or meal). As a result, when I called Abodh around 8:30 pm, he was really hungry and eager to eat dinner because he hadn’t eaten since breakfast.
While Abodh’s reflexive generosity is admirable, a more coordinated response will allow him to maintain his own nutrition while also being able to reach out to many more people in need.
For that to happen, we are planning to :
- Provide basic rations and sanitary materials (see full list and budget)
- To 250 families (1,250 people) whose primary wage earner is a daily wage earner
- Across four villages adjacent to our eArthshala campus: Bhelatupi, Siyalmuni, Bhuttijhari, and Khalpara (where we have worked closely with the community for 3+ years.)
For a donation of Rs. 3,207 via GiveIndia’s website (with zero fees), you can ensure that a family of 5 will have all basic essentials for the next 15 days. 100% of donations will go into material purchase and the logistics (i.e., petrol) of getting the materials to people, and we will share continual updates via Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and the campaign site itself.
We thank you in advance for your support and wish you and your family continued health and safety.
