Free a Child from Hunger this Independence Day

India has been “independent” for 75 years now. Indeed, much has improved since the nation’s first Independence Day. From being poverty-stricken under foreign rule, it is now the third-largest economy in purchasing power parity terms.

India’s share of global output has doubled to 7% and the per capita incomes have grown four-fold in seven decades (Source 1). Despite COVID’s devastating impact on the country’s economy, the poverty headcount rate in India has declined by 12.3% since 2011.

However, despite the progress, a large section of India’s population still lives without basic needs and hence, is yet to realize its dream of independence.

Rabindranath Tagore once expressed, in his poem ‘Where the mind is without fear,’ his idea of India as a united and open-minded nation where knowledge is freely available to everyone and where everyone lives fearlessly with dignity. But these view is still far behind reality.

Towards a self-reliant and self-sufficient India

In line with the vision of many such revolutionaries, the Honourable Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi raised a call in 2020 for his vision of a new India that is self-reliant and self-sufficient. But it can only be achieved when we empower the low-income sections of the population. When they receive enough nourishment and training, they will reach their full potential and contribute significantly to the nation’s GDP.

Therefore, small-scale industries, craftspeople, textile weavers and farmers must receive help in order to speed up India’s economic growth and achieve the goal of self-sufficiency.

Freedom from hunger

Empowerment for the low-income sections of the population can only start with good nutrition and education. Without food, no individual can focus on the tasks at hand which, in turn, hinders their ability to be innovative and give their best.

Once the nutrition aspect is taken care of, education is the next crucial step. The ‘right to education’ does guarantee free schooling for children until a certain age. But, when families struggle for essentials such as food, neither the child nor the parents are motivated to consider the need to get an education.

To tackle these challenges, the nationwide Mid-Day Meal (MDM) distribution to government school children under the PM Poshan Abhiyaan can be a breakthrough, provided it is implemented efficiently to reach remotest parts of the country. But this is where the challenge lies…

To realize the dream of freedom from hunger and illiteracy, we must help those who desperately need resources to succeed.

Contribution of NGOs

Luckily, several not-for-profits thought ahead of time decades ago and are continuously working for the marginalised people. However, they cannot function without contributions from corporate and individual donors.

One of the renowned organisations that has been working primarily to support unlimited food for education of children in low-income sections is The Akshaya Patra Foundation. It has been around for 21 years to feed the children and has been constantly rolling out new programmes to reach as many disadvantaged people as possible.

So far, in addition to its flagship Mid-Day Meal (MDM) initiative that supports the PM Poshan Abhiyaan, the Foundation has delivered relief during calamities such as floods, cyclones, earthquakes and the COVID-19 pandemic in Assam, Odisha, Kerala, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Nepal along with feeding nursing mothers and their children with the Anganwadi Feeding Programme.

The Foundation started the Homeless Mothers Feeding Programme to serve helpless and homeless widows. Subsequently, recognizing the need for digital learning amongst children from challenging backgrounds, it also began working on the Beyond Meal (Digital Education) programme.

The Way Forward…
The more support Akshaya Patra gets from its donors, the faster it tries to venture into new regions and initiatives. For instance, within the first six months of 2022, Akshaya Patra built four new kitchens in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Gujarat and Assam, thanks to a good response from its kind donors. Each of these kitchens can feed lakhs of children in hundreds of schools.

Today 1.8 million children are receiving nutritious meals at schools from 65 kitchens of Akshaya Patra. School authorities express that school meal distribution has considerably improved the enrolment and attendance rates.

If such a collaboration between NGOs and India’s aware citizens continues, the dream of freedom from hunger and illiteracy is not far from becoming a reality.

So what are you waiting for? Feed the children who need you or choose one of Akshaya Patra’s initiatives to free a child this Independence Day. Join hands to #FeedForFreedom of the underprivileged so that a self-sufficient and self-reliant India becomes the truth of tomorrow.