Sonali Shetty recently hit the headlines for trying to feed street kids at a Delhi eatery. She isn't alone. A bunch of young food philanthropists is taking from the overflowing kitchens of the rich, to give to the homeless.
Many middle-class Indians can relate to the sentiment that drove Sonali Shetty, the Dehradun-based writer who recently filed a case against a Delhi restaurant for refusing to serve homeless children. Many of us are pricked by the contrast between our own easy spending and the widespread deprivation around us, but have no idea how to help.
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But now, some are moving from quiet guilt to effective action. Across India, young people are banding together, trying to bring a decent meal to those who struggle to get one.
Take the Robin Hood Army, started by a bunch of young professionals with full-time jobs, which takes unserved food from restaurants to the hungry. Founder Neel Ghose was inspired by the Re-Food initiative in Portugal, and decided he needed to bring it home. "We aim to counter both malnutrition and food waste," says Apurva Mishra, one of the team members. In two years, the Robin Hood Army has swelled to roughly 4,000 volunteers across 30 cities and four countries, and serves 10 to 15,000 meals a week.
facebook/Robin hood Army
While India's food waste is largely a matter of post-harvest losses and shoddy storage rather than wasteful consumption, Western-style lifestyles are also a growing reality. For 25-year-old Ankit Kawatra, it was a Gurgaon celebrity wedding that jolted his conscience. He hung back after the event, and learnt that the fine food with 35 cuisines, which could have fed thousands, was "literally going down the drain" after the event. Kawatra and his friends started Feeding India, now a 1,500-volunteer enterprise, enlisting restaurants and institutional cafeterias to donate extra food, which they deliver to shelters and charities. Students, stay-at-home mothers, pensioners, and many others give their time.
facebook/Robin Hood Army
Most restaurants are happy to pitch in. "We often call them when we have extra food from the staff meals or the catering, and often prepare more to give," says Dinesh Kumar, manager of Diva restaurant's catering service. Of course, the food has to be fresh and nutritious. "Our volunteers test and pack the food, and sign liability release agreements with the restaurants," says Srishti Jain of Feeding India.
These efforts have had an outsized impact, because of the tech they use to organise and scale. While the Robin Hood Army uses a WhatsApp group called Boiler Room to strategise volunteer work, Feeding India has an app where you can offer food or sign up to ferry it places. "We try to be as hyperlocal as possible, connecting restaurants in a particular zone to people in the area," says Jain. And thanks to word of mouth and social media, they have spread dramatically, in a contagion of generosity.
facebook/Robin Hood Army
In Vadodara, Gujarat, 31-year-old Darshan Chandan, a shipping professional, started the Bhookh Mitao campaign in June last year with six volunteers. His lightbulb moment came when a restaurant offered him and his friends a complimentary meal after he complained about the food, and he told them to feed hungry kids instead. "I asked them to send me photos, and when I saw the big smiles on the children's faces, the idea of feeding more of them struck me immediately," Chandan said. Now spread across five towns, with a large number of volunteers, Bhookh Mitao Campaign serves 1,000 kids regularly with nutritious food.
facebook/Robin Hood Army
While a homeless child may buy three rounds of biriyani on a good day, he may not be getting his fill of essential nutrients. "These kids, and even their parents, don't have any idea about nutritious food. Bhookh Mitao Campaign helps them have at least one nutritious meal a week," Chandan says.
This work is not limited to big cities or yuppies alone. In April last year, activist Tara Patkar of the Bundeli Samaj started the Roti Bank in Mahoba, Uttar Pradesh. It has been replicated in at least 50 other places, including Aurangabad, Indore, Bhopal, and Lucknow. Roti Bank volunteers serve the most vulnerable, like Rajendra Babu, a rickshaw puller whose life and livelihood fell apart when he contracted tuberculosis in July. By September, he had been reduced to begging on the streets, and even that did not guarantee a square meal. He recalls how, when he was lying outside the railway station, a Roti Bank volunteer brought him food. "I closed my eyes, to make sure it wasn't a dream," he says. "But it was real, and it kept me alive. I hope I can recover and thank them some day".
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These efforts try to prioritise those who are least able to help themselves. Santosh, who is destitute and has a mental disability, sits by a bus stand. "He cannot utter a word. But his eyes shine when he sees the food packet," says a Roti Bank volunteer.
Private initiatives to reach food to the hungry range from individual efforts to religious charity, volunteer groups to large-scale interventions like the Indian Food Banking Network, catalysed by Sam Pitroda, which relies on corporate support and professional expertise, and aims to create storehouses in each district. "They are all worthwhile attempts to mitigate unconscionable inequalities" says Biraj Patnaik, activist and principal advisor to the Supreme Court commissioners on the right to food.
These are people who make time on weekends, use their own resources to make someone else's life better. As Ghose puts it, "charity makes you feel good about yourself, but we have a large problem to solve". But while their efforts must be applauded, the state cannot shirk off primary obligation to intervene, through meal schemes, cheap rations and subsidised canteens.
facebook/Robin Hood Army
Solving hunger should not be a matter of Robin Hoods and Hunger Heroes, or of generosity on one side and gratitude on the other. Citizens have the simple right not to go hungry, Patnaik points out. "Ultimately, charity is not justice," he says.
facebook/Robin Hood Army
Started in August 2014 by Neel Ghose and Anand Sinha with six Robins.
By December, it had spread to eight cities, with 200 Robins..
A Robin Hood Army was set up in Pakistan by Sarah Afridi.
Between January and June 2015, it launched Mission 100k partnering with Zomato, Uber and Scoopwhoop, uniting Indian and Pakistani students to serve 100,000 people on Independence Day.
Now, they have 4,000 volunteers across 30 cities and four countries, and serve 10-15,000 meals a week.
feedingindia
Started by Ankit Kawatra in August 2015 with five people.
Now has nearly 4,000 volunteers, exists in over 20 cities and aims to reach 40 by the end of the year.
Has an app that lets you donate food or time.
Trying to raise money for refrigerated trucks.
Volunteers go door to door, and ask people to donate some fresh food. They are brought to a common point, and then distributed at railway stations, outside hospitals and in slums.
Replicated in more than 50 cities, because of the ease of the scheme.
bhookhmitaocampaign
Started by Ankit Kawatra in June 2014 with five people.
Now has nearly 1,500 volunteers, exists in over 25 cities and aims to feed 3 million meals by the end of the year.
Has an app that lets you donate food or time.
Trying to raise money for refrigerated trucks.