FOOD SECURITY

In a world where we produce enough food to feed everyone, 821 million people – one in nine – still go to bed on an empty stomach every night. Even more -- one in three – suffer from some form of malnutrition. Inspired by Sarabjeet Singh of Shimla, I thought of starting something similar on a very small scale in our residential society, Akme Encore, in Kundalahalli. I sent out a video of Sarabjeet's work on our community WhatsApp group and called for volunteers. Around 6-7 people came forward but we were clueless about what to do next.  To gain…

Delhi has two groups of poor, who are not getting enough to feed their children. One are those who have a ration card. The other is the migrant worker, with no ration card, as they cannot furnish address proof. Kriti Rani and her two children, a son and daughter, fall in the first type. She has a ration card for her family of four. “But I am not getting anything from the last month against my ration card,” says Kriti. “Till then I used to get rations twice a month—totally 12 kgs of wheat and 8 kgs of rice, for…

“To forget how to dig the earth and tend the soil is to forget ourselves." -- Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi Suchitra Akella, an ex-employee of HSBC, planted her terrace garden five years ago when she was pregnant with her second child. “Although I had ornamental plants while living in a flat, I was worried about managing the terrace garden,” says Suchitra. “My initial efforts failed many times. Then V S Kumar, Naresh and Shastry from the Rythu Mitra gardening group provided great support. The horticulture department was also helpful. Now, we source fresh produce directly from our terrace vegetable patch at…

Bengaluru has been growing rapidly and eating into its rural peripheries. Between 2001 and 2011, the city's population grew by 42%, with an alarming increase in built-up area. Such drastic changes in land use, along with the intensive use of pesticides in agriculture, have destroyed much of the original habitats of many plants and animals.  A majority of the foods we eat depend on animal pollinators such as bees, flies, butterflies and birds. These pollinators can enhance yield and improve the quality of produce by the cross-transfer of pollen. Foods that are dependent on pollinators include fruits, vegetables, nuts and…

It is unfortunate that we needed a pandemic to realise that we need more decentralized food production and localised distribution, better soil quality management, more dietary changes and climate and disease resilient foods. And most importantly, self reliance. This happens to be in our best interest, and also in the best interest of the environment.  The world has 1.5 billion hectares of land under agriculture. To put this in perspective, imagine the whole of India covered in agricultural fields. Now imagine four and a half such Indias. That gives us 1.5 billion hectares of land, which was once pristine forest…

In Part 1 of the Ground Reality series, we looked at how migrant workers who came to Bengaluru to be bread winners, fell back on their families to survive the lockdown. In Part 2, we see that hunger was a stark reality for many, all through the lockdown. Bengaluru eats moderately well. Well, at least it used to. According to a 2019 study on household food consumption practices by the Indian Institute of Human Settlements (IIHS), only 17% of households in the city were identified to be food insecure. This includes 13% that is severely food insecure. But overall, the survey,…

Ehsaan Nagar, Gandhi Nagar and Rajiv Nagar  -- three slums in and around Bhopal that are home to 288 families of the Bel-Pardhi, one of the 198 'denotified' tribes in India. Gandhinagar and Ehsaan Nagar came up in 2002 on the outskirts of Bhopal, whereas Rajivnagar is located well within the city limits. In the wake of the COVID-19 triggered lockdown, availability and access to food among these tribal families across these three slums, who lead a hand-to-mouth existence even during normal times, has emerged as an issue of great concern. Out of these 288 households, 50-60% have ration cards,…

Lockdown has been tough for all, but more so for the hidden and forgotten communities around us. We wanted to create awareness about these communities who badly needed support - the people who have been constructing our apartments and houses, helping us with our domestic work and providing us with other essential services. Many of them have lost their jobs, some of them have not been paid salaries. Our journey began with a small group of migrant families in HSR layout, ward 174. We began by lending a helping hand to the efforts of BBMP and the Labour Department in…

Pisavali is a densely populated, low income neighbourhood. Most residents of the low income settlement are working in the informal sector. Many of the temporary residents in the basti are migrants from states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal without a permanent home in the city. After the sudden declaration of a nationwide lockdown starting on the 24th of March, only a few of the migrants were able to go back to their native villages. The majority however was stranded in Pisavali.  Map of Pisavali. Source: Google Earth Life became difficult given the precarious nature of employment for residents…

In this series, individuals, citizen groups and RWAs explain how they have dealt with the COVID-19 crisis in a constructive manner. In the seventh part of the series, a resident of Jakkur describes how her gated community supported those in need. On March 22, the day our Prime Minister called for Janta Curfew, we sensed the challenge ahead was not going to end anytime soon. The Janta Curfew gave a sneak peek into the potential problems during the long haul. It also made me ask - what can each individual do to minimise these problems?   Around that time, my husband…