As the United Nations revealed today that the global hunger could double due to COVID-19 impact, we have innumerable private firms, NGOs, religious organisations, and individuals doing their bit in the last one month since the March 24 lockdown. The early days of the nationwide shutdown was fraught with uncertainty and chaos, prompting the Karnataka High Court to doubt the BBMP’s claim of feeding the homeless and the migrant labourers, and asked the state government to intervene. Last week, the government set up Sankalpa, a website that every donor, organisation, and volunteer can visit and register themselves for joining hands in feeding the poor. Doctors can volunteer for telemedicine services by giving a missed call to 080-47192219.
Individuals and NGOs can volunteer for providing relief to the vulnerable sections of society by registering on this website, or inform the government about anyone in need of relief. You can also donate to the CM’s relief fund where CSR funds are also eligible as it is towards disaster management for Covid-19 management and containment. For more details, call 080-22284420, or email: .
While some employees are foregoing a part of their salary to donate to the underprivileged, there are others who are feeding the migrant labourers and the homeless in their vicinity, even if it is for a day, like the Sarjapur Road fire force station officials who donated rations for 85 families today.
And then there is the Prasanna Trust whose volunteers include residents from areas like HSR Layout and Koramangala, who are feeding 4500 families every day, with the help of the police.
The state government has launched a ‘Hunger Helpline’ (155214) that is feeding over 2 lakh people every day by sourcing food from a number of vendors, such as Wipro, Adamya Chetana and The Art of Living. The helpline is distributing food to different religious organisations, the Bangalore police, and NGOs to supply food across the city. For example, a group of NGOs are distributing packed food from the Hunger Helpline to 2500 people every day, including Kaagaz Foundation, B.PAC, IT for Change, Quess, and Mythri Mahila Koota.
However, the demand-supply gap is yet to be bridged, as many calls to the Hunger Helpline never go through, and those that do, still do not get the rations promised as the supply is less than the demand. With the cancellation of free food at Indira canteens, the number of hungry people has increased, and burdened the helpline further. We tried to call the helpline too, but it gets disconnected after this message: “Welcome to support. Please wait while your call is being transferred.” One way to circumvent this is to call 100, and the police will deliver the food to you from the Hunger Helpline. Or call the BBMP control room at 080-22660000.
Here are some organisations who are doing their bit across Karnataka, and India. You can do your bit by identifying the organisation that works for you by conducting due diligence, and either help in providing/distributing the rations or with money, or both. Last Sunday, we spotted a father-son duo at the open-air vegetable market filling up their SUV with 220 kilos of Tomatoes for the Prasanna community kitchen that is feeding 4500 people every day.
Every rupee, and every brow of sweat helps in these times. The homeless, the migrant labourers, the slum dwellers, and those without salaries need all the help we can give them. Open your purses, and donate generously, particularly those who have enough money to last a lifetime. Please do note that by helping others, you are helping yourself. It’s just simple economics. When there is money in hand, the person goes out to spend it on food and rations. Therefore, the money you and the government gives the homeless, goes back into the economy when they spend that money for their living needs. If the economy comes to a standstill, everyone will lose, the rich and the poor. Therefore, now is the time for the well-off to part with their monies to feed the poor, the jobless, the underprivileged, and the vulnerable sections of society.
To help you make a decision, here is a long list of organisations that you could examine before making generous donations. We do not personally endorse any organisation. Therefore, please do it at your discretion. In the meanwhile, all families in Bangalore who are using less than 10,000 litres of Cauvery water will not have to pay any water bill as that will be paid by the BBMP. This is the civic agency’s way of easing the financial burden on such families due to Covid-19. However, remember this. If you consume 10,001 litre, you will have to pay the full amount; it’s only meant for those who consume less.
