Feed India Campaign – United us against Hunger during Covid-19 Times

India is the second-most populous country globally, is under tremendous pressure since the first confirmed case of coronavirus. As the pandemic was leaving scars around the globe, India could foresee the depth of socioeconomic hit that could be caused shortly by the Pandemic. However, the government has so far had to handle the aftermath of the pandemic with the utmost presence of mind. The most important thing was to deal with hunger, which gave rise to the Feed India Campaign.

Even though India has considerable economic progress over the years, but hunger and poverty prevailed in the country. Out of the total population of 1 billion people, 50% are undernourished, and 25% of the children are experiencing hunger. Along with India’s existing backdrop, the sudden cease of economic activities nationwide has questioned the rising food insecurity and misery for the destitute. The States and the central government have taken exceptional measures to face the extraordinary challenge with courage and confidence for meeting the hunger demand and giving wings to Feed India Campaign.

Impact on the Food Systems in India

Local Food systems are fragile in India. Around 91% of the total workforce is from an informal sector; it includes agricultural migrant workers who entirely depend on daily wages for their mode of living. These vulnerable groups and their families had a hardest hit during these unprecedented times. The sudden imposition of countrywide lockdown was a wise move to contain coronavirus spread, but local food systems were very much disrupted.  The worst part of lockdown was that it coincided with the country’s peak harvesting time of various crops of the season. Summer vegetables and fruits were ripened and were ready to pick; wheat, paddy, and barley crops were ready for harvest, but all the farmers’ hard work went in vain due to the country’s sudden halt. The temporary workers in the cities had to leave to get back to their villages as surviving in the city without regular salaries was implausible.

Difficulties Faced by Various States during Stage of Lockdown

The preliminary reports show that lockdown interrupted harvesting and post-harvesting activities in many parts of the country.

Some of the examples are as follows:

• The bumper harvest of wheat in northern part of India hobbled due to a shortage of labor and transportation bottlenecks.
• The western city Pune, where they grew grapes in abundance, had to seek student volunteers to harvest their crops. The farmers were forcibly to sell the produce for a lower price they were offered as the storage facilities were overflowing.
• There was the huge post-harvest loss of vegetables and fish stock as a result of zero business. Hindrance of the transportation and fear of vigilant checks at state borders made it even difficult for the sales to happen.
• The largest onion trading market in Maharashtra found it difficult to transport the fresh onion across the states as the panic mode prevailing in the country made the workers and drivers flee to their homes. Even the local workers were afraid to come out to work on their farms.
• The poultry and meat industry were under immense loss due to the fake rumors of COVID-19 and the animals’ association. False accusations regarding chicken and eggs as the major source of COVID-19 harmed the poultry industry.
• Haryana, the northern state had a plentiful harvest of cucumbers and bell peppers. Still, they began to get rotten as there was a sudden disappearance of buyers. This all happened in the initial days of the spread of the virus as 1people were reluctant to buy vegetables, claiming that many were handled by many before reaching their tables.

Major Issues Faced by the Different States

• Karnataka, the largest coffee-producing state in India, could not sell coffee as there were no traders and workers. Tons of cured coffee worth USD52 million were piled up in the warehouses due to the supply chain’s blockade. Most of the coffee harvest had happened last December and was in the processing state when the domestic activities came to a halt.
• Intercropped pepper in most coffee estates is left untouched due to a lack of workers.
• Food prices skyrocketed across nation as the transportation services were halted, and fresh supplies were not available. Urban residents found it difficult to buy groceries as the commodities became scarce at the beginning.
• Retailers had an advantage of the lockdown situation by imposing exorbitant prices on the existing stocks. Black marketeers were on the rise that sold essential commodities at an outrageous price.
• There was the huge surge in demand for processed foods like instant noodles and snacks. But in a meantime, all food processing activities virtually stopped.
• The shortage of raw materials also resulted in a low production rate. Most retailers lacked the manpower due to the absence of transportation workers to procure finished goods to supply them to respective shops.

Other Significant Issues that Raised the Need for Feed India Campaign

• The food manufactures however were exempted from the lockdown; they had got an exemption certificates from the authorities for continuing the production. It led to further delay due to bureaucracies that existed at the local and national level.
• Residential demand was on rise as people had meals at home; this even triggered panic buying to stock up essentials.
• The exploitation of the lockdown situation results in the market to be volatile by selling non-branded supplies at a higher price.
• However, in Punjab and Haryana, the markets were expanded to avoid overcrowding and to maintain physical distancing during the sales. Innovations like mobile vegetable trucks were accepted widely, which gave easy access to fruits and vegetables on their doorsteps. This step was taken by the local vegetable vendors as there were no customers in their shops. The agro e-commerce did not succeed in India during a pandemic emergency. It reflects the digital illiteracy among common people and also their disinterest in buying essential commodities online. Agro e-commerce platforms faced great hindrance as it lacked fresh supplies in their respective warehouses and transportation bottlenecks.

Strategies Adopted to Face the Unprecedented Challenges of COVID-19

Having a denser populace comparatively, India was forced to take immediate actions to curb the virus’s spread. As most of the population came under vulnerable groups, authorities feared a bigger problem than the pandemic, which was hunger. The government officials expedited to take measures for protecting the livelihood amid pandemic and accelerating the Feed India Campaign.

Feed India Campaign

Every state in India, by the COVID-19 outbreak, was successful in setting an example for the rest of the country. Immediate actions were taken to reduce the risk of hunger and starvation of the poorest population.

The major actions during the Feed India Campaign are as below:

• The government announced a free ration for all for one month, which is the government, has provided 35 kg rice for below poverty line families and 15 kg of rice for others through the Public Distribution systems (PDS).
• The states government has gone an extra mile by initiating the distribution of food kits consisting of 17 items for every household, irrespective of income status. The food commodities are sourced from the suppliers registered under the National Agriculture Cooperative Marketing Federation of India. The scheme was implemented for the first month of the pandemic, and the officials are planning to continue the scheme according to the severity of the situation thereafter.
• One of the measures to protect food security and encourage campaigns such as the Feed India Campaign in the state was setting up community kitchens all over the states. It was the first-ever move to provide cooked food for the needy. District administrators were given the duty to monitor the food assistance program, whereas the local representatives took responsibility for distribution and logistics.
• To provide nutritious meals for children under the age of 6, the government has instructed Anganwadi centers in the state to deliver free mid-day meals to the children registered under the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS). As per the Women and Child Development Department of the state’s orders, the Anganwadi teachers deliver raw materials every week to the families.

Because Serving Every Empty Stomach Matters

• The Central Finance Minister in New Delhi, Ms. Nirmala Seetharaman, announced a 1.7 trillion rupees relief package to take care of food security measures for the poor and needy people. This was funded by the Prime Minister’s Gareeb Kalyan Yojana Scheme. The action helped the poorest of the poor to cope with the hardship.
• To tackle food insecurity in the country, there was a distribution of free provision of 5kg of rice or wheat per person, 1 kg of pulse per household, and free cooking gas monthly for the next three months.
• A second economic stimulus plan of worth 1 trillion rupees is sanctioned to aid small and medium businessmen, mainly in the agricultural and food sector. These large-scale interventions were the need of the hour.
• The government successfully provided vulnerable groups such as farmers, daily wage earners, women, self-help groups, and poor senior citizens the support necessary in these unprecedented times.
• After the outbreak of COVID-19, the Defence Food Research Laboratory (DFRL), is working day and night to feed especially the health workers across India with nutritious meals.
• Private sectors also played a major role in the government to feed the needy. Major private companies like Wipro and SRK groups sponsored around 60,000 meals per day in government canteens to feed the poor. Free meals were given in Anna Purna Canteen in Hyderabad and Amma Canteens, Tamil Nadu, especially for students and migrant workers who were stranded.

Measures for the Agriculture and Food Sectors

The Indian Council of Agricultural Research became the focal point for managing activities in the country under the umbrella of the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare and implemented the following actions.

• ICAR started to test a possible impact on agriculture and allied sectors and provided measures to lower its negative effect on a local food system.
• Crop safety measures were taken regarding harvesting, post-harvest operations was advised to the farmers by ICAR experts.
• Special attention was paid to rabi season crops like wheat and barley as their harvesting time is around the corner.
• Experts also advised farmers to postpone wheat harvest, which was about to give record harvest after the great monsoon.
• Responsibilities were given to local field agencies to ensure hassle-free agricultural produce and related machinery to reinstate farming activities.
• The government has assured India’s food security by the buffer stock, which is overflowing in India’s granaries. Other measures by taken by the central government are as follows:
• An official memorandum was released to support the poultry farmers who went into loss due to poultry’s false association and the source of the virus. The monetary support of Rs 100 per bird was given as compensation for zero business.
• At local levels, food safety inspectors were instructed to inspect perishable goods such as vegetables, meat, and fish products to prevent adulteration daily.

Other Proactive Measures

Mmany of the big multinational corporations and corporates like Tata group and PepsiCo, food delivery companies like Zomato have stepped in, and the government to feed the daily wagers during the feed India Campaign. Private-public partnerships aided the government in raising money to tackle the situation throughout the feed India Campaign. RBI took initiatives by introducing the Long Term Repo Operations worth 1 trillion INR to improve lending at low-interest rates. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has asked both private and public banks to hold their loans and micro finances. Simultaneously, public and private partnerships have invested in many mass testing strategies, medical research, and hand-washing campaigns and also feed India campaign. These collective and proactive approaches have proved so far to contain the virus.

Conclusion

On the whole, the COVID-19 pandemic is a crucial juncture in Indian history. The evident trails from rest of the world helped the Indian officials take preparedness and response measures at the right time to tackle the pandemic. The decisive leadership of the central and the state governments have implemented remarkable strategies to protect the livelihood of millions. Along with the government, giant corporations also took part in Feed India Campaign.

Hindrise is in the frontline to make consensus to curb the virus’s spread. Evidently, the Indian government has taken steps to feed the entire nation and protect the lives and livelihoods amid the corona outbreak. Hoping that it cloud also has a silver lining in reshaping society’s potential for greater food security and food sovereignty, thus paving the way to efficient food systems.