Community Kitchen ? Never too late !
Context :
Group of 8 secretaries to create National Policy for Community Kitchens / Hindu / 25 Nov 2021
Extract :
· With the Supreme Court’s three week deadline looming, the Food Ministry on Thursday formed a group of eight State Food Secretaries to create the framework for a community kitchens scheme.
· At its last hearing on November 16 on a petition regarding starvation deaths, the apex court had questioned the government’s commitment to run community kitchens, saying the first responsibility of every welfare state should be to provide food to people dying of hunger.
· The petition had urged the formation of a national food grid as well as a community kitchens scheme to ensure that “no person should sleep on an empty stomach” and rued that there is no official data available on death of persons owing to starvation although India accounts for almost a quarter of the world’s hungry people.
· The court pulled up the Centre for its lack of progress in framing a national policy to run community kitchens in consultation with State governments, including funds required, and gave it a three week deadline to do so.
· Setting up the group of Food Secretaries, Mr. Goyal said a new community kitchen scheme needed to be simple and transparent and build on the four pillars of quality, hygiene, reliabili
· The Minister emphasised the need to distribute quality food grain to deserving beneficiaries on the basis of need, for “a focused and identified set of people who are vulnerable especially women and children including homeless, slum dwellers, workers on industrial and construction sites”.
MY TAKE :
I urge the Group of Food Secretaries to consider following suggestions when formulating the Scheme :
[ A ] Involvement / Participation
Ø This scheme should involve total involvement of all the States. They should be made responsible for its implementation and monitoring ( within their respective States )
[ B ] Organizational Framework
Ø Much similar to GST COUNCIL , this scheme must have an MANAGING COUNCIL, consisting of Food Secretaries from ALL the States
Ø This Council may be named “ No One Starving Or Hungry in India ( NOSOHI ) “
Ø NOSOHI will formulate Framework - Rules – Regulations – Systems – Procedures etc re this scheme
Ø Proposed Framework may incorporate the desirable elements of Co-operative Movement , enshrined in the examples of AMUL / LIJJAT Papad / Anganwadi etc., which would convey the “ Spirit of Service “
[ C ] Generation of Self Employment
Ø The scheme should enable a large number of destitute women to participate and become Self-Employed
Ø In the towns / villages / cities, selected by the State Governments, some State Ministry must be tasked with the job of encouraging formation of Women’s Community Kitchen Co-Op Societies, who shall manage these Community Kitchens
Ø To each such “ approved / enlisted “ Society, State Government will make available the physical premises ( with water / power ). The size of premises will be linked to the number of poor hungry persons to be fed by the Society, every day ( pre-determined )
Ø To each such Society, the Central Government shall make available ( free of cost ) :
# All Kitchen equipment ( including Gas Chulhas + Gas Cylinders ). In course of time, when available
commercially, these gas stoves should be replaced with Solar Cookers / Chulhas .
# All tables / chairs required for the Dining Area ( No food shall be allowed to be taken out )
# All Storage equipment, including Refrigerators ( for Cereals and for cooked food )
# All Ancilliary equipment ( including cleaning equipment )
Downside of my above-mentioned suggestion :
Ø Creation of such a huge infrastructure is very difficult in a short time
Ø Once created ( at a huge Capital and Recurring Expense ), it is very difficult to administer
Ø There will be leakages and corruption ( in Supply Chain )
I urge the group of Secretaries to also consider following alternative :
NGO serves up free meals for kin of poor patients at JJ hospital / TOI / 28 Nov 2021
Highlights :
I found that an NGO distributes free food here,” said Patil.
He is among 600 people , all relatives of patients, who benefit from the scheme of Fazlani Aishabai and Haji Abdul Latif Charitable Trust. ( info@aishabaitrust.
“ Relatives of many patients eat a vada pav for lunch or dinner. Two square meals a day in Mumbai costs Rs 150 – 200, and the poor cannot afford this “, trust Chairman Abdul Kader Fazlani (roc.fazfoundation@
had said earlier
Procured from an ISO-certified caterer, the free meals are given twice a day.
“ As per our Chairman’s instructions, the food should be NUTRITIOUS and there should be no compromise on QUALITY. We have kept it VEGETARIAN so that nobody has any hesitation in accepting it “ , said Trust CEO Shabir Mushtaq Mir, adding that they often make surprise visits to the caterer’s kitchen to ensure QUALITY and HYGIENE
“ Beneficiaries get food coupons a day ahead so that the trust’s VOLUNTEERS know the NUMBER of FOOD PACKETS they need to arrange for that day. We ensure ZERO WASTAGE for the FOOD “, said Mir
Dear Secretaries :
While drafting your Community Kitchen Scheme , irrespective of its proposed structure, I urge you to incorporate the following provisions :
Ø Hungry person who queues up to collect COUPONS or FOOD PACKET, will NOT be asked ANY QUESTION, whatsoever . Please do not HUMILIATE a poor hungry human !
Ø He / she will not be asked :
# Domicile – Nationality – Name – Address – any Identity Card /
Document – Community – Religion –Caste –Age – whether employed /
jobless etc
Ø Although you may recommend installation of a FACIAL RECOGNITION system at each kitchen, it will be for the sole purpose of keeping count ( of the numbers served each lunch / dinner ) and to avoid DUPLICATE issues to same person.
Ø No beneficiary will be allowed to take the FOOD PACKET, outside the kitchen. It must be consumed inside the kitchen’s Dining Area only
Ø However, your scheme should provide for taking home the Food Packets, in cases of OLD-SICK-INVALID-BED RIDDEN, poor humans who just cannot walk up to the nearest kitchen. In such cases, relative / family member / friend or an NGO volunteer may be allowed to take out the food packet, after entering full “ SICK BENEFICIARY DATA “ in a centrally computerized system
Incidentally, all over India, religious trusts are running FREE " Bhojanalaya " , serving meals to thousands of devotees every day. One such Community Kitchen is at Sarangpur in Gujarat which claims to be running this service for past 100 years ( 24 x 7 ) , with 30 lakh ( 3 million ) being served every year
With regards,
Hemen Parekh / hcp@RecruitGuru.com / 02 Nov 2021
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