SOL PROJECT: SUSTAINABILITY AT THE TIME OF CRISIS

ORGANISATION : UDAY FOUNDATION

GROUP MEMBERS :
ANCHAL GUPTA
MUSKAN SONI
RAJVI VIRANI
YASHVI BANSAL
MODULE NAME : SCIENCE OF LIVING
CLASS AND SECTION : BBA(B) 2018-21
DATE AND DAY : APRIL 19, 2020: SUNDAY

 Uday Foundation mainly focuses on giving, to the society, all the love and kindness
this world needs. They do so in the form of donation of clothes, food, providing
medical help, distributing medical kits, donate hygiene and dignity kit to women,
even birthday celebrations and memorial giving. (But in this project, we are mainly
going to discuss the food and clothes service among all the wide range of services
extended by the organisation)

 The organisation runs on donations, and the basic idea behind it is to extend the help
we can towards the needy. This world is one big home and we should help the other
members. You don’t have to go out of your way to do it, just basic help like donations
old clothes, help provide them food etc.
 Uday foundation, is a mediator, they take the clothes you don’t need, take the money
you can spare, take the love you have to give, and extend it to those you need it.
Basically, the organisation donates food, and just not to the people who cant afford it.
The idea originated when the founder spent days and nights in the hospital, watching
so many kids coming from distant places, with family members either not having time
to prepare food and take care of themselves, or people so poor that they choose to stay
hungry to save money in the hospital. Hence, the organisation donates wholesome
food to people, free of cost, because food is the basic necessity and hence it very
important. The organisation also takes donations, through developing some
programmes, they have come up with small donation packages, starting with packages
like you can feed a 50 people for ₹500, this goes for upto 3000 people, but donors can
also donate any amount they wish to. There services aren’t only limited to food, but
they also donate education kits, hygiene and dignity kits, and warm blankets etc.
 With the growing population, and its increasing need for nourishment among the
people, ‘The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World, 2019' report, 194.4
million people are undernourished in India, which is about 14.5% of the population
roughly. These many people struggle to fill their tummies, on a daily basis. And the
problem doesn’t end here,  also 51.4% of women in reproductive age between 15 to
49 years are anaemic. 37.9% of the children aged under five in India are too short for
their age, 20.8% suffer from their weight being too low for their height. So many
people living without enough clothes to cover themselves, so many without even a
warm blanket to survive the cold.
Clothing poverty is much worse, especially in a country like India, majority o the
population do not have more than 2 items of clothing to cover themselves, especially
for women, covering themselves is more important than food, with no proper
garments/sanitary napkins, they have to survive on single clothing items. Which is
why, the foundation feels its really important to render hygiene facilities too.
This is all interconnected, good food, good and clean clothes, hygiene, productivity.
India has such a large magnitude of man power, but the reason it isn’t harnessed
properly, is because of the unhealthy and insufficient environment. Which is also a
reason for the income disparities, because if the workforce isnt healthy, how will they
attend work? And hence ensure a regular income.
Here, the main divide is between the wish and need, they don’t wish for food, clothes,
hygiene, as their main priority isnt living life, its SURVIVAL. And they have already
given up the dreams of food just so that they can save money. But the need food, in
order to survive, that is the bare minimum we could do for them, just the basic food
and clothes would suffice for their survival.

 One would think the supply demand chain would work perfectly, the lack of food and
clothes of the poor would be compensated by the abundance of the same with the
privileged ones. But no, despite the need for these basic necessities.
nearly one third of the food produced in the world for human consumption every year
gets lost/wasted. 40 percent of the fruits and vegetables,30 percent of cereals that do
not reach the consumer markets.
 Also the clothes, majority of clothes instead of reaching to the needy or even recycled,
actually end up in landfills. It is estimated that in 2050, the landfills filled with these
clothes will be the size of Delhi.
All of this waste, which isnt even actually waste, is all due to carelessness of people.
Plain carelessness, if this broken demand supply chain, with abundance of supply and
demand, could be mended, so many people wouldn’t sleep fully clad with full
tummies.

 The foundation already has tie-up with over hundred schools, who donate clothes and
toys to cancer suffering children in hospitals. The programme is designed in a
sustainable manner, as the focus isnt to develop a product but to simple render the
service. Simply be the mediator, seek from the rich and provide the poor. The
foundation has different branches, like hygiene, education, food, shelter, schools for
cancer patients, distributing shampoos, sanitary napkins to women. All of these
activities are focused towards providing the people with healthy lifestyle and their
wholistic development, by giving them the basic necessities.
It is sustainable as this organisation is just trying to fill the gap, build a bridge, so that
we can all help each other, all grow and live together.

 Environmental issues still prevail which needs to be taken care of. We could extend
our services to providing buses, as a lot of people come from different and distant
places to the hospitals, since their destination is the same, a network could be
developed to bring them together at minimum costs and hence ease with the
increasing pollution. This is just an example. As of the current situation, the major
issue if the COVID-19, hence maximum safety and hygiene are a must. Providing
knowledge and safety measures about it.