14/07/2021 Hunger crisis forces even middle-class Indians to line up for rations - The Economic Times

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Business News › News › India › Hunger crisis forces even middle-class Indians to line up for rations

Hunger crisis forces even middle-class Indians to

line up for rations
48
By Archana Chaudhary, Bloomberg Last Updated: Jul 14, 2021, 06:25 AM IST
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Synopsis
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While few statistics are available, migrants and workers at food distribution centers in
major Indian cities say they can’t remember seeing lines this long of people yearning for
something to eat.

AFP
Chanchal Devi’s three children haven’t
tasted milk for almost a year.

The staple was among items the 35-

year-old and her husband could no
longer afford after they both first lost
work when India’s capital New Delhi
went into lockdown in March last year.
Their distress deepened after this April Remote Work On-

due to a surge in Covid-19 infections. They’re now borrowing money to buy Demand
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empty stomachs.

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“I can’t sleep at nights,” said Chanchal from her home in Lal Gumbad Basti, a Flexing It™

neighborhood of migrant workers about 20 minutes away from the nation’s

parliament. “I’m so tired of worrying about arranging the next meal.”

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Families like Chanchal’s — two wage earners with some savings, living in
rented accommodation — are among legions of Indians who saw their
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
economic toehold ripped away in lockdowns over the last 12 months. More Want to invest in
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than 15 million Indians lost their jobs in May alone at the height of a complete guide
devastating wave that overwhelmed hospitals and crematoriums, according to
the Centre for Monitoring the Indian Economy.

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All of that is leading to an increase in hunger, particularly in urban areas, in a
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14/07/2021 Hunger crisis forces even middle-class Indians to line up for rations - The Economic Times

people. While few statistics are available, migrants and workers at food India's first Covid patient tests positive again for
coronavirus
distribution centers in major Indian cities say they can’t remember seeing
How does the Delta variant dodge the immune
lines this long of people yearning for something to eat.

system? Scientists find clues

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“This desperation for food and the long lines for rations in families with two Monday

wage earners is unprecedented,” said Aditi Dwivedi, who works with migrant Why most economists continue to back lockdowns

communities in the capital at Satark Nagrik Sangathan, a group that works on More »

transparency and accountability in government that has advocated for more

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food aid for the needy.

As India’s economy shrunk by 7.3% last year, the daily average wage for about
230 million Indians — enough to make the world’s fifth-largest nation —
dropped below the 375-rupee ($5) threshold, according to a study by the Azim
Premji University in Bangalore. “An alarming 90% of respondents” reported Ride Now
“that their households had suffered a reduction in food intake as a result of
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The number of people living in households with daily incomes below $5 level Top Trending News
spiked from 298.6 million, at the start of the outbreak in March 2020 to 529 Priyanka Gandhi Gautam Adani

million at the end of October, the study said.

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“If last year was harrowing, it’s tough to get a true sense of the extent of the Best Tax Saving Funds Economy News

crisis this year,” said Amit Basole, director of the Centre for Sustainable Warren Buffett India News Breaking News

Employment at Azim Premji University and co-author of the State of Working Delhi News Mumbai News Bangalore News

India report. “This year, people have depleted savings and are paying back Kolkata News Latest News News Headlines

debt. We don’t expect anyone to be back to Jan-Feb 2020 levels of income this
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In southeast Delhi, 45-year-old Naresh Kumar had to line up outside his local
food distribution shop at 5 a.m. nearly every day in June to ensure he got there
before supplies ran out. And at least he was eligible: more than 100 million
people remain outside the government’s public distribution system because
coverage is calculated on outdated census data, according to a study last year
by economists Reetika Khera, Meghana Mungikar and Jean Dreze.

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14/07/2021 Hunger crisis forces even middle-class Indians to line up for rations - The Economic Times

jobs last year. “On other days, they said they had nothing to distribute.”

The government is required by law to provide five kilograms (11 pounds) of rice,
wheat and coarse grains at subsidized rates as low as one rupee per kilogram
to India’s poorest each month. In June 2020, after millions of migrants walked
back to their villages on foot from locked-down cities, Prime Minister
Narendra Modi announced an additional six kilos a month per person until
November, at a cost of 1.5 trillion rupees ($20 billion). The program was
restarted in April and has been extended to November 2021.

For Modi, who has faced widespread criticism for his government’s pandemic
response and slow vaccination rollout, delivering basic goods for the poor is
crucial to his efforts to keep the Bharatiya Janata Party as the most dominant
political force in India. “In this time of the pandemic, the government is
standing by the poor as their partner for their every need,” Modi said in his
address to the nation on June 7.

The Prime Minister's office didn't respond to questions on his government's

plans to relieve food distress.

State governments have also struggled to deliver food to the poor. Responding
to an order from the High Court to resume hunger relief measures amid
Delhi’s lockdown in April, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced plans to
provide free foodgrains for two months to 7.2 million ration card holders as
well as financial aid of 5,000 rupees to 156,000 autorickshaw and taxi drivers.

Abhinandita Mathur, a spokeswoman for the Delhi government, said on July 7

that food rations were being replenished after stocks ran out in June, leaving
many families stranded.

In Mumbai, Swaraj Shetty co-founded the Khaana Chahiye, or Want Food

collective, last April to distribute meals and dry rations. What was expected to
be a short-term effort by a group of citizens widened to respond to increasing
distress calls for food through its “Report Hunger” initiative from beyond
Mumbai and as far off as cities like Pune and Bangalore, she said.

“Last year it was mostly migrant workers, but this year we’ve been seeing
people from the middle-class line up for help,” Shetty said. India’s middle
class, defined as those with incomes between $10 and $20 per day, shrunk by
32 million during the 2020 recession amid the pandemic, according to Pew
Research Center.

Sujata Sawant, 44, has also seen demand grow at a community kitchen she
started in April. After initially feeding 300 people with the help of local
women, her group now gives meals to more than 1,300 people every day.

“We can’t cater to so many who need it,” she said. “The numbers are increasing
daily.ETPrime
The costs are Mega
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14/07/2021 Hunger crisis forces even middle-class Indians to line up for rations - The Economic Times

Surging food prices have prompted economists to call for widening the
distribution of cereals under India’s National Food Security Act. A stalled
monsoon threatens to further stoke food inflation that was at 5% in May.

Those higher expenses have been an increasing worry for 32-year-old widow
Saliqa Begum. She left Delhi last year to escape hunger after losing her job as
domestic helper, only to return several months later to find food for her three
children.

Like most urban poor, Saliqa has no land to cultivate in her village in the
eastern state of Bihar. In Delhi, she has watched anxiously as prices of pulses,
oil and spices continue to rise.

“What more do we want from our government? They can at least ensure we
have some food?” Saliqa said. “If there is a third wave of the virus now, how
will we manage?”

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State Of Working India Pew Research Center Centre For Monitoring The Indian Economy Pune

Khaana Chahiye Azim Premji University Want Food Huger Crisis Of India

National Food Security Act

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48 COMMENTS ON THIS STORY

Sampath Ramaswami 6 minutes ago

Many middle class people have been pushed below poverty line and those
who are already below BPL have died due to corona or hunger. The ruling
party spends time in winning elections to acquire more power, slogans such
as one nation one ration,one nation one tax like nursery rhymes.

raghunath iyer 13 minutes ago

This crisis was always waiting to happen and the virus provided the
trigger.The tragedy of non performance by our system since 1947 is
evident.All the progress in the world cannot justify why we have not been
able to control our population,educate our citizens,provide jobs and keep the
citizens well fed in the last 70 years

Mukund Thaker 32 minutes ago

Entire economy has gone in pathetic position. There is no government

actually.

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