Maharashtra: NGO’s ready-to-cook ration kits fight Covid-19 effect in tribal belts

A family in Sudhagad, Raigad, with the food kit

With the Covid-19 pandemic and the resulting restrictions having brought daunting challenges for tribals, an NGO, Association for Nutrition And Development Action (ANNADA), has been helping with ready-to-cook ration kits in remote areas of Raigad, Palghar and other districts. Since April-end, 10,000 families have been helped.

The situation in isolated tribal villages is grimmer where apart from the fear of Covid-19, people are also dealing with hunger. Communities that migrate to work on construction sites or brick kilns have been cut off from their livelihoods. As compared to cities, their access to food is severely restricted.The situation called for a solution that quickly and effectively provides them with sustenance.

ANNADA's food solution meets several challenges while reaching out to the neediest communities. The NGO identifies needy families with the support of local government authorities and on-ground NGO partners. This prevents duplication of services.

Alvin Dsouza, programme head, ANNADA, said, "Since we began our outreach in April-end, we have provided close to a million meals and distributed almost 8,000 ration kits. Given the size of the problem, we have scaled up the pace of distribution and will have reached out to 12,000 families by the end of May. Around 70 per cent of our outreach this year has been focused on rural and tribal communities in Palghar, Raigad, Jalna, Osmanabad and rural areas of Thane. Many more requests are coming in from interior Maharashtra and states like Goa, Gujarat, UP and West Bengal."

What does the kit have?

ANNADA's ration kit consists of 5 kg food material including ready-to-cook food mixes and groceries that are easy to store, transport and have a long shelf life. The food mixes include dal khichdi (1 kg), multi-millet khichdi (1 kg) and masala daliya (1 kg). These mixes just need to be cooked with water. They contain no preservatives or additives and form a bulk of the macro-nutrient needs of an individual. The kit also contains 1 kg dal and 1 kg soya chunks/jaggery that helps increase the protein and iron content. Each 5 kg ration kit can feed a family of four for about 10 days.

In Raigad, kits were distributed in Sudhagad, Roha and Karjat talukas to over 2,500 families of brick kiln workers, migrants and Katkari tribes. In Palghar, almost 2,100 tribal families across Jawhar, Wada and Mokhada talukas were supported. The NGO also helped around 600 families from nomadic tribes and families that have lost their sole breadwinner in Jalna and Osmanabad. In the urban areas, the outreach has been focused on vulnerable communities disconnected from their livelihoods, such as rag pickers, daily wagers, urban poor, trans-genders and the differently-abled in Mumbai, Thane, Ahmedabad and Nashik.

ANNADA's work in nutrition, health

Since its inception in 2016, ANNADA has served over 11.6 million meals across its health and nutrition projects in over 900 locations across six states. It has reduced cases of malnutrition in kids below six years of age, and pregnant/lactating mothers by at least 50 per cent across its projects. "In 2020, we distributed over 1.2 million Covid-19 relief meals to migrants, daily wagers and homeless families. This year, given the intensity of the pandemic and additional challenges like the cyclone and rising child malnutrition, we aim to reach 30,000 families by June end," Alvin Dsouza said.