Working from home is not a luxury that the vast majority of Indians can afford. This lockdown is having a severe impact on the livelihoods of the poor who do not know where their next meal is going to come from. SP(I) with the support of their volunteers, has been providing free ration and vegetables in addition to running community kitchens across UP.
One particular young girl has won all our hearts . A 2nd year BA student in Azamgarh, Farah Naaz started volunteering to make and distribute masks. She returned the honorarium we paid her for her work and instead has asked us to use it to provide relief for those in need.
Community Kitchens for the Poor
On 5th April, we started with four community kitchens. Currently, we have over 18 kitchens feeding over 3700 meals per day including a new one launching in Gorakhpur today.
In all our kitchens, the community that is in need is involved in cooking and SP(I) volunteers are available to provide financial and monitoring assistance. Please see below a summary of our funding and impact so far.
| S. No | Key Metrics | Unit | Amount |
| 1 | Community members provided with free ration or vegetables | Nos. | 11725 |
| 2 | Community members provided with subsidised ration | Nos. | 7870 |
| 3 | Community members provided with free meals at Community Kitchen | Nos. | 42468 |
| 4 | Other community members reached | Nos. | 313 |
| 5 | Total cost of community kitchens | INR | 574,834 |
| 6 | Total Communities members reached | Nos. | 62,376 |
| 7 | Total donations received | INR | 899,774 |
| 8 | Total expenses | INR | 677,009 |
| 9 | Cash in Hand | INR | 222,765 |
Other initiatives by Socialist Party (India) and Partners
In Bihar: SP(I) has distributed relief packets worth Rs. 410 each to 103 families in Bihupur, Bhagalpur, Bihar.
In Varanasi: We have started distribution of dry ration kits worth Rs. 390 to 48 families in Daniyalpur. We will be reaching out to more families this week.
In Sitapur: Post our complaints and constant follow ups, 15 people who were held in quarantine in a public school in Sitapur had started received food from the administration. Even now, after being released from quarantine, they are continuing to receive support from local government.
Ration cards:
(i) Around 18 out of 20 people for whom we had submitted an application for ration cards in Hardoi have now received ration cards and are eligible for PDS benefits. This was due to the efforts of our volunteer Rutuja Chhajed, a student at IIT-BHU, Varanasi. Rutuja also facilitated the transfer of Rs. 1000 by the UP government into the accounts of four women who had not received the promised sum.
(ii) Due to our intervention, several families (around 40) In Sitapur and Hardoi, have got the struck off units from their Priority ration cards added back so that they can avail the full benefit of the PDS system.
(iii) After our complaint to the local authorities, the Fair Price Shop owner in Aseni Gram Sabha in Barabanki was suspended for charging money for ration for Antyodaya cards where he should’ve given ration for free and charging double the money for Priority ration cards.
Study Hall Foundation: Study Hall foundation has been providing over 120 food packets to Chattisgarh Migrant workers near Sahara Hospital, Gomti Nagar, Lucknow.
Dr. Nuzhat Hussain: Dr. Nuzhat Husain has been supporting three our Gomti Nagar kitchen with dry ration for over a week now. She will continue to support these kitchens until the end of the lockdown. In addition, she has provided 2500 cotton masks for distribution at various kitchens which a group of lady doctors at Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences are getting stitched at the rate of Rs. 5 per mask.
Harshvardhan Foundation: Harshvardhan Foundation has been assisting one of our kitchens by providing all required dry ration ingredients.
Ramazan Packets: We intend to provide special Ramzan packets to muslim groups observing Roza. Anyone willing to contribute to this special package can let us know so that we can distribute these to everyone in need.
The Association of Indian Muslims of America (AIM) has generously contributed INR 75,000 for distribution of Ramzan kits.
How can you contribute?
(a) Donate:
SP (I) strives to be extremely transparent in its disclosure of information about the funds raised, expenses and the list of beneficiaries. You can find detailed information in the links provided below. You could make a financial contribution to the following account:
A/c Name: Raini Fruit Company,
A/c no.: 104705002387
IFSC: ICIC0001047
Or
UPI to : rainifruitcompany@icici
Please send an email to ashaashram@yahoo.com with a screenshot of the transaction receipt in case you do make a donation.
(b) You could support the initiative in the non-financial ways:
- Provide raw food items or cooked food packets or even rotis.
- Deliver any relief items to our office in Chowk, Lucknow,
- You could also volunteer to work from home.
Please write to ashaashram@yahoo.com to learn more about these opportunities.
(c) Share this with more people in your network.
Contact us to learn more:
Lucknow: Salman Raini 9335281976, 9198379619
Varanasi: Vallabhacharya Pandey , 9415256848
Kannauj: Shahid Ansari – 8181944040
Barabanki: Amit Maurya 9793125579
Delhi: Syed Tehseen Ahmad 9654079528
Kolkata: Sagarika Banerjee – 9903740458
Hardoi: Bhagwandeen – 6387230761
Sitapur: Munnalal – 9452755765
Bihar: Gautam Kumar Pritam – 9162064070
Gorakhpur: Alok Pratap Singh – 9628460799
Click here to see our detailed income and expense sheet along with the number of beneficiaries. Click here to see the names of some of our beneficiaries. For more stories, follow our Facebook Page here .
To find out other ways in which you can contribute to the relief efforts, please write to ashaashram@yahoo.com or call +91 9952076367 (Vishal)
#LetHungerNotKillMoreThanCovid19. #SPIcovid19relief #TogetherWeCan
Love,
Sandeep Pandey
