Amid a countrywide lockdown announced by the government to limit the spread of Covid-19 infections, migrant workers, families of daily wage earners and other vulnerable sections of the community have been among the worst hit - living with hunger and on the brink of starvation.
In rapid response, ACF team along with volunteers from Rabriyawas, Rajasthan have come together to distribute ration kits to those families most impacted in the area. Working in collaboration with the Gram Panchayat and village functionaries, ACF identified the financially weaker families to provide ration kits.
To prepare the ration kids, a Food Ration Distribution Camp was immediately set up, and kits included 5kgs of wheat Flour, 1 kg Lentils, 1 kg cooking oil, spices, biscuits, vegetables and other items sufficient to last them for 7 days. The kit contained items valued at Rs.500 per kit and overall 1200 families from Rabriyawas and around 400 families from Mundwa were supported in the last 15 days of lockdown.
Additionally, ACF was able to support 10,000 families in Rabriyawas and 2000 Families in Mundwa through the distribution of masks, and a holistic education campaign via voice, SMS, advertisement to educate people on the Corona Virus and lockdown regulations. SHG members were also involved in mask-making work and so far have prepared around 20,000 masks which are being provided to medical shops for community members in the area.
These activities were also rolled out across other locations with a total of 61,000 masks being distributed and education activities reaching out to 5lakh beneficiaries across locations. Rations were also distributed to 6500 families in the areas of Chandrapur, Dadri, Roorkee, Ropar, Bhatinda, M and Ambujanagar.
Families most affected and supported include migrant workers, daily laborers, widows, daily wage earners and small shopkeepers who were running out of cash and food supplies, since the sudden announcement of a lockdown gave them no time to prepare. With the loss in income and salaries from their jobs they were forced to manage their daily expenses through meagre savings and many families had no savings to rely on.
Other areas of Rajasthan have also been affected. Mr. Manoj Agarwal, Deputy General Manager at ACF says "As further lockdown has extended until 3 May 2020, we are exploring further community needs for ration but are estimating the need to be comparatively low as the Government is taking various initiatives to support people." He said.
"Harvesting season has also started so we are predicting labourers will be getting some amount of grain from their fields." Manoj outlined.
"With the likelihood of the lockdown being extended, the future remains uncertain for the most vulnerable sections in Rajasthan." said Mr Agarwal.
"ACF team is coming forward to fight against the current situation faced by people in collaboration with the Government and our local communities - the entire ACF team in Rajasthan is joining hands to support the people in every possible way." He said.
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