Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, a huge population of informal workers, comprising daily wage earners, undocumented temporary labourers and landless farmers have been deeply affected. Many of those who lost their opportunity to earn, could not afford a single wholesome meal a day.

Tata Steel Foundation (TSF) in association with the local administration began an initiative to provide at least one warm meal a day to vulnerable communities. The programme was first launched at Jamshedpur as the #ThoughtforFood initiative which was subsequently rolled out at Kalinganagar, Odisha.

Swarnalata Banra, Sarpanch of Gobarghati Panchayat, says that reaching out to the most vulnerable sections was the need of the hour. “Since the lockdown, income sources have become nil as most of the local people here are daily wage earners. Also, a number of migrant labourers working in the nearby towns came back to their villages. They had no savings hence we took up the initiative to ensure that such families received food as the basic necessity during such times”, she said.

Kunna Soren, a community mobiliser from Dubikhal, is also actively involved. “At first we hosted a meeting with the villages and informed them about the process. The local youngsters then came together and it gradually became a community-driven initiative. Apart from cooking meals, they also create awareness on maintaining hygiene while having their meals,” he said.

Rations were distributed in 29 Gram Panchayats in the blocks of Sukinda and Danagadi to support meals for 3,500 people. These are being served through community kitchens run by self-help group (SHG) members and local youth groups.

500 meals were provided to the Mankadia tribe, belonging to the particularly vulnerable tribal group (PVTG) in Sukinda. These landless labourers are mostly dependent on menial jobs for their survival and since the lockdown their income opportunities had decreased. Gita Didi, a field worker with the Mankidia Tribe had this to say regarding #ThoughtforFood programme - “Due to the imposition of Section 144 to stop the spread of Covid-19 during the lockdown period and police intervention, the Mankadias were not able to earn even Rs 50 or Rs 100 a day by selling the wood that they collect from the forest. So they had no money to buy food and were forced to beg. They were not even able to get anything through their ration cards and the allowances given to them were also stopped.”

Seeing the criticality of the situation, TSF after discussion with the local Sarpanch, provided cooked meals to 30 members of the Mankadia Tribe. In the meantime, we noticed that the number of people in need was increasing steadily. So we contacted the local self-help groups and provided them with rations. They thereafter cooked food and provided it to the Mankidias. As a result several people were involved in this initiative. The Mankidia were also made aware about proper hand hygiene and how to maintain social distancing while being served the meals.