Alleviation of Hunger imperative for Vrindavan’s development
International community the world over aims to eradicate one of the most crippling problems facing one in every ninth person in the world-hunger.1 Zero hunger is one of the most important sustainable development goals envisaged by the United Nations. FAO, IFAD and WFP have been toiling hard to ensure that this problem is addressed. In developing countries about 12.9% of the people are faced with the problem of hunger.2 India is no exception to this problem with over 195 million of its population being victimized by it.
In Vrindavan the problem of hunger takes a new dimension. The town of Vrindavan has an overall population of 63,005(2011 Census) with over 10,000 pilgrims visiting it from different parts of the country visiting the town everyday.3 Around 30% of the population of the town are engaged in some kind of occupation (Census 2011) and are able meet their basic needs. But there is a sizeable portion of the population in the population which is not engaged in any occupation being forced by various circumstances. Widow mothers and mendicants form this section of population who do not have any fixed occupation and thus are rendered vulnerable. It is estimated that over 70004 widows have come to take shelter of the town of Vrindavan hoping to pass the last days of their lives in the holy town remembering the Supreme Lord. It becomes a moral imperative of the Vrindavan community to ensure that these widow mothers spend the last days in peace. It is imperative on the community to ensure that this vulnerable section of the population is not afflicted by hunger. There are no forthcoming figures on the mendicant population in Vrindavan due to absence of any surveys by governmental or non-governmental organizations. But one can fathom that there is sizeable number of them who too suffer from the pangs of hunger and malnutrition.
The condition of the widows of Vrindavan had captured considerable attention of the apex court of the country and at its behest survey was conducted by the National Commission of Women a few years back. The commission in its report opined that hunger and malnutrition are one of the manyserious problems faced by the widow mothers of Vrindavan.
The various feeding programmes were started in 2010 by HKM V and have been extent since then. HKM V envisions to reach out more and more widow mothers and other beneficiaries through its multifaceted freedom from hunger foucssed initiatives.
Hare Krishna Movement Vrindavan wants to address this key problem faced by widow mothers of Vrindavan. Taking up this social responsibility in earnestness it has been serving nutritious, wholesome food to widows. For this very purpose kitchen has been setup at it premises in Bhaktivedanta Swami Marg. The kitchens uses indigenously developed chapati making machines for making rotis in huge numbers, steam based boilers for cooking rice and vegetables in huge quantities. The kitchens are clean and well maintained to ensure that hygienically prepared meals reach its beneficiaries. The food cooked are packed in air-tight stainless steel containers and are transported in dust free covered vehicles to various ashrams where these widow mothers are sheltered.Similarly food is also served to mendicants and daily wage earners of Vrindavan in certain key locations of the town.
Feeding thehungry of Vrindavan is not a charity but a moral imperative of the community. Hare Krishna Movement Vrindavan, has been very active in hunger alleviation initiatives since 2010. Its key focus area has been hunger alleviation of widow mothers and other vulnerable section of Vrindavan.
1, 2 Hunger and malnutrition stats World Food Program(WFP) website
3Study on Widows at Vrindavan – A Survey by National Commision for Women.
4Article by Shantanu Ray in Firstposthttp://www.firstpost.com/living/xavier-zimbardo-documenting-the-widows-of-vrindavan-and-varanasi-2705706.html