This NGO is serving 7,000 hot rotis every day to the poor in Kolkata

According to a report by UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), there are nearly 200 million undernourished people in India. Despite the country growing in leaps and bounds, and notching up economic growth and development, a daily meal is still a distant dream for many.

While poverty remains one of the biggest factors leading to malnutrition and undernourishment in the country, one cannot discount the massive inefficiencies in the supply chain management of food and its subsequent wastage as well.

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An estimated 40 percent of vegetables and 30 percent of cereals produced are lost on the way and do not reach consumer markets.

But the good people at Kolkata-based NGO Apni Roti are taking matters into their own hands and feeding poor people in Kolkata piping hot rotis with dollops of ghee and and a side of pickles.

Initiated by Vikash Aggarwal, the NGO goes around in a van and serves close to 7,000 rotis a day, feeding over 2,000 people in need. The van is fitted with an automatic roti-making machine that has a capacity of making 1,000 rotis per hour.

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While there are NGOs that repurpose leftover restaurant food for the needy, there is nothing like a freshly made, hot meal. Speaking to The Logical Indian about the initiative, Vikash explained that he started Apni Roti just this year, on January 1, with the aim of serving fresh, hygienic and nutritional meals to the poor.

Along with rotis, the NGO gives out even sweets sometimes. Vikash is solely funding the initiative at present.

“The van only takes a day off from the schedule and on all other days, it starts at 10:30 am and continues till 7:30 in the evening,” he notes.

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To strengthen the network of Apni Roti there is also a WhatsApp group called ‘Apni Roti Squad’. The group is mainly used to share the location of the roti-dispensing van so that anyone who wants to volunteer can come aboard, reports One India.

To cover the slum areas in the city, the team targets the poorest pockets of the city. Vikash is now seeking funding to buy more vans and expand the initiative to Bihar, Jharkhand and Orissa.