COVID-19: NGOs Across India Fed More People Than State Governments

Over the last two weeks during the nationwide lockdown, NGOs in 13 states and Union Territories fed more people to people than what their respective state governments did.

During the lockdown, a total of 84,26,509 people were provided meals across the country, revealed a reply submitted by the central government in the Supreme Court on Tuesday, April 7. Of this, 30.11 lakh people were fed by NGOs while the remaining 54.15 lakh were fed by state governments.

An India Today analysis of the state-wise data found that NGOs outperformed state governments, providing most of these meals to stranded migrant labourers and the poor affected the most by the lockdown.

In Telangana and Kerala, in fact, all meals were provided by NGOs. 92.8 per cent, 91.7 per cent and 88.5 per cent of all the meals were provided by NGOs in Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Mizoram, respectively.

Overall, NGOs provided meals to over 75 per cent of the needy in nine states and UTs. The state governments, however, outperformed NGOs in Delhi, Haryana, and Tamil Nadu, among others.

NGOs across the country also provided shelter homes for the needy. While 10.37 lakh people in India took refuge in shelter homes provided by state governments and NGOs, 39.14 per cent of them are staying in those provided by NGOs. In Maharashtra and Meghalaya, 83.56 per cent and 95 per cent of people are staying in relief camps set up by NGOs, respectively. The list also includes Haryana (41.7 per cent), Andhra Pradesh (41 per cent) and Punjab (40 per cent).

Comparing the overall proactiveness of NGOs and state governments, those in Haryana and Delhi were the most proactive in providing food to people. While 34.70 lakh people were fed by the state governments of Haryana and Delhi, Uttar Pradesh fed 6.84 lakh people, Uttarakhand 2.64 lakh and Punjab 1.94 lakh.

Coming to providing shelter, the Kerala government was the most active, sheltering 3.03 lakh people, which is nearly 50 per cent of all people who have taken shelter in government camps across the country.

On Wednesday, April 8, the central government announced that he Food Corporation of India (FCI) has been directed to provide wheat and rice to these NGOs at the open market sale rates (OMSS), without having to go through the e-auction process.

"NGOs and charitable organisations are playing an important role in providing cooked food to thousands of poor and needy people during this time of nationwide lockdown," the government said in a press release.

"These organisations can purchase 1 to 10 MT (metric tonne) at a time from FCI at the predetermined reserve prices. FCI has a network of more than 2,000 godowns in the country and such a large network of godowns will ensure smooth supply of food grains to these organisations in this hour of crisis," the release said.

The local district magistrates have been asked to ensure that the foodgrain reaches the poor and migrant labourers.

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