Hungry India's challenge is rice, not ice
Rajesh Sharma says need-based community projects can go a long way
Pouring a bucket of iced water over one's head has become a global phenomenon. Indeed, the Ice Bucket Challenge has already raised over HK$25 million in Hong Kong and many more millions globally in support of those afflicted with an incurable disease.
As ice bucket fever gripped the world, in Hyderabad, in the south of India, the "rice bucket challenge" was started by a woman, Manju Latha Kalanidhi. Her challenge is for a person to donate a bowl of rice to a needy person in their neighbourhood, then nominate another to do the same, and so on.
Although this challenge has not received the same media fanfare as the Ice Bucket Challenge, it has been quietly achieving its purpose of ensuring a poor person does not go to bed hungry. The biggest support has come from university students who donated 2,200kg of rice in a single day.
According to the Global Hunger Index, India's level of hunger is at "alarming" levels and is one of only three countries outside sub-Saharan countries in this category. The other two are Haiti and East Timor.
The rice bucket challenge also allows people to donate 100 rupees' (HK$13) worth of medicine if local government hospitals face shortages.
Inspired by the rice bucket challenge, Nepal now has a "fill the bucket challenge" - in which people are asked to donate a plastic bucket full of food and medical supplies - to help families affected by the recent floods and landslides.
There is no doubt that the Ice Bucket Challenge is for an important cause. However, these two other challenges mentioned make much more sense in India and Nepal, respectively, given that they address the current needs of each nation.
They are also good examples of how people can help each other in small ways and, most importantly, how resources can be redistributed for public benefit, something which governments are unable to do in free-market economies. The government of India came in for sharp criticism from some quarters at home and in the international community for deciding to back out of the World Trade Organisation accord on trade facilitation. New Delhi wants to continue to use government subsidies - which will be prohibited under the WTO accord - to provide food items like rice and wheat at cheaper prices.
Such subsidies infuriate taxpayers, who see it as a misuse of their money. However, the same degree of anger has not been directed towards the donations of buckets of rice to the poor. In fact, many of these government critics have donated rice themselves.
While the Ice Bucket Challenge came about to help a single cause, and should ultimately benefit many people, the rice bucket challenge is need-based and reaches those who require help immediately. In developing countries like India and China, such need-based initiatives may prove a more useful tool.
It may even be useful in Hong Kong, where many students face the problem of high book prices, for example, at the start of the school year. If people were to start a "book challenge", getting the well-off to donate a book, it would benefit students and their parents, while also helping to mitigate any government backlash.
Such need-based challenges can make people more aware, responsible and sensitive to the needs of those less fortunate, thus helping to contribute to a more harmonious society.
Most importantly, it will free the governments of developing countries to engage in the redistribution of resources or divert resources into food subsidies or social security. An initiative in Hyderabad has shown how small steps can help eradicate hunger, not only locally but ultimately globally.
