Last week, Forbes announced its 2017 ’30 Under 30 Asia list’ where a list of individuals including Bollywood actress Alia Bhatt, Australian actress Margot Robbie, and Singapore’s only Olympic gold medallist Joseph Schooling were named.

Amongst those also named include 25-year-old Ankit Kawatra, the founder of Feeding India, a non-profit initiative that looks to eradicate hunger by collaborating with organisations including restaurants and private firms to feed the poor. Kawatra, who was one of the people who praised Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan's initiative to regularise food portions in restaurants, told DNA that there was so much more to food wastage in India.

While speaking about the initiative, Kawatra told DNA that the aim behind the initiative is to channelise excess food from individuals, weddings restaurants and corporate offices to the people who need it. “Our belief is that we do not need to create new food to feed the less privileged, but to simply direct the extra food which is already created. We also tackle the problem at its roots, where we encourage people not to waste food at all,” he said.

Also read Govt to ask restaurants to reduce portions to battle food wastage

The idea came to Kawatra during a wedding. “There were over 10,000 guests and several cuisines. I wondered what would happen to so much food and decided to stay back. At the end, people were throwing the excess food into the bin. That food could have fed over 10,000 people that night. I then quit my job and decided to work on eliminating food wastage in India,” he said. Today, Feeding India has expanded from an organisation comprising five members in August 2014 to a unit that has over 3,500 volunteers in 43 cities.

Challenges

In 2016, India ranked 97th out of 118 countries in the global hunger index. India has the highest number of undernourished individuals in the world at 194 million.

While speaking of the challenges, Kawatra says the lack of awareness about hunger and under-nourishment is a problem. “There is a misconception that education can ensure individual independence. However, that is not possible without ensuring proper food and nutrition especially during one is vulnerable. For example, for a child to adequately study with concentration it is necessary that s/he receives basic nourishment. A child can't study on an empty stomach. In India, the concept of giving extra food is still relatively new, which means that people are hesitant at first,” he said, adding that people think that the food they give may be too little, but in reality when combined with food from other locations it can feed a number of people.

On food wastage

Kawatra also lauded the centre for raising the issue of food wastage during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Mann Ki Baat last month. Speaking of Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan’s suggestion to regularise portion sizes, Kawatra said that while he isn’t completely in favour of regularising one standard food portion for everyone, the idea of a variety of sizes can be fruitful. “In France, there are different portion sizes of food available. This means you can order how much you want and this further leads to reduced food wastage,” he said.

He also cleared the misconception that the government wants restaurants to reduce the portion sizes. “The idea is to list the size on the menu so that the customer knows how much s/he will order.”

The bigger problem, Kawatra said, was the loss and wastage in handling and storage of food before it even reaches the consumer. “There is also food wasted at the consumer level that can be diverted to the needy. The government has realised this and has addressed the issue of food wastage,” he added.

While he isn’t working with the Centre as yet, Kawatra says that his non-profit wants to first deal with managing extra food that goes to waste. “Delhi may have up to thousands of weddings on a single night. Each wedding usually wastes food for 350- 7,500 people. The amount of good food being thrown in the bin on these dates and around the year is what we aim at solving,” he said.

To work with Ankit Kawatra and Feeding India, you can contact their 24-hour helpline +91 9871178810) or download their mobile app. To know more, visit www.feedingindia.org