The idea of conserving food supplies was one of the ways which could control the famine in the country, he felt. Shastri wanted that every family should fast a day in a week or at least skip a meal once a week, but as he was the man who kept the country on top of everything, he wanted to see if his own family could do this.

“Shastri ji one day asked my mother not to provide us any food, because he wanted to see if his children could stay hungry or not. I was merely 14-15 years old then, and had two younger brothers too. That day all three of us stayed hungry. When he was convinced that one can stay hungry for a day, he urged the countrymen to fast for one day every week”, recounts Anil Shastri, son of Lal Bahadur Shastri.