Hyderabad: The Rice Bucket Challenge, India’s response to the Ice Bucket Challenge, seems to have caught the imagination of the people as the number of likes to the Challenge’s Facebook has swelled to more than 2000 in just two days.
Rice Bucket Challenge, motivating the people to contribute in form of rice grains or in any other kind to the needy, was the brain child of a Hyderabad woman Manju Latha Kalanidhi, inspired by the “Ice Bucket Challenge” to create awareness against ALS, a progressive neurodegenerative disease, in America and other western countries.
“I was impressed by the idea and the efforts they were making against ALS. But I thought that it was wastage of water if people were merely throwing bucket full of it over their heads. I felt that it would be much more relevant to Indian situation if people come forward with a bucket full of rice and contribute it to the needy,” said Kalanidhi, a journalist. No sooner had she floated the idea that it went viral on the social media with more and more people joining in.
Her novel idea, begun through Facebook on Sunday morning, evoked quick response and more and more people started coming forward to join the movement by liking the page and taking part by donating rice buckets.
The Facebook page of “Rice Bucket Challenge” calls it an “Indian version for Indian needs”.
“It’s local and a practical solution to issues in the vicinity. Instead of wasting water on ice bucket challenge, save water and feed the hungry,” Kalanidhi wrote on her Facebook page.
While the Ice Bucket Challenge was aimed at encouraging the contribution and charity for fight against the ALS with a bit of fun, as it involved people nominated by their friends dumping ice cold water over their heads, Manju’s idea was to feed the hungry and the poor as hunger remains a serious issue in India even today. India is among the three worst countries outside sub-Saharan African as far as the problem of hunger is concerned.
While people in America were uploading their photos of ice bucket dumping, those contributing a bucketful of rice in India were also doing the same thing on the page. The page was also encouraging the people to donate medicine worth a minimum of Rs100 to their nearest government hospital to address the second major issue of health care for the poor.
The first rice donor was Devuni, who contributed a bucketful to Sattibabu, who sells idli (savoury cakes) and dosa (pancakes) via bicycle to make his livelihood.
To find out how to be part of this charity, go to Rice Bucket Challenge/Facebook.
