Did You Ever Go To Bed Hungry?

Video Volunteers and the Red Cross collaborated on the Hunger Video Project to document and bring out the hidden voices behind India’s hunger, malnutrition, and food insecurity statistics.  

Video Volunteers Community Correspondents produced 12 videos from across India that testify to the vast hunger problem in India.

The videos were produced for the launch of The World Disaster Report 2011, a joint collaboration between the World Food Program, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, and International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC.) The report aims to answer the fundamental question: “Why do one billion people across the world go to sleep hungry each night when the world is producing enough food for everyone?” 

A unique effort to enable affected communities to document the problem themselves, the videos have been played in Red Cross events in numerous capitals around the world, and are playing on an interactive map on their website.

Each of the 12 videos is presented below, along with a description of the community where the videos take place, and where the community correspondent also lives. 

Read Video Volunteers press release about the project.

Watch the Hunger Videos.

1. Ajit Singh from Silchar, Assam

Silchar, Assam in North East India is a predominantly rural – agrarian district with a large population of tribals from neighboring Manipur who have been living there as a marginalized minority since the late 18th century.

2. Amol Lalzare from Sathe Nagar Slum, Mumbai

The Annabhau Sathe Nagar Slum is a large shanty town in Mumbai that houses over a 1000 families. The community is a mix of skilled and unskilled laborers and low level government employees. They are in a constant state of conflict with the state and the authorities who want to declare the settlement as illegal and demolish it.

3. Anand Pagare from Malegaon, Maharashtra

Because of its proximity to the cotton producing regions of the country, Malegaon in Maharashtra developed as a major textile industry center. In recent years, it has been in the news because of violent communal clashes between the Hindus and Muslims who each make up around half of the community.

4. Avdesh Negi from Solan, Himachal Pradesh

An industrial hub and a major tourist center, Solan in Himachal Pradesh is placed scenically among the hills in the north. Even as further development continues, corruption and mismanagement are ensuring that only a few can avail of the benefits while the rest live in steadily worsening conditions.

5. Bhan Sahu from Raj Nandgaon, Chhatisgarh

Raj Nandgaon is an underdeveloped and predominantly agrarian district in Chhatisgarh in the east. Recently the district has seen violence and strife on account of land eviction and Naxal uprisings which put the citizens in conflict with the state.

6. Margaret Joeji from Trichy, Tamil Nadu

Trichy or Thiruchirapalli district in Tamil Nadu in the South of India is an important educational and industrial center. Casteism or caste based discrimination is openly practiced, labor is cheap and these factors has given rise to ghettos, poverty, oppression of the low castes and several cases of human rights violations.

7. Mukesh Rajak from Deogarh, Jharkhand

Deogarh in Jharkhand in the East is a major religious center for Hinduism. It is an economically and socially backward district with low literacy. It remains a bastion of religious orthodoxy and superstition.

8. Rohini Pawar from Pune District, Maharashtra

Pune District in Maharashtra is an agricultural centre and industrial hub. In spite of being relatively prosperous, development has been slow in coming and social awareness is low and archaic orthodoxy prevails.

9. Sajad Rasool from Badgam, Jammu & Kashmir

Badgam, located in the northernmost region of Jammu & Kashmir is at the borders of the conflict region between India and Pakistan. Extremely sensitive and heavily militarized, civil society and everyday life exist at the very edge of violence and peace.

10. Sarita Biswal from Cuttack, Orissa

Cuttack in Orissa is a major cultural and religious center in the East. There is a large tribal population and it is ecologically diverse and therefore, sensitive.Frequent conflicts arise on account of land evictions and government’s policy of wanton industrialization.

11. Sulochana Pednekar from North Goa, Goa

North Goa district in Goa is a tourist hub and one of the most ecologically diverse zones in the country. Goa is  also one of the worst governed states in the country.

12. Sunita Kasera from Karauli, Rajasthan

Karauli district in Rajasthan is in the North West of India. It is set among hilly terrain and surrounded by forests. It is one of the most backward districts in the country.

230 million Indians sleep hungry each night.

For further information on the Red Cross or on the 2011 World Disasters Report, please visit http://www.ifrc.org/en/publications-and-reports/world-disasters-report/wdr2011.