Pune, 29 May 2024 : ‘Hunger-Free World’, the ongoing CSR programme by Malabar Group to provide nutritious daily meals to the needy, will be expanded to cover more people and cities. At present, as many as 31,000 food packets are distributed under the ambitious programme, initiated to support the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 2 – Zero Hunger. As part of scaling up, 51,000 nutritious food packets will now be distributed.
Chief guest Chetan Vitthal Tupe (Patil), Member of the Legislative Assembly for Hadapsar, and Shubhash Narsingh Kalbhor, Chairman of Sadhana Sahakari Bank, along with Abasaheb Magar, Director of Magarpatta, flagged off the announcement of the Hunger Free World Programme in Pune. The entire Malabar management team took an oath during the event. As part of the Hunger Free World Programme, Malabar continues to distribute 1,000 food packets every day. To support this initiative, the Malabar Group has started new kitchens in Amravati and Nagpur. Additionally, 8,000 food kits have been added from the western region as part of World Hunger Free Day.
At present the programme is implemented in 37 cities spread across 16 states including Union Territories, apart from a few centres in the Gulf countries. As part of the expansion, the programme will now cover 70 cities in 16 States. Besides, the Group also plans to launch the same programme for school children in the African nation of Zambia known for the largest level of gold mining in the world.
“There are still plenty of people around us who are struggling to secure at least one square meal a day. We launched this programme as a small hand of help to those governments and agencies working hard to eliminate hunger from our world,” said M P Ahammed.
The Hunger Free World programme is executed with the help of the highly recognised social welfare NGO `Thanal – Daya Rehabilitation Trust.’ Modern kitchens have been set up in different places to prepare nutritious food in a hygienic environment by skilled chefs. The volunteers of Malabar Group and Thanal identify the needy people in the streets and urban suburbs and bring the food packets to their doorsteps.
The NGO volunteers are also surveying the beneficiaries to assess the social and economic causes of hunger. As part of this programme, the Malabar Group in association with Thanal, has already started the `Grandma Home’ project to identify poor and orphaned elderly women and provide them with free food, accommodation and other health care. Two such `Grandma Homes’ have been set up in Bengaluru and Hyderabad. Plans are afoot to set up similar homes in Chennai, Kolkata, Delhi, Mumbai and a few select cities in Kerala. This will provide an opportunity for neglected and orphaned women to live with dignity. The Group has also launched a micro-learning programme to support the primary education of street children.
Apart from this, the Malabar Group is also active in other social welfare and charitable activities like financial assistance for medical care, education support to female students, and partial support for house construction. The Group earmarks five percent of the profits from its verticals, including Malabar Gold & Diamonds, as a CSR fund for social welfare activities. The Group has already spent Rs 246 crore for such social welfare programmes.
