Caritas India and Welthungerhilfe decided to join hands to fight the hunger and nutrition insecurity of Adivasi communities in India which has aggravated in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic. A roadmap for promoting culturally appropriate, environmentally sound and decentralised food systems among tribal communities in India was finalised in a webinar that was organised on 17 July 2020. Over 170 partners of Caritas India and Welthungerhilfe had attended the webinar during which several food and nutrition security models were showcased.

Addressing the webinar, Adv. Yashomati Thakur, Honourable Minister for Women and Child welfare, Govt of Maharashtra, appreciated Caritas India and Welthungerhilfe for organising the webinar on the food and nutrition security of Adivasis especially at a time tribal communities are beset with huge challenges of hunger and malnutrition. “There should be concerted efforts by both government and civil society for fighting the causes of malnutrition and hunger. While working to address the food and nutrition security of Adivasis, efforts should be made stop child marriages which have aggravated health crisis in tribal areas”, the Minister said. Yashomati Thakur highlighted the adverse effects of Covid-19 pandemic on the development tribal areas and said that everyone should work more intensively in helping tribal communities emerge out of the pandemic crisis.

Fr. Paul Moonjely, executive director of Caritas India, in his keynote address underscored the necessity for everyone to demonstrate humanity in this crisis times. “During the pandemic crisis, we had seen God walking on the road providing relief and comforting the distressed migrants. When the world experienced an unprecedented crisis, the compassion of communities also was very visible”, Fr. Paul said. For Adivasis, malnutrition and hunger are not just about food availability. The chronic hunger of tribals is also due to the additional factors like discrimination, geographical isolation, limited access to public services, cultural differences, and the several existing deprivations faced by them across sectors, Fr. Paul added. He further said that the pandemic has made the situation of Adivasis even more precarious. They have lost work and livelihoods. Adivasis who constitute a major part of the migrant workers population in India have been driven away by the pandemic to their native places with little money and with huge burden of liabilities, uncertainty and hopelessness, Fr. Paul said.

The webinar was organised with the objective of reviewing lockdown impacts on the food and nutrition security of Adivasi communities and for assessing the reverse migration and its impacts on food and nutrition security of tribal communities. During the webinar, participants also shared several models of food and nutrition self-reliance and innovative farming systems for achieving food and nutrition security.

Fr. (Dr.) Jolly Puthenpura, assistant executive director of Caritas India, in his opening remarks reiterated the commitment of Caritas India to show human compassion to the affected communities, especially Adivasis. Fr. Jolly further said that Caritas India considers that hunger and malnutrition are worst forms of deprivation which society must fight against with all its might.

Mr. Basanta Kumar Kar, who has earned the epithet of ‘Nutrition Man’ of India in his address highlighted several models for fighting the hunger and malnutrition endemic to tribal areas. He highlighted the decades-old undesirable association of tribal communities with malnutrition and the reasons for the continued affliction of tribal communities by chronic hunger. He called for promotion of community-based solutions for addressing malnutrition which according to him is a fairly simple issue. Mr. Basanta said that there is a “goldmine of solutions” with communities to address hunger and malnutrition which should be identified, respected and popularised.

Mr. Peter Seidel of Caritas Germany in his address exhorted the civil society to make efforts to improve the functionality, in an environment of accountability, of public systems that are responsible for food and nutrition security. “Welfare structures of government need to become more effective and accessible to tribal communities. Only then a lasting solution to the persisting hunger and malnutrition can be found”, Mr. Peter added.

Mr. Philippe Dresruesse, Program Advisor – India and Bangladesh, Welthungerhilfe, in his address highlighted the necessity of decentralising and diversifying food systems. “Community led solutions hold key to the efforts to eradicate hunger and malnutrition. Tribal food systems and traditional food systems should get more respect for their proven efficiency to address hunger and malnutrition” Mr. Philippe said.  Mr. Sachin Kumar Jain, a well-known Right To Food activist also addressed the webinar and presented the findings of the study that his organisation had conducted on the food and nutrition insecurity of Adivasis during the pandemic. Mr. Sachin highlighted the imperativeness of localizing food systems for achieving greater food and nutrition security of Adivasi community.

Ms. Pratibha Shrivastava, Madhya Pradesh coordinator of Welthungerhilfe, presented a roadmap for civil society to respond to the food and nutrition insecurity of tribal communities in the wake of the pandemic. She said that Caritas India and Welthungerhilfe partners across the country can play a big role in helping tribal communities recover from the pandemic shock.