Telanagana: A town's students answer call by police to give to the needy

By Prasad Bhosekar

Jammikunta town in the Karimnagar district of Telangana made it to the national headlines last year for the collective singing of the national anthem every morning. Started on August 15, 2017, even today the entire village comes to a standstill every day at 8am while the national anthem plays over loudspeakers.

The man behind the idea — Jammikunta Inspector P Prashant Reddy — has now issued a new call. He asked the town's students to donate fistfuls of rice. 

The rice was to be deposited in drums installed at the town's schools, then turned into 10 and 25-kgs bags, and finally distributed to orphanages, and the needy. 

Named "Pidikedu beeyyam, pattedu annam" (fistful of rice, full plate meal ), some 4,000 school students donated fistfuls, or more, of rice, finally collecting 70 quintals or 7,000 kilograms of rice. 

"I wanted to inculcate the importance of food and how every morsel counts among the students of our town. I got this idea when we see lot of food being wasted when there are many who go without one proper meal a day. It was heartening to see the way students and their parents, all of whom come from humble background supporting this cause," said Reddy. 

In photos: A schoolgirl donates rice (top) and (above) a schoolgirl gives away a 10-kg bag of rice to a needy woman. Inspector P Prashant Reddy, the man whose idea it was, is seen behind the schoolgirl. 

The students and their parents participated voluntarily. 

"When I came to know about this programme I asked my parents whether I could take fistful of rice but my parents told me to take half kg instead,'' said Harini, a student, adding that she was very happy to give away to the needy.  

"It's a good way to make our children children realise importance of food and specially not to waste food," said Veeresham, a parent.

After the rice had been collected, a programme was held in town, at which the students gave away the rice they had collected.

The programme's success has got the Jammikunta Police embarking a new scheme. 

They are now asking students for old textbooks, notebooks, and other stationetery which can then be passed on to needy students.