As You Read This, India's Very Own 'Rice Bucket Challenge' Is Feeding The Poor
People in South Asia are coming up with their own version of the Bucket Challenge, this time using rice instead of ice. Read why.
By Darian Goh — 27 Aug 2014, 05:49 PM — Updated over 10 years ago
The Ice Bucket Challenge has been a global phenomenon, with millions around the world participating to raise awareness and funds for the ALS disease
The Ice Bucket Challenge has been a global phenomenon, with millions around the world participating to raise awareness and funds for the ALS disease.
Image via qz.comSince June, thousands of people worldwide have doused themselves with a bucket of icy water, then posted a video recording of the stunt online and challenged others to do the same or pledge a donation. The "Ice Bucket Challenge" aims to raise awareness about ALS, a condition of the nervous system also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.
themalaysianinsider.com
The incredibly successful ALS ice-bucket challenge certainly has its supporters. By the thousands, they have crowded Facebook newsfeeds and helped the fundraiser for Lou Gehrig’s disease go viral by filming themselves getting soaked.
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Inspired by the challenge, Indian journalist Manjulatha Kalanidhi started a campaign called the "Rice Bucket Challenge", encouraging people to donate rice to someone in need
However, in India, a 38-year-old woman decided to transform the #IceBucketChallenge into the #RiceBucketChallenge, encouraging social media users to donate a bucket or bowl of rice to someone in need.
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'The idea occurred to me when I saw the Ice Bucket Challenge on Facebook,' said Manju Latha Kalanidhi, who works for oryza.com, a website focused on rice research. 'You feed someone hungry and you aren't wasting water,' Kalanidhi, whose campaign has attracted 138,000 contributors since it launched last Friday, told AFP.
The purpose of the campaign is to raise awareness and also fight hunger, one of the India's biggest problems
The purpose of the campaign is to raise awareness and also fight hunger, one of the India's biggest problems
Image via asianews.itAccording to the Global Hunger Index, India’s level of hunger is at “alarming levels” – it is one of three countries outside Sub-Saharan Africa in that category, the others being Haiti and Timor Leste.
It's yet to be seen what the returns will be, but Kalanidhi calls the response at home "astounding" given that hunger is hardly a new buzz word in India. Among the largest mass donations so far is a pledge of 2,000 kilograms of rice, from a group of college students in Hyderabad.
Vijeye, who took this challenge, said, "So many people in our country don't have food to eat. Charity begins at home and we don't have to look too far to do some charity." Narsimha Murthy said, "It's an innovative step, we are happy we also did, others should also help like this."
in.comThe mechanics of the Rice Bucket Challenge is simple. The participant has to donate a bucket or bowl of rice to someone before nominating friends and posting their photo on social media.
Enter the rice bucket challenge – a “Desi challenge for Desi needs,” as its Facebook page says. It asks Indians to take a bucket of rice from their kitchen, give it to the “nearest needy person,” share a picture of the good deed on Facebook, and then challenge friends to do the same.
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The original Ice Bucket Challenge has been met with criticism from countries as the challenge wastes clean, drinkable water
The original social media campaign has attracted criticism in the region over water wastage. Sri Lankan politician Malsha Kumaratunga staged an ice bucket event to raise money for a local animal welfare trust but saw her donation declined.
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"Wasting water like this in a tropical country is an insult to thousands who are suffering because of the drought," said former foreign minister and opposition spokesman Mangala Samaraweera, referring to the parched southern regions of the island nation. In Mumbai some Bollywood stars have also turned down the ice bucket challenge, citing similar concerns. "..already made a donation !! Not dumping water :-( waste of resources!," tweeted Bollywood actress Sonam Kapoor when asked to take part.
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In India, having clean water is a luxury and therefore the use of rice is more meaningful and tangible to the locals
A Hyderabad-based journalist believes that it is a bit senseless to copy the stunt in India, a country where clean water is a luxury for many. Instead, she has come up with the rice bucket challenge, where people are encouraged to cook or donate a bowl or bag of rice to a poor person. They then take a picture of themselves and post it on Facebook and nominate friends to take up the cause.
qz.com
They then take a picture of themselves and post it on Facebook and nominate friends to take up the cause.
Image via fbcdn.netIt makes sense that an alteration would resonate with the Indian public. Given water scarcity issues in the country, "the idea of dunking oneself in icy cold water, shrieking in horror and then uploading the bizarre video felt preposterous," Kalanidhi told Quartz soon after the launch. "I wanted to just do something local, meaningful without wasting anything. So rice replaced water here."
Why waste water?" she asks. "I felt like doing something more locally tangible. Rice is a staple here. We eat it every day, we can store it for months. Why not donate rice to someone who is hungry?"
Image via fbcdn.netIn India – where millions still lack access to clean water and proper sanitation, drought remains a pressing issue for indebted farmers, and hunger remains a daily reality for children and adults alike – the ice bucket challenge seems remote, indirect and more than a bit wasteful.
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"Why waste water?" she asks. "I felt like doing something more locally tangible. Rice is a staple here. We eat it every day, we can store it for months. Why not donate rice to someone who is hungry?"
cnn.comThe campaign is clearly working and has been picking up traction, with the official page on Facebook garnering close to 40 thousand 'likes' at this time of posting
In three days since it launched the #RiceBucketChallenge hashtag has been tweeted over 8,000 times and its Facebook page has picked up more than 26,000 likes.
telegraph.co.uk
The idea has hit all the right notes on social media. Its Facebook page, created yesterday, has already amassed nearly 40,000 fans.
qz.com
The Ice Bucket Challenge has taken on new forms in other countries apart from India. In Nepal, a "Fill The Bucket Challenge" has been launched to aid families who were displaced from the floods and landslides.
In neighbouring Nepal, a #FillTheBucket challenge has launched asking people to load up plastic buckets with food and medical supplies to help families displaced by deadly flooding and landslides this month in the Himalayan nation. "We received about 25 buckets today and a local school is bringing 100 tomorrow," said Sunny Manandhar, whose Kathmandu clothing store Curves is serving as a collection centre.
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Water-starved South Asian nations have devised their own answer to the Ice Bucket Challenge currently taking the social media world by storm, instead filling…
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Other challenges include a "Rubble Bucket Challenge", a challenge to raise awareness on the Gaza issue and the "Bullet Bucket Challenge", that originated to raise awareness for the shooting in Ferguson, USA
The Rice Bucket Challenge isn’t the first imitation campaign. Gaza launched the Rubble Bucket Challenge, which sees people pour buckets of sand and rocks over their head and nominate others to do the same. The concept is intended as a "a campaign to raise awareness about the war on Gaza where people are are bombed inside their homes", according to its Facebook page.
telegraph.co.ukThe rice bucket challenge is clearly part of a global backlash to the western fundraiser for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Some Palestinians, trying to raise attention of Israel’s war on Gaza, have issued a “rubble bucket challenge” online that involves dumping bits of their destroyed building on themselves. In the wake of Michael Brown’s shooting in Ferguson, Mo., Orlando Jones, an actor, dumped shell casings on himself and issued a “bullet bucket challenge.”
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