BENGALURU: After her successful Youth Feed India movement, a campaign to provide free meals to daily wage workers, city-based entrepreneur Deepti Kat is extending the campaign. Kat and her team are now focusing on helping underprivileged children and women by making them economically independent after the lockdown. “Now, we are working towards creating a plan that will help them once the lockdown is lifted,” says the former restaurant owner, who is an alumnus of the London School of Economics.

She adds, “The real challenge is when the lockdown ends because they have lost their jobs and have to start from scratch. So we are working with various verified non-government organisations to create more job opportunities for them.” Kat also looks forward to working with women across the country, who are victims of domestic violence. by providing them counselling but asserts that the initiative requires more funds than what they have now, which currently comes as a major  obstacle. “It might take time but we don’t want to give up on that,” says the 31-year-old. 

Kat, who is also working with designer Prasad Bidapa on the revival of old handlooms, came up with Youth Feed India just before the first lockdown, along with her two friends -- Shaaz Mehmood from Hyderabad and Tanya Reddy from Chennai. “Initially, when I came across many Uber drivers losing their jobs, I decided to offer help by posting an appeal on Instagram. But sadly, I got no responses. During that time, Tanya and Shaaz  also had similar posts and faced a similar issue of people not reaching out. So all of us came on board to come up with a nationwide food distribution project,” says Kat, adding that until now, they have distributed more than 35 lakh meals across cities like Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, New Delhi and Mumbai.  

A bunch of youth coming together for a cause has also resonated with many, with tennis player Sania Mirza coming on board as a patron, and  Bollywood stars like Sonam Kapoor, Rhea Kapoor, Sara Ali Khan and Abhishek Bachchan contributing to the initiative. “In India, we are focused on the dual challenge of not only tackling the spread but also ensuring no one goes hungry on account of no work. It is the duty of every citizen to take responsible actions to support government initiatives,” says Mirza.