Jawahar Foundation Inaugurates yet another Community Kitchen Program Centre “Swabhiman Bhoj” in Jaipur
Jawahar Foundation, an initiative by Mr. Riju Jhujhunwala (Chairman and Managing Director of RSWM Ltd) is expanding its popular community kitchen program "Swabhiman Bhoj” with the launch of another center in Jhotwara, Jaipur. Minister of State Dheeraj Gurjar was present in the program on this occasion, Minister of State Ram Singh Rao, Minister of State Mahesh Sharma, Vice- president Vipra Kalyan Board Mrs Madhu Sharma, Film actress Kirti Chaudhary, Rajasthan in-charge of Seva Dal Mr Vishnu Sharma, Lalchand Kataria's representative Gopal Kataria, Ashok Sharma, Acharya Balmukund Maharaj, Sangeeta Garg, Neelam Arya and Jawahar Foundation Treasurer Indu Mehta, Organizer of the event Rajneesh Verma etc. were present. On this occasion, Sumer Singh Charan conducted the stage, Dheeraj Gurjar said that the work of Jawahar Foundation, a pioneer in social concern, is a holy work, feeding the poor is the biggest religion, Gopal Kataria said that by opening this kitchen in his area, Riju Jhunjhunwala created a true society. Bollywood actress Kirti Choudhary has set an example of service, said that Mr. Jhunjhunwala gave her a good opportunity to connect and she continued to do social service like this.
Around the 2019 elections, Mr. Riju Jhunjhunwala announced his dream of eradicating hunger and providing nutritious food to the people in Rajasthan. This initiative saw light in August 2021 with the inauguration of the first ‘Swabhiman Bhoj’ in Bhilwara Rajasthan, which was a resounding success with over 1000 people being fed at the inauguration. These ‘Swabhiman Bhoj’ centers serve nutritious, hygienic meals at just Re. 1 for all the people who might not be able to afford to feed themselves and their family each day at a higher cost. Over the past 8 months, Jawahar Foundation established 2 more Swabhiman Bhoj in Banswara & Ajmer districts of Rajasthan and now has launched the initiative in the capital city. Today, Swabhiman Bhoj serves nutritious meals to 1000+ people every day and till date, have served 1,90,000 meals in Rajasthan.
Speaking about the inauguration, Riju Jhunjhunwala, founder of Jawahar Foundation said, Rajasthan has been one of the worst-affected States in the country, when it comes to malnutrition and hunger. Our team conducted a gap analysis of the state to understand food access levels of across different cities, which enabled us to understand the food availability and accessibility challenges for the community. That is when Swabhiman Bhoj was conceptualized as a community service, which will serve the community across Rajasthan, and we started our first center in Bhilwara. Through Swabhiman Bhoj, we aim to provide a long-term solution to the hunger issue in Rajasthan in an organized and hygienic manner.”
“This is just the beginning, and we have a long way to go before we can address the issue of hunger & malnutrition in the State. As per our study, Churu, Jhunjhunu, Sikar, Nagaur, Pali, Rajsamand, Udaipur, Dungapur, Alwar, Bharatpur, Dhaulpur, Karauli, Baran, and Jhalawar are some districts which are worst affected and are in real need for services like Swabhiman Bhoj. Looking at this gap, we at Jawahar Foundation are striving to scale this up quickly to around 30 community kitchens in Rajasthan within the next 3 years and serve over 1 crore fresh, wholesome meals to the beneficiaries. We thank the State Government for providing their support for this initiative.”, he added.
Presently, Swabhiman Bhoj centers are operational in Ajmer, Banswara, and Bhilwara. Beyond hunger & nutrition, the programme has also been a strong support to the State & District Administration during the peak of the Covid Pandemic, in mobilizing awareness campaigns & strengthening health infrastructure.