The Ponty Chadha Foundation Sponsors the International Badminton Tournament at Lucknow

January 26, 2014, Lucknow: On the occasion of the 64th Republic Day, the finale of the Syed Modi Badminton Tournament, sponsored by the Ponty Chadha Foundation, was organized at the Babu Banarasi Das Indoor Stadium.

The event, which was held on January 21, 2014, saw its closure with India winning the Women’s League. In this tournament, the Indian star player and Olympic bronze medalist, Saina Nehwal, bagged the coveted trophy. This was her first victory in the finals in the last fifteen months. Her win in the semi-finals was a sure-shot sweepstake for her as P V Sindhu (India) was to contend against her in the finals.

Though PV Sindhu arrived with some victories against top-class opponents and even landed a bronze at the World Championships last year, badminton enthusiasts waited with bated breath to watch her showdown with Saina Nehwal. The opportunity came during this tournament, which was the first international meeting of the duo. PV Sindhu, who earlier lost twice to Saina Nehwal in the Indian Badminton league, suffered a straight-game defeat though both differ only by two seeds in the international rankings. Besides the Women’s Single, India could not make up in any of the other leagues and lost to China in the Men’s Single, Mixed Doubles, Men’s Doubles and Women’s Double.

The tournament was sponsored by the Ponty Chadha Foundation in light of encouraging the sport. A sum of USD 120,000 was spent in organizing this well-received and well-attended event.

About the Ponty Chadha Foundation

The Ponty Chadha Foundation has been working towards alleviating various social impediments, and encouraging the welfare of society. It has been actively working towards eradicating hunger through the Ghaziabad & Noida Food Bank project by organizing various drives and facilitating many similar events. The foundation also fosters education for the mentally disabled children through its special school, the Mata Bhagwanti Chadha Niketan. Moreover, it actively promotes sports such as Hockey and Badminton in the community.

The Ponty Chadha Foundation Takes On Poverty at the Grassroots

Hunger is a massive problem in most developing nations and India, in particular, is one of the worst affected nations globally in terms of food distribution and poverty. Although a governmental welfare system of rationing food supplies is in place which caters to low income families, as for most of those living below the poverty line, this system is not adequate. Various studies have reported India as just slightly higher than the poorest of the poor nations in the world. The World Bank states that as many as one in three undernourished and poverty stricken people of the world reside in India. 

The problem lies with the fact that many of the welfare programs and food distribution drives are unable to reach out to majority of people in need, with bribery and corruption failing even the most well-intentioned efforts. This is largely why India ranks 68th out of 79 countries on the Global Hunger Index (GHI) and starvation rate actually increasing from 22.9% in 1996 to 23.7% in 2011. 

The news is not all bad though. The Poverty Development Goal Report has said that almost 320 million people in India are on their way to being lifted out of poverty by 2015 and that out of all the South Asian countries, India is the only one that is on the right path to halving the poverty rate by the target of 2015. 

Helping to meet this demanding target is the Ponty Chadha Foundation, established in the memory of Mr. Gurdeep Singh (Ponty) Chadha; which established the Ghaziabad-Noida Food Bank in collaboration with the reputed India FoodBanking Network (IFBN). By putting in place concrete steps to ensure welfare of poor people through free food programs, the foundation aims to enhance the lives of those below the poverty line in villages around Ghaziabad and Noida, and helping out people in the vicinity of its Wave City projects near NH-24, Ghaziabad.

The Ponty Chadha Foundation: Need to Tackle Malnutrition

Malnutrition is a burning issue and accounts for nearly 50% of infant mortality in India alone. Every third adult aged between 15 and 49 years is reported to be malnourished. According to the latest report on the state of food insecurity in rural India, more than 1.5 million children are threatened by malnutrition because of the rise in global food prices.

India ranks 65th out of 79 countries on the Global Hunger Index (GHI) that document nations worst affected by hunger. It also states that India’s starvation rate has increased from 22.9% to 23.7% over the past decade. This indicates that development drives have failed to reach out to those who need them the most. Thus, the importance of tackling poverty is crucial rather than simply reducing the number of welfare recipients.

The Ponty Chadha Foundation is tackling the complex issue of hunger through various community services. These include organizing food distribution drives in rural areas around Ghaziabad and Noida, with the most recent one organized at the Genesis Global School, Noida on October 12, 2013.

The Ponty Chadha Foundation, established in the memory of Mr. Gurdeep Singh (Ponty) Chadha, works towards combating hunger and malnutrition. The Foundation has collaborated with the reputed India Food Banking Network (IFBN), organizing free food distribution drives to eradicate malnutrition in rural areas around Noida and Ghaziabad. It is committed to working towards the betterment of society and dedicated to feed the poor. The foundation aspires to gather and utilize resources towards the upliftment of the underprivileged and spread its scope of work nationwide.