00:00I like Taka Taka, Chips, Chocolates, and I like Punjabi.
00:07Tasty, filling and cheap, but not healthy.
00:12Time to eat better.
00:17We're in Nizamuddin Basti, a densely populated neighbourhood in Delhi.
00:22The people here are mostly informal workers, and many can't afford to eat healthily.
00:40But rising food prices are only part of the problem.
00:46Heatwaves in Delhi are becoming more frequent, longer, and more intense.
00:53If you're an outdoor worker, and you cannot work during a heatwave, then you're going
00:58to lose that income.
01:00And when you've lost that income, then your budgets for your households go haywire.
01:05Parveen Begum lives in Nizamuddin Basti.
01:08She's a widow living with her daughter in a tiny home with just one room and a cooking
01:13space.
01:16She would like to prepare nutritious food.
01:35Raghav Rai wanted to find an answer to this question.
01:38A student and a football coach, he knows the problems kids here face.
01:43Together with the NGO More Than Play, he set up the Basti Gardens of Hope, a local initiative
01:49to help families in the neighbourhood turn their concrete rooftops into vegetable gardens.
01:55I worked here earlier, and I noticed that malnutrition was an issue.
01:59I noticed that kids didn't get the nutrition they deserve.
02:03And I thought kitchen gardens would be a great idea to solve that.
02:07The project provided families with recycled crates, and trained them to grow seasonal vegetables
02:13using simple, low-cost methods.
02:15Parveen Begum was among them.
02:18Parveen Begum was among them.
02:19Parveen Begum was among them.
02:30An empty rooftop space became a little kitchen garden.
02:34The idea didn't catch on at first.
02:37Some families were more worried about losing their living quarters overnight.
02:41Others found it difficult to keep their plants alive.
02:45But then an advisor for urban gardening, Nabhanita Bajaj, got involved.
02:50She showed women and children how to nurture and harvest vegetables, and to use kitchen waste
02:55as compost.
02:58The space is limited.
02:59The knowledge is limited.
03:01The resources are limited.
03:02So I basically use recycled crates.
03:05You can see here in our garden.
03:07You can see recycled crates, bath tub, any paint bucket.
03:11We use them.
03:13If you use recycled items, you will grow them.
03:16And the season.
03:17If you eat the season, then it will always be successful.
03:21But 20, 30 square feet is more than enough to grow leafy greens.
03:26Now the children can enjoy homegrown fresh vegetables more often.
03:34Amaranth leaves are often served up.
03:36It grows in the smallest spaces, and it's relatively easy to grow.
03:43A family of four, two square feet.
03:46You can eat the greens every 10-15 days.
03:52Amaranth is packed with iron.
03:55That helps form red blood cells that transport oxygen around the body.
03:59Healthy iron levels help keep children physically and mentally fit.
04:05Dietary diversity is key to children's growth, development, ability to participate in preschool
04:14and schooling, being able to get out of the cycle of poverty.
04:19The NGO didn't stop at rooftop gardens.
04:22It also visits schools and creates vegetable gardens together with the students.
04:27For most children, it's a new experience.
04:30A completely different world.
04:33Once they have a kitchen garden, it is a living lab for them, you know.
04:38Living laboratory.
04:39Okay, we can learn about the earth, learn about the science and environmental science.
04:43Everything.
04:44The community work.
04:45The team work.
04:46Composting.
04:46How to not send all the organic waste to the landfill.
04:49When they see something growing, there are butterflies.
04:52There are honeybees coming.
04:54So that means they are creating a living ecosystem.
04:58Extreme heat, pollution, and pests are some of the challenges of rooftop gardening in the Indian capital.
05:06When it comes to the landfill, it goes to the landfill.
05:09Then we keep it in the landfill.
05:11And we keep it in the landfill.
05:13And we keep it in the landfill.
05:15We keep it in the landfill.
05:17We keep it in the landfill.
05:21The foodpiaards have big potential, here in Nizamuddin Basti, but also elsewhere.
05:26Families are already sharing seeds, knowledge, and produce with neighbours, showing that food can be grown even in Delhi's dense
05:34urban spaces.
05:37What started from five families has expanded to over 60 families in the Nizamuddin Basti, as well as many more
05:44families in Kusampur Pahadi, Sarai Kalei Khan and Ali Village.
05:49If we are creating small, small gardens in every rooftop in Delhi NCR,
05:54in a few years they will see the green cover.
05:59High school student Mohamed Marouf was very sceptical
06:02when his grandmother began growing vegetables.
06:05But he's been won over.
06:21The vegetable gardens have already transformed some families' lives.
06:26Being able to serve up your own homegrown vegetables is something special.
06:30And what's more, it costs virtually nothing.
06:33And it's healthy too.
