Justice

The Idea Behind India's 'Rice Bucket Challenge'

Needs are different and water is too scarce to dump over your head—so the pay-it-forward donation trend gets a twist in India. 
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India has come up with a localized version of the chilling ice bucket challenge—the charity stunt that has gone viral on social media. The ALS ice bucket challenge involved participants posting videos of them having freezing water poured over them. The aim is to raise money and awareness for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (also called Lou Gerhig’s disease), a fatal neurodegenerative disease.

“The idea of dunking oneself in icy cold water, shrieking in horror and then uploading the bizarre video felt preposterous. I wanted to just do something local, meaningful without wasting anything.” says 38-year old Manju Latha Kalanidhi. “So rice replaced water here.”