How luck brought Covid legend who spent Rs 90 lakh on Rice ATM adventure into social assistance
A youth dream to serve the country roused Ramu Dosapati, the organizer behind Rice ATM, to devote his life to administration in the local area and to commit 50% of his pay to social causes. Rice ATM is a task that was sent off during the Covid lockdown in Hyderabad to take care of the eager individuals.
A childhood dream to serve the nation inspired Ramu Dosapati, founder of Rice ATM, to dedicate his life to service the community and commit 50 percent of his income to social causes. Rice ATM is a project that was launched during the Covid lockdown in Hyderabad to feed hungry people. “When I was in class five I had a dream of being with leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi, Bhagat Singh, and Subhash Chandra Bose during the pre-independence days.
“From that time I began to think I had missed a golden opportunity to serve the country,” Ramu recounted, after receiving The Weekend Leader – VIT Person of the Year award at a function held at VIT, Vellore. “I wished I had been born in 1938 instead of 1978 so that I could have been part of the freedom movement.” Ramu appears to have made up for that through his service during the pandemic.
As a senior HR professional in a Hyderabad-based software company, Ramu had a secure job and stable income. But his heart was moved, seeing the condition of hungry migrant workers and other jobless people around him. He started by serving cooked food to jobless migrant laborers but later began to provide dry rations from a kiosk he set up near his house. He named the kiosk Rice ATM and kept it open 24/7.
Initially, he used Rs 25 lakh that he had set aside to buy a home for his charity work and later spent his salary of close to Rs 2 lakh each month on running the Rice ATM. As the Covid situation began to ease, he used his HR skills and helped several people find jobs and with the help of volunteers donated money and materials to many others to start small businesses.
According to Ramu, around 950 families have been rehabilitated with livelihoods and 1,500 people have found jobs through his initiative. Speaking after receiving the award from Dr. J Radhakrishnan, health secretary, Tamil Nadu, and Dr. G Viswanathan, Chancellor, VIT, Ramu revealed that he had forgotten all about his childhood dream to serve society and only a life-threatening accident changed the course of his life.
I found a job and got married and was enjoying my life when I met with an accident in 2006,” said Ramu. I told God, give me another opportunity, another life and I will serve the nation. Furthermore, I never forgot my promise to God. Furthermore, I decided to give 50 percent of my time and salary to society. Last year, when the pandemic struck, he started the Rice ATM.
“From that time I began to think I had missed a golden opportunity to serve the country,” Ramu recounted, after receiving The Weekend Leader – VIT Person of the Year award at a function held at VIT, Vellore. “I wished I had been born in 1938 instead of 1978 so that I could have been part of the freedom movement.” Ramu appears to have made up for that through his service during the pandemic.
Initially, he used Rs 25 lakh that he had set aside to buy a home for his charity work and later spent his salary of close to Rs 2 lakh each month on running the Rice ATM. As the Covid situation began to ease, he used his HR skills and helped several people find jobs and with the help of volunteers donated money and materials to many others to start small businesses.
According to Ramu, around 950 families have been rehabilitated with livelihoods and 1,500 people have found jobs through his initiative. Speaking after receiving the award from Dr. J Radhakrishnan, health secretary, Tamil Nadu, and Dr. G Viswanathan, Chancellor, VIT, Ramu revealed that he had forgotten all about his childhood dream to serve society and only a life-threatening accident changed the course of his life.
I found a job and got married and was enjoying my life when I met with an accident in 2006,” said Ramu. I told God, give me another opportunity, another life and I will serve the nation. Furthermore, I never forgot my promise to God. Furthermore, I decided to give 50 percent of my time and salary to society. Last year, when the pandemic struck, he started the Rice ATM.
The heart always says help somebody, give away whatever you have, but the brain will say don’t give, keep it for the future, keep it for your children. Mostly, the brain wins and only in some cases the heart wins, like Ramu’s.” The Chancellor, a two-time Parliamentarian, recalled his close association with top (undivided) Andhra leaders such as former President Sanjiva Reddy and former Governor of Tamil Nadu Channa Reddy during his days as a Parliamentarian.
He encouraged the students to emulate Ramu in serving the poor and said, “We want many more Ramus in this country.”
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