German High Commissioner takes 'rice-bucket challenge', promises funds for flood-hit Jammu and Kashmir

New Delhi: The German High Commissioner Michael Steiner took the 'rice-bucket' challenge in a slum here on Tuesday and also announced that the German embassy would be sending funds for the relief work in flood-hit areas of Jammu and Kashmir.

The 'rice-bucket' challenge is a variation of the globally popular ice-bucket challenge, in which participants have to cook or buy a bucket of rice and feed someone who needs it.

Steiner said, "Many people are taking up the ice-bucket challenge but here in India it is not about ice, it's more about rice. That is why I am very happy to join the rice-bucket challenge."

Speaking about the reasons for his participation, Steiner said, "Society is still accepting the fact that there are poor people and I think we have to change that. I know we alone cannot change poverty but at least through such an act, we can change the perception that poverty is a god-given thing and that it can be changed."

German Ambassador Michael Steiner takes up the rice bucket challenge in a slum area. (Photo: ANI Twitter)

Steiner also announced that the German embassy would be sending funds for relief work in the flood-hit parts of Jammu and Kashmir. He said, "At the German embassy, we deliberated if we could come here and distribute rice even as a national disaster has hit Kashmir. We decided that we have to show solidarity with the people affected there. Thus, we will send funds for health care to Kashmir. We have a partnership with a hospital in Baramulla and we have sent cars and buses for them as well."

Flash floods have thrown normal life out of gear in Jammu and Kashmir, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi terming the calamity a national disaster.