Aashray: A Technology-Driven Platform for Food Redistribution and Beggar Rehabilitation Towards a Hunger-Free and Beggar-Free Society

<p>Food wastage and street begging are deeply interconnected socio-economic issues that highlight significant gaps in both resource management and social welfare systems. Every year, the world discards more than 1.3 billion tonnes of food—nearly one-third of all food produced—while hundreds of millions of people continue to suffer from chronic hunger. This stark contrast creates a troubling paradox in which scarcity and abundance exist side by side. In cities, the problem of wasted food becomes even more pronounced during large events, festivals, and commercial operations, whereas street begging often stems from poverty, inadequate social support, and systemic barriers to rehabilitation. This study presents Aashray, an integrated digital platform designed to tackle these twin challenges. The system facilitates the collection and redistribution of surplus food, while also creating structured rehabilitation pathways for individuals engaged in begging. Aashray brings together donor reporting, volunteer coordination, shelter capacity management, and beneficiary profiling within a single, modular ecosystem. Developed using the MERN stack (MongoDB, Express.js, React.js, Node.js), it employs geolocation algorithms for efficient volunteer allocation, ensures secure authentication to protect sensitive data, and provides real-time analytics to maintain transparency in operations. Our evaluation of Aashray, conducted through simulated pilot deployments, shows a significant reduction in food pickup time, greater volunteer participation, and improved shelter allocation efficiency. In addition, this paper examines the operational challenges, ethical considerations, and future scalability of the platform. Ultimately, Aashray is envisioned not only as a tool to address immediate hunger but also as a catalyst for longterm social reintegration, offering a model that can be replicated in diverse contexts around the world.</p>