India: The Right to Food

India: Daily discussion of the Fourth National Convention on Right to Food

“Let not the grain rot in the godowns, let us break the locks and take the Grain out and distribute it”- P Sainath

4th National Convnetion kicks of in Rourkela. More than 2000 participants join on Day -1, August 6, 2010

“Supreme Court has ordered on the 27th of July, 2010, that not a single grain should be wasted and its should be distributed to the hungry, so I would like to give a call to all the people, dalit, adivasis that since the Government will never distribute the grains, let us take the grain away and distribute it to the people, and implement the SC orders so that nobody ever sleeps hungry”, this was journalist P. Sainath giving the key note address at the Fourth National Convention of the Right to Food Campaign in Rourkela today.

More than 2000 participants from 25 States from across India were present at the convention today. The three day-Fourth Convention has marked a turning point in the Right to Food Campaign with much greater focus on the broader issues of food security including the production of food which itself was in danger due to the agrarian crisis, development-induced displacement, alienation of tribal land and other natural resources, issues of dry land agriculture, privatization of water, health and nutrition linkages, forest rights, accountability and transparency, employment and decent living wages and distress migration.

Propounding the cause of the Adivasis, tribal leader and INSAF President, Dayamani Barla, spoke out vociferously and asked the people that the Tribals who were sovereign of land, water, forests were being constantly evicted from these resources by the Government policies and after having plundered the wealth, displaced millions the Government’s claim that it would enact a law on the Right to Food seemed dishonest. If it was serious, they should give back the forest, land, water and sky to the people and the people’s food security needs would be automatically met.

Showing the seriousness of the situation of malnutrition in the country, Dr. Binayak Sen, Vice President of the PUCL, said that the data of the National Bureau of Nutrition showed that more than 33 percent of all adult people are malnourished, as such they lived in a situation of forever famine. It was this situation that needed to be addressed today by the Government, its failure to do so showed that the welfare project of the Indian State was over.

Similarly, Ulka Mahajan, leader of the anti SEZ struggles in Maharastra, stated that the whole struggle against Reliance SEZ showed that the People were sovereign and if the people fought these battles with determination then the Government would have to bend itself. Thus, people should not waste their time in making demands to the Government, the time had come to just affirm our right and take what is rightfully ours.

The convention today began with sh. Prafulla Samnatara, convenor of the national organising committee welcoming everybody. He stated that this convention was dedicated to the work of Sh Kishan Patnaik who was the first parliamentarian who raised the issue of hunger and went to the Supreme Court three times on this. Abdul Kalam Azad of the organizing committee from Rourkela, showed the irony of development in rourkela a so called temple of modern India, where literacy rates were not more than 7 % for the women, where hunger and malnutrition were very high.

The other speakers included sh. Saroj Mohanty, Lingaraj bhai, Nikhil Dey and Gautam Mody and Kavita Srivastava. Padmini Bhoi of bolangir presented her story of struggle to get justice after the death of her husband who died of hunger.

The Participants also held a candle light vigil in memory of the survivors of the bombings of Hiroshima that happened 65 years ago. They shouted slogans that “we want bread not bombs”, No more Hiroshimas, anywhere ever again.

The Day II of the Convention on 7th August, will see discussions on the national food security act and the learnings from the implementation of the Governemnt Schemes. Sh, Harsh Mander, Prof. Jean Dreze,and others will be the key speakers tomorrow.

Day -2, August 7, 2010

Campaign’s Demands
• Nothing Short Of A Universal PDS –Food For All At Cheap Prices
• Special provisions of food, health, education for children under six including maternal entitlements and nutritional counseling of women for combating malnutrition
• The Act Must Have Provisions Of Affirmative Action For SC & ST, Socially Vulnerable Groups And Urban Poor
• Food Security Cannot Be In A Vaccum- Link Production, Procurement And Storage To Distribution
• Ensure dignity to all end all discrimination in food schemes.

The 2nd day of the Rourkela Conference was focused on the forthcoming National Food Security Act. With the UPA Government having announced that they would bring a National Food Security Act, the campaign debated what ought to come into the act today at the conference.

The Campaign has been working on this act concertedly for the last one year. Anuradha Talwar presented the position of the campaign. She stated that the Right to Food campaign demands an Act that deals with the causes of hunger and provides each and every resident of this country with universal food entitlements of all schemes including the Universal PDS. She also said that Food security cannot be talked in a vacuum. It was imperative to link production of food including encouraging millets and pulses, with local procurement and storage to distribution. She stated that it was in this model that agriculture could be revitalized as well as Government’s arguments that enough grain was not available could also be demolished. She showed present production figures and said that even at today’s production level there was enough grain for universal PDS, all the government had to do was increase the MSP and procure more. Similarly, the Government’s arguments that the re was not enough money was also flawed as the government waived loans worth 5 lac crores to industrialists and to business. But when it came to the poor it was always stated that it never had money.

She also stated that according to the campaign the Government must put in place policy interventions to ensure that no man, woman or child sleeps hungry or is malnourished. She also emphaised that the policies must ensure that the invasion of corporate interests in agricultural production and in food and nutrition policy is stopped immediately.

Since presently the Sonia Gandhi led National Advisory Council is discussing the provisions that ought to go into the draft bill of the national food security act. Prof Jean Dreze member of the National Advisory Council presented the formulations that had been discussed in the NAC. He said that the NAC had established the principle of Universality of entitlements particularly in its proposals on the RTF and that the Universal PDS would be rolled out in phases, where in the first phase 35 kgs of grain for Rs 3 per kg and which could begin with the 150 poorest districts as identified by the Planning Commission while in the rest of the districts SC, ST, and designated socially vulnerable would get grain for Rs. 3 per kg with 35 kgs entitlements while the others would get 25 kgs of grain for higher price. Along with cooked food entitlements for children, socially vulnerable and others. He also said that issues relating to production, procurement and storage were still being disc ussed. He however, also added that the campaign must do an aggressive campaign to get ensure that its demands are met as the present Government was all set to dilute the bill.

Sachin Jain speaking on behalf of the working group on children was upfront in telling the campaign, that the children’s issues could not be marginalized and that with severe malnutrition in the country the act must have maternal entitlements, along with comprehensive interventions of ICDS and the MDMS.

Speaking to the assembly, PUCL national secretary and senior counsel V. Suresh stated that the socially vulnerable and the marginalized people needed a special focus. He said that food security for these people was connected with granting them recognition and dignity. He said that there were a large number of vulnerable groups, who were the old, single women, destitute homeless, street children, sexual minorities, physically challenged, primitive tribal groups, they should be kept in the Antyodaya category and given food for half the price. He also said that this section of the population was almost 20 percent of the population and was most food insecure. Praveen from the Disabilities manch said that they this group of people were most discriminated in by the food schemes.

Vidhya Das reinforced that only a universal PDS would help the poor. Similarly, Asha from the National Campaign for Dalit human rights stated that the key guarantee that the dalits needed in the act was that there be no untouchability practiced with them. Even today the MDMS, ICDS was ridden with practices of exclusion. Suresh Samant speaking for the urban poor stated that the issue of lack of identity was the biggest obstacle for their food security.

The session also heard Prof Ram Kumar of Tata Institute of Social Sciences who shared how the Government was trying to push the Unique Identification (UID) as the main solution to the problems in the PDS and that it would help people access their PDS rations anywhere. He said that the Right to food campaign must clearly tell the Government that it must not connect the PDS with the UID.

The RIGHT to food Campaign also resolved that there should be aggressive pubic action on the Streets to ensure that the Right to food campaigns draft was passed by the Government.

Similarly, James Hering spoke on the NREGS, Charles of the NACDOR, Zaki from Hazards Centre spoke on urban issues and their food security, Laxmi of Ekal Nari Shakti Sangathan and Ganga Bhai on Tribal issues also presented their views.

Tomorrow the Campaign will hold its concluding sessions a morning plenary on the right to food in conflict areas, where speakers from all over the country would be speaking. It would conclude with resolutions followed by a rally.

On day one 6th of August, the right to food campaign members carried out a candle light vigil and a two minute silence at Birsa Muda Chowk against the bombing of Hiroshima, 65 years ago. They shouted slogans “Yudh Nahi Shanti Chahiye”, “Bomb Nahi Roti Chahiye”, Hiroshima Kabhi Nahi, Kahin Nahi”

Prafulla Samantra, Convenor, Odisha Organising Committee
Kavita Srivastava, Convenor, Right to Food Campaign

For further information, please contact:

About AHRC: The Asian Human Rights Commission is a regional non-governmental organisation monitoring and lobbying human rights issues in Asia. The Hong Kong-based group was founded in 1984.

ENDS

© Scoop Media