SUMMARY OF THE FOURTH REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS

india is one of the most undernourished countries in the world, a sad reality recently confirmed in the Human Development Report 2003. And the Fourth Report of the Commissioners to the Supreme Court, dated 14 August 2003, places great emphasis on the fact that hunger amidst plenty is still a reality in India. The Report highlights that, in contrast with hunger and starvation that continues to haunt the country, the Food Corporation of India still holds 35 million tonnes of foodgrains, nearly 2 times more than the country requires to store in an average month, causing wastage of grains and absorbing enormous financial resources that could be used to assist poor people.

Although the Supreme Court’s orders have led to substantial improvements in some aspects of the food system, the orders passed so far are not equal to the task of guaranteeing freedom from hunger and even these orders have been routinely violated. In this context, the Fourth Report stresses that, if the fundamental right to food is to become a reality, there is a need for bolder action.

A number of urgent issues related mainly with the implementation of earlier orders are covered in the Report. Below are some of those issues and the corresponding directions recommended by the Commissioners.

MID-DAY MEALS
The Commissioners advise the Court to reaffirm the calling for mid-day meals programmes to be introduced in all primary schools. The Court is also urged to clarify that the earlier direction permitting resource-poor states to introduce mid-day meals initially in just one-fourth of the districts is only a temporary measure; States have to be categorically directed to implement mid-day meals in the entire state within six months. The Commissioners also stressed on the need to make qualitative improvements in the meal served and on the need to tackle the issue of caste discrimination in the selection of cooks for the programme.

INTEGRATED CHILD DEVELOPMENT SCHEME (ICDS)
Taking up the issue of ICDS or Anganwadis, the Report points out to the lack of attention given by most States to the plight of pre-school children from 6-months to 2 years with no satisfactory arrangement in feeding this extremely vulnerable group. The Commissioners stress that the order by the Court directing state governments to increase the coverage of ICDS has to be taken seriously. In this context, States should be directed to comply with the directions calling for an Anganwadi to be available in each habitation, and for the coverage of adolescent girls, pregnant and lacting women under this programme. Moreover, there is a need to direct states to ensure that all slums are within convenient reach of an Anganwadi and urban homeless children are also covered.

ANTYODAYA ANNA YOJANA (AAY)
Some considerations were also raised in relation to Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) programme. Some guidelines issued by the Government of India suggest that AAY cardholders should be selected from the Below Poverty Line (BPL) list, in spite of conclusive evidence that the BLP list is unreliable. In this sense, the Report advice the Court to determine that the possession of BPL cards should not be an eligibility criterion for inclusion in the AAY programme. The Commissioners defend that anyone who is deemed vulnerable to hunger should be entitled to a AAY card as a matter of right. Moreover, states should accelerate the issue of these cards.

SOCIAL SECURITY PENSIONS
The Report reiterates the suggestion presented in the Third Report that the coverage of social security pensions should be doubled.

URBAN DESTITUTION
Bold measures are needed to properly tackle the neglected problem of urban destitution. In this context, the Commissioners advice the Court to direct state governments and union territories to: carry out annual surveys of urban destitute persons; make arrangements to effectively protect them from hunger; ensure that relief kitchens are available within walking distance in all urban areas; ensure that all Indian citizens are eligible for a ration card, including the homeless. The Report also recommends the Court to direct the Government of India to suply free grain to state governments for the functioning of relief kitchens and also to NGOs that are willing to provide cooked meals to the urban destitutes.

EMPLOYMENT
In view of the fact that the enjoyment of the right to work is instrumental in securing the right to food, the Commissioners advise that some preliminary directions should be passed in this regard, such as the payment of minimum wages in employment programmes, the introduction of an employment guarantee scheme (Jaya Prakash Narayan Employment Guarantee Yojana) in at least 100 backward districts and the banning of the use of tractors and others labour-displacing machines on public employment programmes. The Court is also requested to direct the Government of India and the States to submit an affidavit outlining the steps taken to comply with the direction to double the creation of employment under the Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana (SGRY) scheme in May 2003 and direct states that are yet to comply with this order to do it by December 2003 at the latest. The Government of India should release the relevant resources (grain and cash) no later than four weeks from the order, to enable the states to plan and generate employment.

RESTRAINT ON EXPORTS
The Commissioners raise a great concern to the fact that the energy shown by the Government of India in exporting food (one million tonnes of grains every month during the last 15 months) goes sharply in contrast with a continued passivity in dealing with endemic hunger at home. For this reason, the Commissioners advice the Court to direct the government to reconsider and restraint this policy of export of foodgrains, resorting to it only after fully and adequaltely meeting the food requirements of the people of the country.

TRANSPARENCY AND MONITORING
The Report points out that the right to food and the right to information are interlinked and each is necessary to promote the other. The Commissioners stressed the danger of corruption in undermining the right to food, and called for promoting the right to information. The Report urges the Supreme Court to assert that all documents pertaining to food and employment schemes should be opened to public scrutiny and accessible for consultation by any individual at any time. These documents should be treated as public documents. The Commissioners also recommend that states should be directed to ensure prompt and wide dissemination of the directions of the Court.