Dear friends,

Plans for the national convention on the right to food and work (Bhopal, 11-13 June) are making good progress and we start with an update on this. This is followed by a report on the latest Supreme Court hearing, a little tour of recent activities around the country, and an update on election-related materials.

The headlines:

1. CONVENTION ON THE RIGHT TO FOOD AND WORK (BHOPAL, 11-13 June)

2. SUPREME COURT CRACKS THE WHIP ON MID-DAY MEALS

3. BIHAR AND JHARKHAND: COMMISSIONERS' INTERVENTION ON ICDS

4. NAPM BIANNUAL CONVENTION (May 22 – 24)

5. DELHI: ANTI-CORRUPTION STRUGGLE PICKS UP

6. KARNATAKA: LAUNCH OF KARNATAKA ELECTION WATCH COMMITTEE

7. WEST BENGAL: CAMPAIGN ON RIGHT TO WORK

8. MAHARASHTRA: RIGHT TO FOOD AND ELECTIONS

9. MAHARASHTRA: URBAN HOMELESS TO GET RATION CARDS AFTER COMMISSIONER'S INTERVENTION

10. CHHATTISGARH: KORWA MAHAPANCHAYAT

11. UPDATE ON ELECTION-RELATED MATERIALS

1. CONVENTION ON THE RIGHT TO FOOD AND WORK (BHOPAL, 11-13 June)

As mentioned in the last Update, a convention on the right to food and work will be held in Bhopal on 11-13 June (if you missed the initial announcement, see the "Convention (Bhopal 11 – 13 June)"
section on the website, www.righttofood.com). This convention follows earlier discussions at the World Social Forum. It is facilitated by the "support group" of the right to food campaign, in collaboration with several country-wide networks such as the National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM), Bharat Gyan Vigyan Samiti (BGVS), Jan Swasthya Abhiyan (JSA), All India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA), National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW), Human Rights Law Network (HRLN), National Conference of Dalit Organisations (NACDOR), National Campaign Committee for Rural Workers (NCCRW), People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) and National Campaign for the People's Right to Information (NCPRI).

A preparatory meeting, attended by representatives of most of these organisations, took place in Delhi on 11 April, 2004. Briefly, the following decisions were taken:

- The convention will take place at Gandhi Bhawan, Bhopal. Local arrangements will be made by the local branch of Bharat Gyan Vigyan Samiti (BGVS) in collaboration with the support group of the right to food campaign.

- No institutional funds will be taken for the convention. The support group will make a contribution to the overheads, based on voluntary donations. Participants will bear their own travel and subsistence costs. Simple accommodation arrangements will be made at Gandhi Bhawan itself.

- The programme will be action-oriented and consist mainly of parallel workshops, a few plenaries, and cultural activities. A preliminary list of possible topics for the parallel workshops was prepared. These include the right to work, the public distribution system, food sovereignty, children's right to food, people's access to land and natural resources, legal action for the right to food, Dalit and Adivasi struggles, and gender issues, among others.

- Two working groups were formed, one for logistics and one for the programme. The next preparatory meeting will be held in Delhi on Sunday 16 May, from 3 to 6 pm.

For a more detailed account of the decisions taken at the meeting, see the "Convention (Bhopal June 11-13)" section on the website (www.righttofood.com). Further information about the convention will be posted there from time to time. If you wish to participate in the convention, please send a line to right2food@yahoo.co.in as soon as possible.

2. SUPREME COURT CRACKS THE WHIP ON MID-DAY MEALS

On 20 April, the Supreme Court embarked on a marathon session aimed at settling all the issues raised in recent reports of the Commissioners, Dr. N.C. Saxena and Mr. S.R. Sankaran. (For the Commissioners' reports, see the "Commissioners' work" section on the website, www.righttofood.com.)

On 20 April itself, the six-hour hearing focused mainly on mid-day meals. In an earlier order (28 November 2001), the Supreme Court had directed all state governments to provide cooked mid-day meals in all primary schools within six months. Three years beyond this deadline, however, the Commissioners' reports document extensive violations of this order. These range from complete failure to initiate mid-day meals in some states (notably Bihar and Uttar Pradesh) to partial implementation in many others.

Calling this a matter of "extreme anguish", the Supreme Court passed a firm order directing all state governments to universalise mid-day meals in primary schools on a priority basis: preferably at the beginning of the coming school year, and in any case no later than September 2004. Compliance reports are to be submitted in early September by the Chief Secretaries, who will be held personally responsible for any lapses.

The Supreme Court also took the central government to task for doing very little to facilitate the universalisation of mid-day meals.
Referring to the Prime Minister's recent statement (15 August 2003) that cooked mid-day meals would soon be extended to Class 10 as a national programme, the Court directed the central government to submit concrete proposals to this effect within two months. The central government was also directed to contribute to the recurrent costs of mid-day meals, as recommended by the Abhijit Sen Committee report.

Related directions include the continuation of mid-day meals during holidays in drought-affected areas, priority appointments of Dalit cooks, upgrading of infrastructural facilities for mid-day meals, and tighter monitoring. The matter will be reviewed in mid-September.

The next hearing will be held on Tuesday 27 April.

The official text of the order is yet to be released by the Supreme Court (and may not be released until after the next hearing). For an informal and unofficial transcript of the order, see [LINK]. If you are involved in campaigning for mid-day meals, please do not miss this crucial order.

OTHER SUPREME COURT ORDERS

At the same hearing (20 April), the Supreme Court started examining other issues raised in the Commissioners' reports, including employment and wage issues, social security issues, child nutrition issues, the BPL issue, and the public distribution system. Detailed orders are expected after the next hearing on Tuesday 27 April.
Meanwhile, some specific directions have been issued. Briefly:

1. The order of 2 May 2003 directing the government to double allocations (both cash and grain) for Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana
(SGRY) applies this year also.

2. All records pertaining to employment programmes (muster rolls,
etc.) Should be available for public scrutiny at a cost not higher than the cost of photocopying.

3. Use of labour-displacing machinery on SGRY should not be allowed.

3. BIHAR AND JHARKHAND: COMMISSIONERS' INTERVENTION ON ICDS

Dr. N.C. Saxena (Commissioner of the Supreme Court) visited Bihar again in March 2004 and wrote a brief review "ICDS programme in Bihar". Further to his earlier visit, in December 2003, he found that some action had been taken based on his recommendations. For instance, more centres have become operational and there has been a 30% increase in the recruitment of Anganwadi workers and helpers, with enhanced provisions for their training as well. The state has also increased the number of beneficiaries per centre from 57 to 96 units, and enrolment figures at Anganwadi centres have also improved in a short span of 3 months.

However, as the Commissioner notes, financial allocations for ICDS remain grossly inadequate in Bihar (all the more so as increased enrolment calls for increased budgetary allocations). While orders to buy utensils have been issued, there is no money for this yet.
Similarly, because only Rs. 25 are allocated for renting premises, children are being packed into very tiny kachha huts, with cooking often taking place in the same room.

Some issues raised earlier by Dr. N.C. Saxena remain unresolved (partly due to lack of funds), e.g. the absence of proper supervision. He has also reiterated the need to publicise and implement various ICDS-related orders of the Supreme Court. For the full report, click here. Other reports by the commissioners based on their field visits, including a recent visit to Jharkhand is available in the website
(www.righttofood.com) in the "Report" heading of the Commissioners section.

Dr. N.C. Saxena also visited Jharkhand in March 2004 and wrote a report on ICDS and other food security schemes in the state (including mid-day meals and the public distribution system). He was startled to learn that no supplementary food been distributed in ICDS centres in Jharkhand for a whole year. The report also highlights many other irregularities in the functioning of ICDS, including non- utilization of over Rs 5 crores allocated for supplementary nutrition, surrendering of 80% of PMGY funds allocated by the centre for child nutrition in the state, inferior quality of grain and frequent complaints of black marketing. The report also contains field notes of visits made by the Commissioner to Anganwadi centres at Bhandarwan, Mangru Toli, Nawati and Chikhor. For a copy of the full report, please send a line to commissioners@vsnl.net

4. NAPM BIANNUAL CONVENTION (May 22 – 24)

The National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM) is organising its fourth biannual convention on 22–24 May in Anantpur District of Andhra Pradesh. Member organisations from all over the country are expected to participate in this gathering, convened to review recent NAPM activities (including the "desh bachao desh banao" tour around the country, campaigns for land rights and the right to food, agitations against WTO, etc.), and to plan ahead. The right to food and the right to work are also on the agenda. For further details, please write to sansahil@vsnl.net

5. DELHI: ANTI-CORRUPTION STRUGGLE PICKS UP

Parivartans' struggle to eradicate corruption from the public distribution system (PDS) has been covered from time to time in earlier updates. Latest news suggest that this struggle is beginning to bear fruit. In a survey of 82 families conducted in March 2004, Parivartan found that for the first time everyone in the area was receiving their full entitlement of foodgrains at the correct price.
Earlier, up to 90% of the rations were sold on the black market.

Where all the official checks and balances had failed, the simple process of demanding information and promoting people's vigilance seems to have made a real difference. In two other slums, PDS dealers ran to people's houses with apologies and promises of exemplary behaviours after applications were filed for local PDS records. This has, however, once again highlighted the need to address the systemic problems with the PDS whereby the ration dealers are driven to corrupt practices because of the bribes they have to pay, or due to the low commissions they receive.

Parivartan has also extended its work to social audits of public works in Delhi, including works done with the MP Local Area Development (MPLAD) funds. After a six-month struggle, records of MPLAD expenditure by 70 MPs in Delhi have been obtained and the process of social audit has begun. This includes the first-ever inspection of public roads by local residents, a process normally reserved for some department of the government itself.

To consolidate these efforts and reach out to more people, a "Right to Information Manch" has recently been launched in Delhi. For further information please contact: Arvind Khejriwal at parivartan@parivartan.com

6. KARNATAKA: LAUNCH OF KARNATAKA ELECTION WATCH COMMITTEE

On March 6, 2004, Karnataka Election Watch Committee (KEWC) was launched at the Press Club in Bangalore. This is the latest in a string of "Election Watch" initiatives in various states, launched in anticipation of the imminent parliamentary elections (April-May 2004).

KEWC believes that its real impact will be by pressurizing political parties to reform themselves and drop corrupt or criminal candidates, rather than influencing voter behaviour. As a first step, a letter was sent to all political parties informing them of KEWC activities and asking them to put up cleaner candidates. KEWC is also creating voter awareness of the problem of lavish election spending, and of the link between lavish spending and candidate behaviour (e.g. the pressure to "recover" election money).

KEWC will focus on collecting candidate information from the affidavits and expenditure statements filed by candidates. It will disseminate this information widely through the media (especially the Kannada media), and through grassroots organizations. A helpline (080-
22294445) has also been set up for this purpose, as well as an SMS facility which provides simple Yes/No answers to questions on the criminal records or financial dues of candidates.

For further information, please contact: Trilochan Sastry (trilochans@iimb.ernet.in, ravichandars@vsnl.com, shunori@vsnl.com, lcjain@bgl.vsnl.net.in).

7. WEST BENGAL: CAMPAIGN ON RIGHT TO WORK

Paschim Banga Khet Mazdoor Sangathan has decided to launch a major campaign for the Right to Work, and for the rights of agricultural workers, ahead of the parliamentary elections in April and May. We shall try to keep track of this initiative in future updates.
Meanwhile, further information is available from Anuradha Talwar (jsk@cal2.vsnl.net.in).

8. MAHARASHTRA: RIGHT TO FOOD AND ELECTIONS

Organisations involved in the right to food campaign in Maharashtra organized a "People's Manifesto Conference" in Mumbai on 23 March, 2004. The conference was inaugurated by Medha Patkar and chaired by Baba Adhav. It was attended by representatives of the People's Political Front, NAPM, Shoshit Jan Andolan, Jan Arogya Abhiyan, and Anna Adhikar Abhiyan, among other organisations. At the end of the conference, a people's manifesto was drawn up and submitted to all political parties. Activists of the Maharashtra Rationing Kruti Samiti (MRKS) will be taking up these demands with all the candidates in their respective areas. It was also decided to organize such meetings in other parts of Maharashtra.

9. MAHARASHTRA: URBAN HOMELESS TO GET RATION CARDS AFTER COMMISSIONER'S INTERVENTION

Mr. S.R. Sankaran (Commissioner of the Supreme Court) was in Maharashtra in December 2003, when he spent some time with activists of the right to food campaign. Following his visit, he wrote to the Supreme Court and to the State and Central governments about the issue of ration cards to the urban poor and homeless. In response this intervention of the Commissioner, and further pressure from MRKS activists, the State government has issued an order which entitles the urban poor to ration cards even without proof of residence, within a month of applying. How this order will work out on the ground remains to be seen, but it does set an important precedent.

10. CHHATTISGARH: KORWA MAHAPANCHAYAT

There has been a good deal of action in Surguja district
(Chhattisgarh) in recent months, partly reported in earlier updates.
In a new development (March 2004), nearly 700 Pahari Korwas from 53 villages across 6 blocks came together in the first-ever "Korwa Mahapanchayat" to discuss a range of issues. These included making contacts for future marriages, how they lived in different areas, etc., but also the denial of fundamental rights including the right to food. In spite of being officially classified as a "primitive tribe", the Pahari Korwas get very little from the welfare and development schemes that have been floated in their name. They are among the most disempowered communities in Chhattisgarh, and their living conditions are so poor that their population is declining.

According to Supreme Court orders, all members of "primitive tribes"
are entitled to Antyodaya cards as a matter of right. This issue has been actively taken up in Surguja, where most Pahari Korwas now have Antyodaya cards (entitling them to 35 kgs of grain each month at highly subsidised prices). Leaders for the Mahapanchayat were elected and plans for further mobilization were chalked out. The Korwa Mahapanchyat also decided to intensify the struggle on right to food issues and to enforce greater accountability in the public distribution system.

11. UPDATE ON ELECTION-RELATED MATERIALS

Further election-related materials have been added to the website set up for this purpose (http://counterpropoganda.tripod.com). This includes more counter-propaganda posters, factsheets prepared by various organisations, a children's manifesto, and a critique of the BJP's "vision document" by disability rights groups. The website will be updated from time to time as we go along, please keep an eye on it if you are involved in any campaign activities related to the forthcoming parliamentary elections (April-May 2004).