UPDATE 30 (May 31, 2004)

Dear friends,

There has been no lack of drama in Delhi during the last few weeks, with three marathon hearings on the right to food in the Supreme Court, the formation of a new government, and feverish preparations for the national convention on the right to food and work (Bhopal, 11-13 June). This Update includes an item on each of these topics, and concludes with a brief account of a recent public hearing on the right to health care in Pune district.

If you are planning to attend the national convention on the right to food and work next week in Bhopal, please remember that all participants are expected to liaise with the logistics committee in advance of the convention. This is important to avoid a big jam: the venue can only accommodate 400-500 participants. For contact details see item 2 below, and/or the Convention page of the campaign website (www.righttofood.com).

Today’s headlines:

1. SUPREME COURT ISSUES SWEEPING ORDERS ON CHILD NUTRITION

2. NATIONAL CONVENTION ON THE RIGHT TO FOOD AND WORK (11-13 June)

3. FOOD ISSUES IN THE "COMMON MINIMUM PROGRAMME"

4. MAHARASHTRA: PUBLIC HEARING ON RIGHT TO HEALTH CARE

1. SUPREME COURT ISSUES SWEEPING ORDERS ON CHILD NUTRITION

The Supreme Court held three marathon hearings on 20 April, 27 April and 29 April respectively. The hearings focused mainly on mid-day meals and the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS). Each hearing concluded with far-reaching orders (see www.righttofood.com for full details).

During the first session on 20 April, 2004 the Supreme Court reviewed the state of school meals around the country and passed sweeping orders for the accelerated provision of nutritious mid-day meals in all primary schools. The hearing built on a series of reports prepared by Dr. N.C. Saxena and Mr. S.R. Sankaran, Commissioners of the Supreme Court in charge of monitoring orders relating to the right to food. The reports document extensive violations of earlier Supreme Court orders calling for the provision of cooked mid-day meals in all primary schools. These range from complete failure to initiate mid-day meals in some states (notably Bihar and Uttar Pradesh) to partial implementation in many others. Some state governments tried to counter these charges, but their rambling pleas did not carry much weight against the massive evidence accumulated in the Commissioners’ reports.

Calling this a matter of "extreme anguish", the Supreme Court passed a firm order directing all state governments to universalize 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.

In follow-up hearings on 27 and 29 April, the Supreme Court reviewed the status of the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS). After lengthy deliberations, the Court essentially accepted the petitioner’s demand that ICDS should be "universalized", in the sense that ICDS services should be made available to all children aged 0-6 and other eligible groups (e.g. pregnant and lactating women). In particular, this calls for the provision of a functional anganwadi in every habitation. The Court directed the Government of India to submit an affidavit within 8 weeks, clarifying the time frame within which ICDS services would be extended to the country’s 14 lakh habitations. Further, existing and sanctioned anganwadis are to be made functional by 31 June and should function for 300 days in a year. These matters will be reviewed by the Supreme Court in August-September.

For the full text of the orders, see the campaign website (www.righttofood.com). Please note that these orders also cover other important matters such as the doubling of food and cash allocations for employment generation programmes and a ban on the discontinuation of social security programmes without prior approval of the Court.

2. NATIONAL CONVENTION ON THE RIGHT TO FOOD AND WORK

Preparations are in full swing for the national convention on the right to food and work, to be held in Bhopal on 11-13 June. For details of the convention, including the programme, see the "Convention" page of the campaign website (www.righttofood.com). Summary details are given below for those who are short of time.

VENUE: Gandhi Bhavan, Bhopal (for directions see website).

PARTICIPATION: About 400-500 activists working on the right to food and work are expected from all over the country.

PROGRAMME: The convention will start at 10 am on 11 June with an opening "plenary". This will be followed by three sessions of 4-5 parallel workshops and a closing plenary. A cultural programme is scheduled for the evening of 12 June, and a public rally for 13 June (starting at 10 am).

THEMES: Twelve broad themes have been identified for the parallel workshops: (1) The right to work and livelihood; (2) The public distribution system; (3) Legal action for the right to food and work; (4) Social security and marginalised communities; (5) Children's right to food; (6) Dalit perspectives; (7) Perspectives of indigenous communities; (8) Women's perspectives; (9) Land rights and food sovereignty; (10) Agriculture and trade; (11) Right to food and right to information; (12) Drought and Survival.

COSTS: The workshop is being organized on a shoestring budget, without institutional funding. All participants are expected to bear their own travel costs. Subsistence costs will be met from a "registration fee" of Rs 100 per person for three days (with exemption for those who can’t afford the fee). Simple accommodation will be provided at Gandhi Bhavan itself.

REMINDER: Because of the shortage of space, all participants are expected to liaise with the logistics committee in advance. You can do this by sending a line to right2food@yahoo.co.in or contacting any member of the logistics committee. The members are: Asha Mishra (asham_200@yahoo.com, tel 9826379553), Kavita Srivastava (kavisriv@yahoo.com, tel 0141-2706 483), Vivek S. (vivekdse@vsnl.net, tel 011-3091 7116) and Rajeev Singh (rajeevsonline@yahoo.com, tel 9811185846).

3. FOOD ISSUES IN THE "COMMON MINIMUM PROGRAMME"

The new government’s "common mimimum programme" (CMP) includes some important items relating to the right to food. Selected excerpts follow:

(1) EMPLOYMENT GUARANTEE: "The UPA Government will immediately enact a National Employment Guarantee Act. This will provide a legal guarantee for at least 100 days of employment, to begin with, on asset-creating public works programmes every year at minimum wages for at least one able-bodied person in every rural, urban poor and lower-middle class household. In the interim, a massive food-for-work programme will be started."

(2) MID-DAY MEALS: "A national cooked nutritious mid-day meal scheme, funded mainly by the Central Government, will be introduced in primary and secondary schools. An appropriate mechanism for quality checks will also be set up."

(3) ICDS: "The UPA will also universalise the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme to provide a functional anganwadi in every settlement and ensure full coverage for all children."

(4) PDS: "The UPA Government will strengthen the Public Distribution System (PDS), particularly in the poorest and backward blocks of the country, and also involve women's and ex-servicemen's cooperatives in its management. Special schemes to reach foodgrains to the most destitute and infirm will be launched. Grain banks in chronically food-scarce areas will be established. Antyodaya cards for all households at risk of hunger will be introduced."

It remains to persuade the government to put these good intentions (and more) into practice

4. MAHARASHTRA: PUBLIC HEARING ON THE RIGHT TO HEALTH CARE

As part of the Right to Health Care campaign, Jan Arogya Abhiyan (JSA Maharashtra) organised a public hearing on government health care facilities at Saswad (Pune district) on 11 May 2004. The hearing was organised by various members of JSA including MASUM, Rachana Trust, Chaitanya, FRCH and CEHAT. The aim of the public hearing was to highlight and address the deteriorating public health services that are crucial for the rural population and patients who cannot afford private health care.

The hearing was well attended: women dominated the 300-strong audience that attended the programme. Dr. Anant Phadke and Ms. Jaya Sagade of ILS Law College, Pune attended the hearing as panelists and the Additional District Health Officer (ADHO) of Pune district, doctors and medical officers from neighbouring rural hospital and PHCs were present as government representatives for this programme.

The main focus of the public hearing was the presentation of a report based on a survey of government health facilities in 8 talukas of Pune district. The survey covered three aspects of government facilities: availability of staff, of equipment and of services. On all three counts, the report painted a dismal picture. Staff posts, ranging from doctors (especially lady doctors) to lab technicians and drivers are lying vacant or have not been sanctioned. There are no toilets in some health centres, and where toilets exist, there is no water supply. Erratic supply of electricity means vaccines cannot be stored properly. PHCs are unable to provide basic services such as deliveries, snakebites, immunization (e.g. a child had to pay Rs. 3000 at a private hospital for ORS because the PHC could not help him). Further, people are charged for facilities that are supposed to be free (e.g. deliveries), patients are not treated respectfully by the staff and doctors (a woman who was in pain because the anaesthesia had worn off by the time the operation started was hit to keep her from screaming).

The ADHO while admitting that the situation was dismal, responded by citing the lack of adequate funds as the main cause. He suggested that people raise these issues at all levels starting with village health committees. The panelists, on the other hand, highlighted the fact that lack of funds was not an acceptable argument. As one of them pointed out, the lack of adequate health care threatens people’s Right to Life to which they are entitled by the Constitution. The ADHO was requested to arrange for more funds and at the same time issue instructions to ensure that people are not treated badly at health centres.