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Campaign Updates: Update 45
5 August 2006 These updates are prepared on a fortnightly basis to circulate information on activities around the country relating to the right to food. This and past updates are available on our website: www.righttofoodindia.org. The website also contains a wealth of information regarding different aspects of the campaign, from government legislations to campaign activities, and much more. If you would like to send us any information to be included in future updates, kindly write to us at righttofood@gmail.com.
1. HUNGER DEATHS [Information Sent in by Vidya Bhushan Rawat, Prashant, Right To Food Campaign M.P. Support group, and Karoo ji] Reports of hunger and malnutrition deaths of both children and adults are coming in from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh. The alarming fact is that these deaths have occurred in villages and districts which have witnessed similar deaths in the past 2 - 3 years. The situation in Sheopur district ( Madhya Pradesh) is by far the worst with 16 deaths. Villages of Karahal Block, Sheopur District, Madhya Pradesh have witnessed deaths of as many as 16 children due to malnutrition and hunger in the months starting April 2006. There were 8 deaths in Patalgarh village alone where the administration had stepped in last year after 13 children lost their lives. More recently 7 children have died in Karrai village of the same block in the past month. All the children are aged between 1 month and 7 years. These deaths are occurring despite the presence of an anganwadi in the village. Some districts of Bihar have witnessed 6 hunger deaths of adults aged between 35 years - 60 years. The most distressing of all is the news that 2 of these adults committed suicide as they could see their children hungry no more. One cannot help but repeatedly notice that these hunger deaths are occurring amongst the extremely deprived communities, who have been targeted by the government in various welfare schemes. All the deceased children from Sheopur belonged to the Saheriya community. The nine-month- old girl who died in Belwa village of Varanasi distt., belonged to the Musahar tribe. In such a situation the degree of commitment and effectiveness of the administration is questionable. 2. TRIBALS FIGHTING A BATTLE OF POVERTY LINE Tribals of Betul district, Madhya Pradesh, under the banner of Shramik Adivasi Sanghathan and Samajwadi Jan Parishad tribals have staged a 4 days long dharna, (at Shahpur Tahsil office), protesting the removal of their names from the new BPL list. In this regard they are conducting a BPL survey, whose results they wish to compare with the official survey to expose the irregularities. They allege that the government is dividing them by only adding few names in the list when all the tribals in the village are of equal economical status. As a part of their struggle a demonstration is to be held on 20th July 15, 2006 at the Betul Collector's office, to demand joint resurvey of BPL in all the villages of the district. 3. PADYATRA IN SANT RAVIDAS NAGAR BHADOHI (UTTAR PRADESH): Bhadohi better known as a 'Carpet Hub' internationally is one of the most backward and politically neglected districts of Uttar Pradesh. A recent research conducted by PAHARUA found 80% of children belonging to Dalit communities to be malnourished and denied of their basic rights of protection, survival and development. The situation of other marginalized communities like Nuts, Mushars and Banjaras is similar. In this backdrop PAHARUA plans to organize a Mass Campaign to bring to the fore the situation of mass violation of Human Rights, in particular the right to food. The Campaign in the form of a PAD YATRA will commence from Village Rampur Ghat, known for its backwardness and caste based atrocities on 1st August 2006 and ends [pic]on 7th August 2006 at the District Head Quarters after covering various Development Blocks of District Bhadohi. During the PAD YATRA activists will perform street plays and inform people about their various rights under the Right to Food. They will also collect actual evidences and case studies through process of social audit.
To address the claims and queries of community members a Public Hearing is being organized on 17 August 2006 at Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Park, Gyanpur, Sant Ravidas Nagar Bhadohi. The public hearing will be attended by Retired Justice, Food Commissioners appointed by Honorable Supreme Court and eminent Social Activists.
4. A SIGNIFICANT VICTORY FOR RTI IN ORISSA: [Contributed By Chitta Behera And Pradip Pradhan, Orissa ] Some activist groups have informally come together to launch a State-wide campaign for ensuring a proper operationalisation of the RTI Act 2005 soon after it was notified on the Gazette of India in June 2005 last. The specific objectives of the campaign were (a) to contribute to the advocacy efforts then going on at national level for pressing the Central Government to frame citizen-friendly rules as mandated by the Central Act; and more importantly (b) to effectively lobby with the State Government of Orissa to make the State rules under the Act as much pro-poor as possible keeping in view the interest of the overwhelming bulk of State's population. However, the Campaign faced a formidable challenge to its mission when the Government of Orissa announced on 7th October 05 a set of Rules that ran diametrically counter to the very basic mandate of the Act. Not only were the various fees prescribed by it exorbitantly high, so to say the highest in India, but also its entire corpus of provisions were found to be in violation of the mother law and out and out anti-people. Further, the Orissa Rules contained some draconian provisions too, like Rule-13, which said that if an applicant failed to pay any dues within 30 days of the notice to that effect, it would be realized by way of recovery of arrears of land revenue. This means that his/her property may be confiscated and auctioned off for the purpose, or alternatively he/she may have to undergo civil imprisonment ranging from 6 weeks to 6 months. Recognising the role of legislators in influencing the process of rule-making by the Government, the Campaign convened a Consultation with MLAs to convince them of the illegitimate and anti-poor nature of the Orissa RTI Rules and also approached them individually for the purpose. As a result 11 MLAs, all belonging to ruling BJD-BJP coalition (none from opposition was present then due to the boycott of Assembly by them on other grounds), rose in one voice on the floor of Assembly on 3rd April 06 to demand a thoroughgoing amendment of the notified Rules. Following this effort revisions were made in the state RTI rules. To carry the message of our campaign further across to other States and networks at national level, a website was also launched at www.orissarti.com and the events and memoranda of the campaign were displayed there for perusal by all. Apart from this the following bunch of bilingual publications (both in English and Oriya) were also prepared: RTI Act 2005, Central Rules and Central Appeal Rules, The Template for Information Handbook under Section 4(1b) of the Act, The RTI Act from the civil society perspective, Orissa RTI Rules 2005, Why Absurd and Illegitimate? 5. DISABILITY AND NREGS IN BADHWANI, M.P. (Contributed by Sachin Jain) It is heartening to note that in Badhwani district of Madhya Pradesh the disabled are being given employment under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. Here, 84 handicapped persons from 26 villages are not only successfully engaged in physical labour, but are also getting employment in other assignments under the Scheme. The role played by voluntary organizations such as, Asha Gram Trust and SANGATI, is commendable in fighting for the inclusion of the disabled in the scheme. Right from arranging for the official recognition certificates as 'handicapped persons', to identifying works that can be done by variously handicapped persons, under the Madhya Pradesh Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, these organizations have worked to break the social barriers facing the disabled. 6. RECENT WRITINGS OF INTEREST
The secretariat of the 'Right to Food Campaign' has prepared a series of PRIMERS (easy-to-read booklets) on various aspects of the right to food, like the National Employment Guarantee Act, Mid-day Meals, ICDS, and the Supreme Court Orders on the Right to Food writ petition (196/2001). These primers are written in simple language and are ideal for training workshops, awareness generation campaigns etc.; and are nominally priced. To buy these primers please contact us at the email address given below. The National Book Trust is also printing these primers in all Indian languages. [NOTE: These Updates are prepared by volunteers on behalf of the secretariat of the right to food campaign (tel. 011-435 01335, e-mail righttofood@gmail.com), based on communications from individuals and organizations involved in the campaign. If you'd like to send any material for inclusion in the next Update, please send a line to righttofood@gmail.com. See also the campaign website (www.righttofoodindia.org) for the full list of earlier Updates, and plenty of information on various aspects of the right to food.] Last updated: 25 August 2006 |
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