Right to Food Campaign |
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PRESS RELEASE: Nation wide Action Day on April 9, 2002 With the deadline of Feb 28th for introducing mid-day meals in half the districts in each state over, people took to streets across the country demanding the implementation of food related schemes. This is the first significant step for India’s Right to Food Campaign. In over 100 districts of 9 States covering over 1000 villages and slums people participated in the action day of the Right to Food campaign. They expressed themselves through a variety of events, including Public Hearings, Dharanas, Rallies, press conferences, etc. 5,000 children gathered in Miller School of Patna demanding the implementation of Mid-Day Meal Scheme (MDMS). This central event of Bihar was accompanied by other events in all the districts of Bihar. In Dhanbad district alone, 60 villages were covered. A salient feature of the event was that in many places it was organised by the Gram Sabhas themselves. A delegation met the Education Minister requesting him to start serving mid-day meal immediately. Significantly, the minister said that he cannot promise anything, despite the clear court order asking the State to begin serving cooked mid-day meals in half the districts of the State by February 28, 2002. In a quick survey done prior to the action day, it was found that mid-day meals are not being served in Bihar despite the Supreme Court deadline getting over. Jharkhand too had its share of action. 2,500 children gathered in the Town Hall of Ranchi to demand the implementation of the MDMS. The programme was presided by the Chief Whip of BJP, Mr. C P Singh. In a fashion markedly better than other parts of the country, he promised to do something soon about the scheme. It took a truly community flavour with Panchayats, Gram Sabhas, Teachers and the general public conducting the events, apart from a large number of NGOs. The ‘action day’ was preceded by a large programme of information dissemination about the entitlements that the Supreme Court has endowed on us. 500 children gathered in the MG road of Bangalore carrying empty plates symbolising the non compliance of the State government to the Supreme Court order. Programmes were conducted simultaneously in 20 out of 27 districts of Karnataka. Whole villages participated in the events and about a 100 children were given mid day meal, to remind the district administration of its duty. Delegations were also sent to the officials with a memorandum asking for the immediate introduction of the scheme. The diplomats met them with a diplomatic silence. In a parallel move, a case is being initiated in the High Court of Karnataka demanding the implementation of the Supreme Court order. It was learned in the process that the Karnataka government is floating a tender to buy vessels for a part of the programme, piecemeal efforts well past the deadline. Hundreds of people gathered in PMG Square of Bhubaneshwar, Orissa demanding the implementation of MDMS. In a state that has discontinued the scheme despite the disaster of last year, the Supreme Court order was taken with a great enthusiasm. Apart from the action in the State capital, simultaneous action was taken at the District level in many districts of the State. A delegation went to meet the Chief Minister demanding the immediate implementation of the scheme but met the Additional Secretary, instead. In a positive step, he has promised to call a meeting within a week to decide when they would start the scheme. The deadline of the Supreme Court has been missed, it remains to be seen if this deadline would be met. The campaign took roots in Jalon and Shankargarh (Allahabad district). In 40 villages around Jalon, posters and pamphlets were posted and mid day meals were served to children by the community members. When the Tehsildar was met by a delegation, he promised to do something about the scheme, but expressed total ignorance about the Supreme Court order, since the district administration has not sent any instructions to him. In a quick survey, they also found out that in none of the villages, where the campaign was organised, mid day meals were being served. Jalon seems to be the perfect representative of the scene in UP. A public hearing on the right to food was held today in Shankargarh, a backward block of Allahabad district. The hearing was attended by hundreds of labourers from the neighboring villages, where people survive by breaking stones and live in crushing poverty. Also present in the hearing were eminent citizens Allahabad and Lucknow as well as senior members of the district administration as well as the BDO and the SDM. The hearing exposed massive corruption in food related programmes as Public Distribution System (PDS), the Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) and the mid-day meal scheme (MDMS). The PDS has virtually broken down in the entire block. BPL households have not received any grain for years. Most Anganwadi centers are non functional and nutritious food for children is sold openly in the black market. The Uttar Pradesh government has not taken any step so for to implement the Supreme Court order of November 28 directing all State governments to provide cooked mid-day meals in all government and government aided primary schools. Villagers from Badama (a village near Allahbad) gave an inspiring account of how they succeeded in removing the irregularities in their local ration shop. The local ration shop dealer had become cooperative and began supplying properly once the villagers complained to the Allahabad High Court. Attention was also paid to the complaints of the ration shop dealers, who claim to be prisoners to a web of corruption. One dealer gave a detailed account of fixed bribes to be paid to the local Food Corporation of India (FCI) in charge, the supply inspector the Sub Divisional Magistrate and others. He is constrained to sell about half of the ‘BPL quota’ on the black market just to break even "The government is turning us into thieves" he said. At the end of the hearing the participants passed a resolution and submitted a list of demands to the district administration these include,
The official response will be reviewed at a follow up gathering on 1 May - Labour Day. In Madhya Pradesh, after an extensive action covering over 300 villages in the State, Barath Gyan Vigyan Samiti and its collaborators brought 428 children in front of the Chief Minter’s office. A memorandum was made for the Chief Minister on the implementation of the scheme. At the heal of closing of schools, the Chattisgarh government decided to start the mid-day meal programme on 1st April. Complaints have been received about the quality, quantity, caste problems and other such issues in the programme. So, 60 organisations have joined hands to do a regular monitoring of the mid-day meal scheme and the other schemes that find mention in the Supreme Court order. 0n the mid day meal scheme, they would monitor:
BGVS and PUCL had planned to feed 50 school children in a symbolic meal from community contributions outside the residence of the Chief Minister in Raipur as part of this state-wide agitation. However the state police refused to give us permission outside the CM’s residence, and as a compromise BGVS and PUCL have decided to hold the programme in Motibagh instead. In a programme conducted at the Press Club of Kolkata, scores of children presenting placards of on the theme were present. These children who stand to benefit from the scheme interacted with the media and expressed their desire for the mid-day meal scheme. Rajasthan has been seeing a campaign of different sorts. The mid-day meal scheme was introduced according the Supreme Court deadline. But the state faced a lot of implementation problems. The groups decided not to protest non implementation, since the State has begun the programme. The government had also been responsive to the feed back on the implementation of the programme. At our complaint that the State specified menu of ‘ghugri’ was difficult to prepare and was causing problems, the government had allowed the panchayats to decide the menu. Similar action was taken on the questions of providing ‘meals’ instead of ‘snacks’ and on other issues. The government aided schools in many areas were not receiving the benefits though they were entitled to do so in the Supreme Court order. In protest of this, a rally of children was organised in Jaipur. A ‘jan sunwai’ was held in Bhinoi on the implementation aspects of the scheme.
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