Activists intensify food bill agitation in Jharkhand

Right to Food Campaign Yaatra,Jamshedpur

The Times of India

RANCHI: Activists of the Right to Food Campaign have decided to intensify public pressure to bring about logical changes in the proposed bill.

Expressing discontent over the inordinate delay in tabling the bill, adviser to the monitoring committee of the Supreme Court for food security scheme Balram, said they wanted the bill to be passed but with necessary amendments. "We have been campaigning for a holistic bill covering all aspects of people's basic right to fight against hunger and have no objection to the legislation as long as certain amendments are accepted by the government," he said

Report: Eastern and North Eastern Regional meeting

Right To Food Activist from Eastern and North Eastern Region ask for debate on NFSB at Kolkata

One hundred and two activist representing various organization and movements from Six States of Eastern and  North Eastern Region  met at Praggolaya in North 24 Parganas near Calcutta.

The Regional convention was one of the decisions taken by the National RTF Steering committee to oppose the intended ‘Ordinance’ on the National Food Security Bill 2013 and to take the movement further with the implementation plans if the bills is passed with needed amendments in the coming monsoon session of the Parliament.

Message by Prof. Olivier De Schutter, The UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food in World Breastfeeding Confrence

The Video of Speech

Hello My Name is Olivier de Schutter. I am United Nation special Rapporteur for right to food and my role is to make recommendations to governments as to how to improve food security & promote the vital food at all levels. I would like to thank the organizer of this World Breastfeeding Conference in Delhi for their invitation to address you and I of course regret that I cannot be there in person and that’s I have been obliged to stay in New York during this period.

How the States Feed India

The Indian Express 

Chhattisgarh

Chhattisgarh already has a food security law in place. It became last December the first state to pass a food security bill, which covers several sections not under existing schemes.

Stunting a country

The Hindu

India’s paradox of fast economic growth across several years and chronic malnutrition in a significant section of the population is well known. It has vast numbers of stunted children whose nutritional status is so poor that infectious diseases increase the danger of death. About 34 per cent of girls aged 15 to 19 are stunted in the country, according to a major review of global undernutrition by The Lancet. These adolescents, part of the post-liberalisation generation, have benefited the least from economic growth. Without active intervention to improve their access to appropriate food, the young women are bound to face complications during pregnancy and many are certain to deliver stunted babies, continuing the distressing cycle. What these insights underscore is the need for the political class to make the struggle against malnutrition a national priority. It is evident that in the absence of scaled-up programmes to build the health of the child and the teenager, and to provide opportunities for education and skill-building, India cannot really reap the so-called demographic dividend of a large young population. Neither can it substantially reduce its shameful levels of maternal and child mortality, attributable in good measure to lack of nutrients in the diet.

Tamilnadu lukewarm about Food Security Bill

Creating 'Joyful' Anganwadis

Compensate tribals who lost land, says right to food panel

Ajay Kumar,The Times of India

The advisor of the commissioner in the right to food case, Clifton D'Rozario, has submitted a detailed report to the central government on malnutrition deaths in Attapadi and recommended urgent welfare measures to support the tribal community. 

The report states the state government must constitute a special land tribunal to redress the grievances related to land alienations within one year. 

"More than 10,000 acres of land have been found to be alienated from tribals, hence urgent action must be taken to compensate this alienation,'' the report points out.