Right To Food Activist from Eastern and North Eastern
Region ask for debate on NFSB at KolkataOne 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.
The resource persons of the day were:
Harsh Mander, the Supreme Court Commissioner spoke on Supreme Court Order on RTF and Kavita Srivastava the National Convener of RTF spoke on National Food Security Bill and the stand on RTFC on the same for a comprehensive food security bill.
Every representatives from different state reiterated their stand on the Steering committee’s that the following shortcomings be amended:
1. The Bill does not specify any time frame for the rolling out of the entitlements in the law. .
2. It continues with a Targeted PDS, excluding 33 % of the population from accessing the PDS as a right, giving scope to large exclusion errors of the poor in the country as a whole. The improved framework of single pricing in the present bill over the dual pricing under the existing APL-BPL system is undermined by the exclusion of a third of the country.
3. While the ICMR norms recommend that an adult requires 14kgs of food grains per month and children 7kgs; the Bill provides for reduced entitlements to 5kgs per person per month, thus ensuring only 166 gms of cereal per person per day, which is barely enough for two rotis a day.
4. The Bill provides only for cereals with no entitlements to basic food necessities such as pulses and edible oil required to combat malnutrition.
5. The Bill continues to allow for the entry of private contractors and commercial interests in the supply of food in the ICDS, especially by insisting on specific norms related to Food Safety Acts and icronutrient norms (Note in Schedule 2).
6. This bill is still ambiguous regarding universal maternal entitlements by continuing with the conditionality in the scheme of the two child norm, which will penalise children of higher order as well as deny the mother of her basic rights.
7. The Bill does not have a strong grievance redress mechanism. For the Bill to be effective there needs to be in place a strong, decentralized and independent grievance redress mechanism that includes Panchayat or block level grievance redress officers with powers to impose penalties on erring officials.
8. The Bill does not provide any agriculture and production-related entitlements for farmers in spite of the fact that more than 60% of the people in this country are dependent on agriculture for their livelihoods. A revived and vibrant agriculture sector forms the backbone of food security.
9. It allows for the back door entry of cash transfers instead of food grains by allowing for a food security allowance when food is not available, and by allowing cash transfers as a part of PDS reforms.
10. It has no provisions like old age pensions for the support of senior citizens , or for feeding through community kitchens or other measures of the homeless, destitute and other sections that are most often the victims of starvation.
Each State came up with action plan for the coming days and decided on activity, date and the place of action…!
During the press meet all the state representatives made statements about the conditions of state represented and possible action plan at Kolkata press club in the evening..!
West Bengal looking at the impending Panchayat Election decided to have the state Convention and action plan after the election in the third week of July.
