खाद्य सुरक्षा के व्यापार में हमने क्या बेंचा?

सचिन जैन 

डब्ल्यूटीओ की बाली बैठक में ६ दिसम्बर २०१३ को जिस समझौते के किये भारत सरकार राज़ी हो गयी, वह समझौता साफ़ संकेत देता है कि प्रभावशाली कूटनीतिक पूँजी की ताकत से सामने हम झुक गए. अब न तो भारत आसानी से न्यूनतम समर्थन मूल्य बढ़ा सकेगा, न ही खाद्य सुरक्षा कार्यक्रमों का ज्यादा विस्तार कर सकेगा. इतना ही नहीं बाली समझौते के मुताबिक अब उसे सभी जानकारियाँ विकसित देशों को देना होंगी. वास्तविकता यह है कि हमारी सरकार अब भी यह तय नहीं कर पा रही है कि विकसित देशों के लाभ के लिए हम अपनी ताकत यानी खेती को दाँव पर क्यों लगा रहे हैं?  खेती और खाद्य रियायत पर समझौता करने का मतलब था ६५ करोड किसानों और खाद्य सुरक्षा क़ानून के ८७ करोड लोगों के हकों को सीमित करने की शुरुआत; क्योंकि इस क़ानून के लागू होते ही खेती को दी जाने वाली सब्सिडी कृषि उत्पादन के १० फीसदी हिस्से से ऊपर निकल जाना निश्चित है. इस मामले पर बाली की बैठक शुरू होने के पहले ही जब भारत सरकार को डब्ल्यूटीओ से इन प्रस्तावित समझौता प्रावधानों का प्रारूप मिला, तभी से यह बहस शुरू हो गयी थी कि हमारी सरकार क्या इस बिंदु (जिसे पीस क्लाज़ कहा जा रहा था) के लिए सहमत होगी? 

Government Cracks Whip on Delays in NREGA Payments, Rs 5.17Lakhs Paid as Pending Wages and Compensation to Khunti Workers

Khunti (26 November 2013): In August this year, the Jharkhand Labour Commission passed a landmark order awarding compensation of Rs 2,000 per worker for delay and non-payment of wages in a work done under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme of Murhigram panchayat in Khunti block. A total of 91 workers were paid pending wages and compensation money, amounting to a total of Rs5.17 lakhs.Of the 91 workers, 79 workers came to the Khunti block office today to receive the money. Four workers had died since working and the rest eight have either migrated in search of work or could not come because of ill health. Their money was collected by their family members. The compensation amount was recovered from the Block Development Officer, Block Programme Officer, RozgarSevak and Panchayat Sevak.

India Blinks Under US Pressure at WTO Ministerial in Bali.

India has wilted under pressure from the US and agreed to accept conditionalities that were not part of the G-33 proposal. The text of the agreed draft can be accessed below (see section WT/ MIN 913)/ W / 10 - Public Stockholding for Food Security Purposes):

The text and the various parts to the declaration:

What India has traded away: 

1.Anand Sharma had unambiguously stated that the "peace clause" should be in place till such time that a permanent solution is found. The word "interim" that he had used IS IN the text (a clear victory), but in what is being described by the WTO Secretariat as "constructive ambiguity" the US position that it should be only for four years also finds its place (Para 1) in the text by adding, "for adoption  by the 11th Ministerial Conference" (there is a WTO Ministerial once every two years and Bali was the 9th Ministerial. (Some experts though are interpreting it as being in India's favour since "interim" can be interpreted as holding on till a permanent settlement is found irrespective of the reference to the 11th Ministerial).

District consultation on issues emerging from equity related scoping of livelihood sources and marginalised groups (MADHEPURA)

Right to Food Campaign, organized a consultation on food security and local level livelihood resources on 20^th Nov, 2013 in the office of community health and development programme, Madhepura. Participants discussed findings of the study of food security schemes in the district in February, 2013, various provisions of The Food Security Act, vision of the Right to Food campaign, problems affecting Agriculture and farmers, land reforms and corruption in the existing welfare schemes. Around twenty five participants were present there. Important participants, among others, were Ritwij Kumar, Joseph Marandi, Hemant Kumar Yadav, Jai kumar, Akhilesh Saha, Alok kumar Nayak and Pankaj Kumar. Ram lagan Nirala presided over the meeting. The consultation started around 11 AM and concluded at 4 PM.

Global Civil Society letter to Director-General of the WTO

To,

The Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and Member States

Do not Dilute G 33 Proposal: Address Imbalance in Global Agricultural Subsidies Rules, Support  Public Stockholding for Guaranteeing Livelihoods and Food Consumption of the Poor at Bali WTO Ministerial.

We, as members of the global civil society, urge the Director-General of the World Trade Organisation, Roberto Azevedo, and member states, to take the issue of food security in developing countries as a matter of serious and immediate concern, and not to render the G-33 proposal on public food stockholding a travesty by asking developing countries to agree to the current text on the peace clause.

Across the developing world, millions of people, most of them poor, still do not have basic and minimum access to food. According to the FAO, 868 million were undernourished in 2011-12, of them 304 million in South Asia and 234 million in Sub Saharan Africa. Even more disturbing is the fact that nearly 3.1 million children under the age of 5 die each year because of poor nutrition (Hunger Statistics, World Food Program 2013).