[Reader-list] RTF (Right to Food) Articles - 5

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* The right to adequate food *

By Kaushik Ranjan Bandyopadhyay

* What is really needed is the participation of civil society in planning,
executing, monitoring and evaluating public policies relevant to the right
to adequate food. *

 THE RIGHT to food is not just a basic human right but also a basic human
need. It essentially requires the state to ensure at least that the people
do not starve. States have to take all necessary steps towards fulfilling
the right to adequate food. Under the Indian Constitution, there is no
fundamental right to food but the fulcrum of justiciability of the right to
food comes from a much broader "right to life and liberty" as enshrined in
Article 21. In fact, the basis of the much talked about petition filed by
the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) against the Union of India is
Article 21. The petition drew attention to the fact that over 50 million
tonnes of foodgrains were lying idle in FCI godowns against the backdrop of
widespread hunger in the country, especially in the drought-affected areas
of Rajasthan and Orissa. This led to an interim Supreme Court order
directing the States to implement fully eight different centrally-sponsored
schemes on food security and to introduce cooked midday meals in all
Government and Government-assisted schools.

India does not seem to have any problem in terms of physical availability as
the foodgrains production is more than adequate as evident from the
overflowing godowns. Accessibility is the problem. This has two elements:
physical accessibility and economic accessibility. There is a network of
half-a-million fair price shops to make foodgrains physically available to
Indian households. However, the public distribution system is grossly
flawed. Field investigations by various NGOs in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh,
Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Maharashtra and Rajasthan revealed that large
numbers of cardholders are ignorant of their entitlements.

The principal constraint in realising the right to adequate food is economic
accessibility or affordability. This brings to the fore two main issues: (1)
the price of the foodgrains and (2) the economic means to exercise `command'
over the food. The food subsidy bill of the Centre and States together
exceeds Rs. 30,000 crores a year. But the subsidy is inherently biased
towards the producers and does not cater to the needy consumers in the form
of reduced prices on foodgrains. Compounding this, the PDS dealers charge
inflated prices even for the BPL and the Antodaya Anna Yojana (AAY)
cardholders. On the question of economic means, the realisation of the right
to food involves the right to work. The relief or ad hoc employment provided
to farmers during the lean season or to landless labourers and tribals for a
short duration does not bring enough money — to feed themselves or their
families adequately. To ensure the right to adequate food there has to be an
Employment Guarantee Scheme (EGS) such as in Maharashtra and it has to be
legally binding.

Another important issue is the interface between the right to food and the
right to health on the notion of `adequacy'. According to Asjborn Eide, U.N.
Special Rapporteur on Right to Food, once foodstuffs are physically
available, they have to satisfy the dietary needs (energy and nutrients) to
qualify as adequate. The latest NSS Report shows that the calorie intake of
the poorest 30 per cent of the population falls short of the dietary intake
recommended by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). The Second
National Family Health Survey Report (1998-99) shows that 47 per cent of
Indian children are under nourished, and that 36 per cent and 52 per cent of
Indian women suffer from chronic energy deficiency and anaemia respectively.


The alarming nutritional status of women and children in India is primarily
attributed to chronic hunger. The nutritional status of women also has a
direct bearing on the weight of children. About 34 per cent of all newborn
infants have low birth weight. It has serious consequences in terms of high
infant mortality and morbidity and vulnerability to cardiovascular disorders
in adulthood. To do away with this chronic under-nourishment, adequate food
with all dietary elements is not enough. Adequate food must be accompanied
by a provision for adequate health care.

An assessment of the initiatives of the Centre and the State Governments to
satisfy the right to adequate food after the Supreme Court's interim order
makes it clear that the state has failed in various ways to protect,
facilitate and provide adequate food. The food security schemes specified in
the interim order are not functioning in many States. The States blame it on
lack of resources, which is only partly true. If the States claim their
inability to fulfil their obligations for reasons beyond their control, they
have to show that they have done everything in their power to ensure that
people have access to adequate food.

The starvation deaths in Orissa's Kashipur village bear testimony to a clear
lack of political will and seriousness on the part of the States along with
corrupt local governments and the bureaucracy. A survey undertaken in
Kashipur after the reports of starvation deaths showed that poor tribal
families had been declared above the poverty line (APL) while the network of
local government and traders siphoned off the grains meant for BPL (below
poverty line) families under the targeted public distribution system (TDPS).


In his report to the Supreme Court submitted on October 29, 2002, N. C.
Saxena, Commissioner of the Supreme Court, stated that Bihar, Jharkhand,
Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh and Gujarat
had not responded to the queries regarding PDS foodgrains not reaching the
poor and had not provided any feedback on the status of compliance with the
order on introduction of midday meals or on the status of the process of
identification of the poor for BPL ration cards. The report reaffirms the
States' lacklustre approach in eliminating with hunger and starvation and
ensuring the right to adequate food.

An important instrument in asserting the right to adequate food is legal
action. Of late, the Supreme Court has started entertaining Public Interest
Litigation highlighting questions of public importance. The PIL filed by the
PUCL against the Union of India (SCC 196 of 2001) is one such celebrated
petition on the violation of the right to food. However, such legal action
does not touch upon all aspects of the right to food. The role of civil
society is of paramount importance. Article 10 (Part IV) of the
International Code of Conduct on the right to adequate food mentions that
the active participation of all civil society actors — individuals,
families, local communities or non-governmental organisations — is
essential. Recently, social mobilisation has begun in the form of public
hearings. Public pressure through public hearing is effective in asserting
the right to food. However, what is really needed is the participation of
civil society in planning, executing, monitoring and evaluating public
policies relevant to the right to adequate food. Only a participatory
approach will be able to give a more humane shape and the much needed rights
perspective to the Government's policies in ensuring food and nutrition
security.

Moreover, there should be due recognition of the fact that all pivotal
rights such as the right to food, right to health, right to education or any
economic and social rights, for that matter, are interdependent. For
example, providing sufficient food to do away with under-nutrition will not
really eliminate the chronic health disorders that have already set in.
Providing adequate health care is necessary. Similarly, to realise the right
to food people should have access to education and information. Last but not
the least, the process of realisation of the right to adequate food should
not violate any other socio-economic or civil and political rights.

*(The writer is a researcher at the Centre for Development and Human Rights,
New Delhi.)*

  * *

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