[Reader-list] Reg: Right to Food - Set 1 - Re-entry

[Rajkamal Goswami]

Dear All,

read and let me know how you true intellectuals feel about it.

http://rkgoswami.blogspot.com/2011/06/lost-highway-rajkamal-i-am-always.html

http://rkgoswami.blogspot.com/

guys do read this ok

rajkamal

On Mon, Jun 27, 2011 at 1:49 PM, Rakesh Iyer <rakesh.rnbdj at gmail.com> wrote:

> Article 2:
>
> Link: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090708/jsp/opinion/story_11209738.jsp
>
> Article:
>
> Food, glorious food!
> The proposed National Food Security Act promises to deliver the poor from
> hunger. But the legislation will be effective only if the public
> distribution system is toned up, argues *Shabina Akhtar
>
> *
>
> Selima Bibi, a resident of a shanty in central Calcutta, ignores her
> five-year-old son when he cries for food. She is going to boil some rice in
> a while but there’s precious little else that she can give him to eat. The
> malnourished boy, with a swollen belly and rickety legs, slinks off
> whimpering, perhaps to forage for food somewhere else.
>
> Selima Bibi and her family are among millions of people in India who do not
> get enough to eat. In fact, if the latest survey by the ministry of rural
> development is to be believed, about 50 per cent of India’s population
> suffers from malnutrition. However, that may change soon.
>
> The United Progressive Alliance government has promised to come up with the
> National Food Security Act (NFSA). This will provide a statutory framework
> to ensure food security for all. The proposed law is to be drafted by the
> ministry of food and public distribution in consultation with several
> non-governmental organisations and the Supreme Court Commissioners (SCC), a
> body formed by the apex court in 2001 to address the problem of hunger.
>
> The NFSA will entitle every family below the poverty line (BPL) in rural
> and
> urban areas to 25 kg of rice or wheat a month at a subsidised rate of Rs 3
> per kg. Targeted identification cards will be issued to people who fall
> below the poverty line. The delivery monitoring unit in the Prime
> Minister’s
> Office will be overseeing the project.
>
> Yet despite the laudable objectives of the law, many feel that it would
> actually be a step back from what the government is providing now. “Given
> that India has a very high percentage of people suffering from hunger and
> malnutrition, we do require such a law. However, 2.5 crore BPL cardholders
> are already getting food grains at the rate of Rs 2 per kg. Besides, each
> BPL household is entitled to 35 kg of rice or wheat a month. If the
> government plans to reduce entitlements in the name of food security and
> ask
> the beneficiaries to pay a rupee extra per kg, then what kind of food
> security is this,” asks Member of Parliament and CPI(M) politbureau member
> Brinda Karat.
>
> Karat has a point. Under existing schemes like the Antyodaya Anna Yojana
> (AAY) each BPL household is entitled to 35 kg of food grains a month at the
> rate of Rs 2 per kg. Then why bring in such a law at all?
>
> Says Biraj Patnaik, principal advisor, SCC, “Both the Supreme Court and the
> high courts have repeatedly interpreted the right to food and shelter as a
> fundamental right. But unless a right is clearly explicated and broken down
> into solid entitlement, it fails to deliver. Schemes such as the AAY are
> there, but they can be done away with any time. Once the National Food
> Security Act comes into force, however, it would require an amendment to be
> passed in Parliament to make any changes to its entitlements.”
>
> Patnaik feels that schemes such as the AAY will probably be merged with the
> new law eventually. However, he also says that the government may have to
> raise the entitlement to 35 kg of rice a month per BPL household in the
> draft bill, in keeping with what poor families are already getting under
> the
> Antyodaya Anna Yojana scheme.
>
> Another critical issue is the assessment of those who will benefit from it.
> The Planning Commission report of 2002 made 65 million people beneficiaries
> of the AAY schemes. Yet the state governments have already issued BPL cards
> to over a 100 million households. But if one goes by the recent survey by
> the ministry of rural development, as many as 50 per cent of the Indian
> population is likely to benefit from the law.
>
> N.C. Saxena, a former secretary of the Planning Commission, who conducted
> the survey at the behest of the ministry of rural development, says, “The
> analysis shows that the percentage of rural population unable to satisfy
> the
> minimum calorie requirements is far greater than the present 28.3 per cent
> of the total population. I have recommended that the percentage of people
> entitled to BPL status should be increased to at least 50 per cent.”
>
> Others say that the law will be futile if it does not tone up the public
> distribution system (PDS). Devinder Sharma, chairman of the Forum for
> Biotechnology and Food Security, a collective of scientists, economists,
> farmers and policymakers, says that what plagues the proper implementation
> of existing schemes is the not-so-transparent PDS. “The Act should try and
> reform the public distribution system. It is one of the most corrupt
> systems
> in the country,” he says.
>
> Saxena agrees. “Many policies have failed because of the deficiencies in
> the
> public distribution system. The government procures 40 million tonnes of
> food grains from farmers. And this amount needs a market so it needs to be
> given to the poor at a subsidised rate. So the PDS needs massive reform.”
>
> Experts also suggest that the law ought to look at the idea of direct cash
> transfer, that is, providing cash in lieu of the amount of food grains a
> family is entitled to. “As I have mentioned in my paper, one needs to
> experiment with the idea of direct cash transfer in places where there is a
> good banking facility. You can then see what people prefer — PDS or direct
> cash transfer.”
>
> Right now, there is every indication that the government means business
> when
> it comes to the NFSA. It has expressed its desire to work closely with
> activists in order to come up with a draft bill that is satisfactory to
> all.
> “Apart from securing entitlements, the legislation should also have
> provisions for vulnerable groups. We have come up with a draft that will be
> submitted to the ministry after our July 11 meeting in Delhi,” reveals
> Trilochan Pandey, secretariat, Right to Food Campaign, New Delhi.
>
> Activists who have been campaigning hard to ensure food security for
> India’s
> toiling masses feel that the law is long overdue. “The government should
> have brought in such a law earlier. But it’s better late than never. Now
> the
> policymakers should think of policies that will ensure the judicious
> implementation of the law,” says Sharma.
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-- 
Rajkamal