RIGHT TO FOOD*
The right to life is a basic human right that has been recognized the world over. This right has to include a right to food as food is essential for all human beings to survive. Universally this right has been recognized under the Universal declaration of human rights.
Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948
The UDHR provides under Article 25 paragraph (1) that, everyone has the right to standard of living adequate for the health and well being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control. It is expressly provided first time on international level. The right is not absolute; it is an aspect of Right to health, right to livelihood. Persons are entitled only in above-mentioned circumstances.
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights-1966
Article 11 Paragraph (2) recognises the fundamental right of everyone to be free from hunger. The paragraph (2) of the same article also provides measure to be adopted individually or collectively by states to achieve above-mentioned object. In particular to improve methods of production, conservation and distribution of food by making full use of technical and scientific knowledge, by disseminating knowledge of the principles of nutrition and by developing or reforming agrarian system in such a way so as to achieve the most efficient development and utilization of natural resources. Further to ensure on equitable distribution of world food supplies in relation to need by taking into account the problems of both food importing and food exporting countries.
Do we have a right to food in India?
In the 21st century it is very difficult for the average Indian to think that there may be people dying of starvation in this country. The shameful truth is that every year several people in India die due to the lack of food.
In India, the right to food isn’t directly justiciable. But, its inclusion in the directive principles of State policy guides the interpretation of fundamental rights, including the right to life. According to the Supreme Court, the right to food includes the right to water and “the right to live with human dignity and all that goes along with it, namely, the bare necessities of life such as adequate nutrition, clothing and shelter over the head.” The Indian constitution guarantees every person in India a fundamental right to life under Article 21. First time in Indian history the Supreme Court recognized Right to Food as Right to Life. In a significant judgment of the PUCL Vs. Union of India Supreme Court held that it right of every person who is starving because of his or her inability to purchase food grains have right to get food under Article 21. It is the duty of state to provide such persons food grains particularly from stock, which is lying with state as unused. And more particularly food grains be provided to all those who are aged, infirm, disabled, destitute women and men, pregnant and lactating women and destitute children and therefore court directed to all states to distribute food grains immediately through PDS shops. Food Clothing and shelter are the most basic of these rights and the answer is yes we do have a right to food and it is the duty of the state to ensure that this right is protected.
Several states in India are draught and famine prone due to geographic and topographic reasons. This coupled with poverty and negligence in the part of authorities makes a perfect brew for starvation deaths. Rajasthan is one state that has been heavily hit by draughts and famines. A right to food needs to be ensured to these people and the state has to play an active role.
Exercise:
The following news paper extracts may be discussed and we need to look into the violation of this right to food especially in Draught prone areas and famine hit areas like Rajasthan. Discuss what all rights are infringed and what role does the state and the authorities concerned have to play. Does the Public Sunwai spoken of in the second article sound like a viable option?
1. How many more deaths before we learn...? - Tehelka 2006.
With fresh reports of starvation deaths from rural Maharashtra, UP, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, the globalised myths of top heavy development are rapidly crumbling, reports Deeptiman Tiwary
In a country that feeds much of its food grains to rats in its overflowing food godowns, 10,000 die of hunger every day, as a survey has claimed. Increasing poverty and a development model totally divorced from the needs of the poor has driven the rural mass to the brink of starvation. While the government keeps denying this, reports after reports from India’s hinterland show an increase in the number of starvation deaths every year.
Recently, there have been a series of reports on hunger deaths in various places, including Nandurbar (Maharashtra), Sonebhadra (UP), Shivpuri (Madhya Pradesh), and Baran (Rajasthan), as it happened last year. In Nandurbar, a report Maranatach He Jag Jagate was recently prepared by Punarvasan Sangharsh Samiti (PSS). This report is based on information obtained under the Right to Information Act, and a survey conducted by PSS in 22 villages of the Akalkuwa Block of Nandurbar district. A huge discrepancy was found between the situation on the ground, revealed by the PSS survey, and government records. Of the 1,148 children surveyed by PSS in June this year, 104 were found to be malnourished, but government records show only 17 cases of malnourishment. Almost 75 percent of the women surveyed were seriously underweight. The report proves the cycle of undernutrition, which gets transmitted from weak mothers to undernourished children.
Do We Deserve This?
In August 2006, 48 deaths were reported from 40 villages in Baran district in Rajasthan. Half the victims were children. Causes of these deaths: chronic undernutrition, absence of healthcare and poor hygiene
A six-member team from the Institute of Development Studies, (IDSJ) Jaipur, and Bharat Gyan Vigyan Samiti (BGVS), recently visited Baran district in Rajasthan to investigate deaths reported in the local press due to hunger, undernutrition and illness. In August this year, 48 deaths were reported from 40 villages. Half of the victims were children. The team visited six villages and investigated various causes of these deaths: chronic undernutrition, inadequate vaccination, absence of emergency healthcare and poor hygiene, among others. The team, however, found some signs of positive change since last year. For instance, the pds was functional and employment programmes have protected some families from hunger. But chronic energy deficiency and lack of a balanced diet remain widespread.As renowned political scientist Prof C. Douglas Lummis put it during his lecture in Delhi recently, at the unveiling of a report on the state of food security in adivasi areas of India by Centre for Environment and Food Security (CEFS), the main reason behind increasing number of starvation deaths and the miserable state of food security among the poor is our skewed understanding of development. “The problem is we depend too much on this word called ‘development’ without understanding what it is. It is a very deceptive word. It is just a metaphor. It makes facts like poverty, starvation and forced labour forgettable. “They say with development the poor will catch up. My question is when will this catching up begin. The gap between the rich and the poor is only getting wider and wider. Actual development is the non-violative progress of people where the one going through the process of development is grateful to have developed,” he said. He also critcised the Western outlook towards ‘underdeveloped’ countries and the policies of ‘liberalisation’ and ‘globalisation’. He said, “Another myth about development is that where there is poverty, people are underdeveloped and through the process of development it can be done away with. This is exactly what you call ‘Modernisation of Poverty’.”
2. Food for the hungry - The Hindu March 23 2003.
Using a public hearing to secure the right to information and to ensure that the drought-stricken villagers get their due from the public distribution system, activists are trying to redress the grievances of the marginalised, writes AJIT BHATTACHARJEA, in the first of a fortnightly column.
Kelwada, Rajasthan:
AT another time, the scene may have shown Rajasthan at its traditional best. At Kelwada, an outpost of the fabled Rajasthan fortress of Kumbalgarh, some 2,000 people were crowded under a pandal, traditionally dressed in a kaleidoscope of colours. But this was no festival. They had assembled for a unique jan sunwai (public hearing) on their right to food. Much of the region was reeling under the worst drought in living memory. Five monsoons had passed with little rain. Reservoirs had been reduced to puddles.
Most villagers came from nearby panchayats; others from distant parts of the State. One contingent journeyed all the way from Baran to tell grim tales of starvation deaths. All were crucially dependent on the public distribution system (PDS) and network of schemes devised by the Rajasthan Government to alleviate distress. The most vulnerable were listed as below poverty line (BPL) and provided cards to buy 35 kg of food grains a month at a subsidised price of Rs. 4.60 a kg. This provided for about half the cereal needs of a household. Among them, the poorest were Bhil tribals, who could seldom afford to buy their full quota.
More than a year ago, the obscene contrast between widespread hunger and mounds of food grains stocked by the Food Corporation of India, some rotting and eaten by rats, had impelled the Supreme Court to pass a series of orders instructing governments to ensure effective implementation of food security programmes. It had commented acidly: "Food grains which are overflowing in the storage receptacles, especially of FCI godowns, and which are in abundance, should not be wasted by dumping into the sea or eaten by rats. Mere schemes without any implementation are of no use. What is important is that food must reach the hungry."
The Kelwada jan sunwai was held the day after the Lok Sabha passed the Freedom of Information Bill, largely the fruit of the campaign initiated by the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) in Rajasthan. Now MKSS was using the same technique of public hearings to draw attention to the even more basic right to food. For 10 days, its workers had conducted a survey of BPL households in nearby panchayats.
But getting the villagers to speak out in Kelwada was difficult. Few were aware of the schemes intended to help them. They came from remote areas where subservience to local authority and those associated with it was deep-rooted. This included some PDS dealers whose corruption had been exposed by the survey. Several dealers and local officials attended the jan sunwai. Before the sunwai, unpleasant rumours had been spread about the MKSS. But its workers were strengthened by local awareness of the impact of the jan sunwai in Janawad, not too far away. Officials found guilty of corruption had been jailed. They were further strengthened by the Supreme Court orders on right to food, of which they had extracts.
The Kelwada sunwai began uncertainly and on a tense note. For 10 minutes, nobody responded when villagers were invited to come up to the mike and describe their problems. The dealers looked pleased. Eventually, a Bhil walked up, thin but upright. He showed his BPL card and confirmed that they were forced to pay Rs. five for a kg of food grain instead of the listed rate of Rs. 4.60; that he had signed for the entire quota of 35 kg per month, but had taken less.
Then others followed, women among them. All had serious complaints. PDS shops opened at short notice once or twice a month. The cardholders did not always have enough money to buy their quota. Sometimes they were even asked to buy two months' ration at a time. The amount they could not buy was diverted to the open market.
PDS dealers reacted angrily, but, when the charges were repeated, argued that the commissions they received were inadequate. They could survive only by making money on the side. Local officials admitted that this was the case. One by one, the complaints pointed to administrative callousness and commercial exploitation of the poor when their need was greatest. Many were unaware of the programmes to which the Supreme Court had drawn attention. The BPL list did not reflect those driven to destitution by the prolonged drought. Drought relief works were inadequate and selectively allocated. Those deserving pensions under existing programmes just to survive — widows, the elderly, the disabled and other vulnerable groups — had increased with the drought but were not getting the money. Those who did often received it after months; sometimes they were delivered too late.
But there was evidence that programmes could work if properly supervised. Nobody complained against one particular scheme — MDM for midday meals to school children. Some 70 lakh children were being fed with ghoogri, a cooked meal of wheat and jaggery. The only problem voiced was that teachers had to often spend time cooking.
After the sunwai, senior officials vowed to supervise the distress schemes more closely. In Kelwada itself, pension officials promised to reorganise their computerised schedules so as to pay pensions by the seventh of the month, instead of after a month or two. Another jan sunwai may have to be organised in the area to ensure that the commitments are fulfilled.
Two months after the Kumbalgarh jan sunwai, right to information activists and their friends assembled at Beawar, to celebrate the success of the movement that took off in this small town in southern Rajasthan, not far from Kumbalgarh. Success lay in the passage of Right to Information legislation by several States, including Rajasthan, and then by Parliament, an achievement that few would have thought attainable at the 40-day dharna that fuelled the movement in Beawar in 1995.
But the activists were not resting on their laurels. Led by Aruna Roy and Nikhil Dey of the MKSS, they had organised another jan sunwai to check the extent to which the legislation was being implemented and to map out future activities. Rautram from Panchu gram panchayat in Bikaner District testified that it had helped to secure information enabling them to expose corruption in development works. However, others like Suresh Raghuvanshi from the Asind panchayat samiti of Bhilwara District complained that officials continued to deny access to information despite the legislation.
The Kumbalgarh jan sunwai, that had focused on right to food, could claim considerable success. Moti from Baran, the district that had reported several starvation deaths in August last year, informed the gathering that a youth organisation set up by Sankalp, a non governmental organisation, had been successful in securing information about the quantity of food grains allotted to BPL families in the area. Armed with this information, they met local officials and ensured that it was distributed fairly and promptly.
The assembly decided to make right to work the focus of the movement and to organise campaigns to secure the right to information where it was denied.
* Writen for SCM manual on human right, Copyrights vest with them
