Right to Food Campaign Update January-June 2023
Secretariat Right to Food Campaign
Dear all,
Here is the RTF Update for the first six months of the year. It contains comprehensive updates on the people-led struggles and efforts across the country. The next Update will be on a monthly basis.
Right to Food Campaign Update
January-June 2023
#ANDADO ABHIYAN BY RIGHT TO FOOD CAMPAIGN
The Right to Food Campaign started a campaign with the demand to ensure eggs in Mid-day meals and Anganwadi centres in Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand in January.
In Chhattisgarh, the Right to Food Campaign Chhattisgarh and Chhattisgarh Kisan Mazdur Sangathan surveyed 173 Anganwadi carried out from 26/12/22 to 31/12/22 and around 400 schools were surveyed from 2/1/23 to 4/1/23 in the Lundra, Batauli, Udaypur, and Lakhanpur blocks of Surguja district. The survey mainly aimed to gather information about the availability and nutritional value of meals provided to the children, focusing on including eggs in the menu. On 9th January, with the press conference, the campaign raised the demand to include eggs in the feeds of Anganwadi and Mid-day meal programs.
In Jharkhand, the Right to Food Campaign, Jharkhand demands the following certain measures to address the alarming situation of undernutrition in the state.
The Right to Food Campaign issued a public statement on the Union Budget 2023-24
The Right to Food Campaign is shocked to see that, at this time of deep crisis the Union Budget 2022-23 has continued to reduce the government spending on the social sector by a huge extent.
The Right to Food Campaign organised a press conference at the Press Club of India, New Delhi on 6th February 2023
The Union Budget 2023-24 showed inadequacy towards crucial social security schemes, the status of compliance with the directions of the Supreme Court in the migrant workers' case regarding enhancing food security measures, and other issues regarding gaps in MGNREGA, and social security policies.
Delhi Rozi Roti Adhikar Abhiyan organised a public meeting at Constitution Club, New Delhi on 10th February 2023 on the food Insecurity & Budget Cuts to discuss the impact of the reduction in the Union Budget & problems faced by people in accessing their rights under the National Food Security Act.
Right to Food Campaign की ओर से James Herenj और Dipa Sinha नई दिल्ली के IIC भवन में कृषि, भूमि और वन के मुद्दों पर हो रही चर्चा में महत्वपूर्ण बात रखी। ज़रूर सुनें
NREGA Workers’ Protest under the banner of NREGA Sangharsh Morcha
मज़दूर विरोधी मोदी सरकार के खिलाफ नरेगा मज़दूरों द्वारा नरेगा संघर्ष मोर्चा के बैनर तले मज़बूत 60 दिन चला दिल्ली में धरना
All information related to the NREGA workers protest is available here
नरेगा मज़दूरों के धरने की समस्त जानकारी यहाँ प्राप्त कर सकते हैं
Right to Food Campaign on Supreme Court’s Order to provide ration cards to Migrant/unorganised workers (01st May 2023)
The Supreme Court in an order dated April 20, 2023, in MA 94/2022 in ‘Re Problems and Miseries of Migrant Labourers’, has given significant directions to ensure food security for migrant workers and unorganised sector workers. 28.60 crores migrants/unorganized workers are registered on the eShram portal, of which 20.63 crores are registered on ration card data. The order directs all State/UT governments to issue ration cards under NFSA to the 8 crore persons who are registered on the eShram portal but do not possess ration cards.
रोज़ी रोटी अधिकार अभियान प्रवासी/असगंठित श्रमिकों को राशन कार्ड प्रदान करने के सुप्रीम कोर्ट के आदेश का स्वागत करता है
सुप्रीम कोर्ट ने 20 अप्रैल, 2023 को एमए 94/2022 में 'प्रवासी मज़दूरों की समस्या और दुख' के एक आदेश में प्रवासी श्रमिकों और असंगठित क्षेत्र के श्रमिकों के लिए खाद्य सुरक्षा सनिुश्चित करने हेतु महत्वपर्णूर्ण निर्देश दिए हैं। ई-श्रम पोर्टल पर 28.60 करोड़ प्रवासी/असंगठित श्रमिक पंजीकृत हैं, जिनमेंसे20.63 करोड़ राशन कार्ड डेटा पर पंजीकृत हैं। यह आदेश सभी राज्य/केंद्र शासित प्रदेशों की सरकारों को एनएफएसए केतहत उन 8
करोड़ लोगों को राशन कार्ड जारी करने का निर्देश देता है, जो ई-श्रम पोर्टल पर पंजीकृत हैं, लेकिन उनके पास राशन कार्ड नहीं हैं।
Public Meeting on Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2022 by NCPRI
Discussion & book release - A Boundless Fear Gripped Me
The discussion and the book release were attended by hundreds of people who were the most impacted during the COVID-19 Pandemic. The documentation of the suffering that crores of families dealt with strengthened the unity among people.
Rice Fortification in India: A Threat to India’s Food Security and Public Health
#ModifiedRice Papers
“Reporters’ Collective’s 3-part Investigative Exposé highlights with additional evidence the red flags that ASHA and RTFC have raised on large scale iron-fortified rice distribution in India’s public food schemes” – civil society platforms
New Delhi, May 26th, 2023: The Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture (ASHA) and the Right to Food Campaign (RTFC) who have been actively raising concerns on the many red flags related to large-scale iron-fortified-rice distribution in India, stand vindicated with additional evidence emerging from Reporters’ Collective’s investigative stories – that too from official confidential and documents– More detailed information has now emerged on state-led cover-ups, internal red flags from different government agencies, and corporate profit-government nexus behind the rice fortification program via an exposé by the Reporters Collective in a 3 part series.
ASHA Kisan Swaraj and the Right to Food Campaign released the Report on the Food Fortification and Conflict of Interest
India’s top Wrestlers protested for more than a month at the Jantar Mantar, New Delhi against the former Wrestling Federation of India President and Member of Parliament Lok Sabha Brijbhushan Singh who has been accused of sexual harassment by female players.
News reports and opinions
The Budget Ignores the Public Health System – And the Women Who Sustain it (Vandana Prasad)
Expanding the public health systems of the country to cover the population universally, especially the urban poor, seems not to be a priority. Attendant are the issues of transfer of public funds to a poorly regulated private health sector.
Jean Dreze interview: The main purpose of central welfare schemes today is to promote Modi
The last full Union budget before the next general elections in 2024, which was presented on February 1, gets “a big zero” in terms of welfare spending from economist and social activist Jean Dreze. “Budget allocations for most critical social security schemes have declined in real terms,” said Dreze.
Care as an economic agenda (Dipa Sinha May 21st 2023)
A recent report on the “jobs for tomorrow” of the World Economic Forum estimates that 40% of all projected opportunities in emerging sectors will be in the care economy. The care sector here includes child care, elderly care, care of the disabled and the sick. While in the advanced countries which have fairly well-established childcare systems, there is an increasing demand and need being felt for the care of the aged as a result of their changing demographic profiles, in India we have still not even achieved the provision of childcare facilities for most young children and their families.
Maternity Entitlements in Freefall (Jean Dreze and Reetika Khera)
Ten years have passed since the National Food Security Act gave all pregnant women a right to maternity benefits. This was the most radical provision of the Act, even if the initial benefits were small – just Rs 6,000 per child. It affirms the fact that any pregnant woman may require some social support to face the contingencies of pregnancy and childbirth. Very few developing countries have adopted this progressive approach to maternity entitlements.
'A Sickle In a Haystack': Can India Eliminate Sickle Cell Anaemia By 2047?
A genetic disease that causes the change in the Red Blood Cell (RBC) shape from a biconcave disc to a sickle (C-like) shape – Sickle Cell Disease has been catapulted into the mainstream conversation since the recent Union Budget announced a mission to eliminate Sickle Cell Anaemia (SCA) by 2047.
Anaemia Is an Indisputable Issue for India, Dropping It From NFHS-6 Is a Blunder
Anaemia has continued to be a thorn for India through the years if the National Family Health Surveys (NFHS) are to be believed. The NFHS-5, the latest of the surveys, revealed that over 67 percent of children and over 57 percent of women suffer from anaemia. We are now being told that the NFHS is, in fact, not to be believed in this regard. The upcoming NFHS-6 will thus not record anaemia.
Jantar Mantar Protest Site: A Daily Reminder of Shrinking Democracy
The protest by one of the most marginalised sections of the country is an example of strength and at the same time, it reflected the inhuman nature of the Union government that has turned a blind eye after wilfully driving them to the corner.
Experts oppose lowering WHO anaemia standards to local parameters
Several public health experts and activists have expressed concern over the suggestion that India should abandon WHO standards on haemoglobin levels to define anaemia and instead adopt locally determined standards.
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