RTF Update (January-February 2022)
Secretariat Right to Food Campaign
RTF Update (January-February 2022)
Letters and Statements issued by Right to Food Campaign and networks.
The Right to Food Campaign sent a demand note to the Ministry of Finance for the Union Budget 2022-23 towards ensuring hunger free India.
Delhi Rozi Roti Adhikar Abhiyan sent a letter to Delhi Chief Minister demanding immediate relief for working and vulnerable households amid Covid-19 third wave. (English/Hindi)
The Right to Food Campaign released a statement on the reduced spending of Union Budget 2022-23 (English/Hindi)
The statement focussed and raised the demands with the crucial need of spending on social sectors in the present deep crisis while the current budget had declined with poor budgetary allocation.
Jawabdehi Andolan
A second Jawabdehi Yatra has been organised under the SR Abhiyan banner between 20 December 2021 – 2 February 2022 to remind the elected Government of its promise to the people of the State and demand the passage of the Social Accountability Law.
To know more about the Jawabdehi Yatra:
https://jawabdehiandolan.wordpress.com/
NREGA Sangharsh Morcha released a Pre-budget statement with the demand of adequate budget for NREGA in the year 2022-23. English/ Hindi
NREGA Sangharsh Morcha expects a conservative allocation of around 3 lakh 62 thousand crores in the financial year 2022-23 for the effective implementation of the programme.
NREGA Sangharsh Morcha released a statement on poor budgetary allocation for NREGA which would weaken the rural employment scenario.
As per NREGA Sangharsh Morcha, If the government wants to provide legal guarantee of work to all the active job card holding households, which is 9.94cr, then considering the current budgetary estimate, it will only be able to provide some 16 days at per person per day average cost of Rs 334.
Peopleless Budget by Centre for Financial Accountability
The Centre for Financial Accountability released its budget analysis report focussing on the denial of central government towards the welfare of people. The budget and the underlying economic thinking of the India government should have been to address these K-shaped distortions so that growth is even and its benefits reach everyone, particularly those at the lower half of the economic pyramid, not just at the top. Employment is a good way of redistributing income and wealth. By not pro-actively seeking to create employment, the Indian government ignores another critical evidence.
People’s Action for Employment Guarantee (PAEG) released NREGA tracker for the period April 2021-January 2022
As per the tracker, The national net balance of NREGA funds is at a deficit of Rs. 15,190 crores. Only 4 out of the 28 states have a positive net balance of funds, i.e., money left from this year’s budget left to provide employment to people. Insufficient fund allocation by the government year after year is leading to a decrease in the persondays of work generated each year. This will lead to an increase in unmet demand and pending liabilities every year.
Over a thousand feminists, democratic groups, collectives, academicians, lawyers and
individuals across the walks of life came together to condemn the targeting and exclusion of Hijab wearing Muslim women students reaffirming that Hijab is only the latest pretext to impose apartheid on and attack Muslim women, following on the heels of Hindu supremacists holding multiple “online auctions” of Muslim women and making speeches calling for their sexual and reproductive enslavement.
Opinion pieces, articles and newsreports related to food and other issues
Six types of problems Aadhaar is causing and safeguards needed immediately (January 4, 2022 Jean Dreze, Reetika Khera)
From fraud-prone payment systems to poor facilities, a range of hassles inconvenience and exclude India’s most marginalised people.
India's National Family Benefit Scheme: Fatal Oblivion (January 3, 2022. Jasmin Naur Hafiz)
The National Family Benefit Scheme (NFBS) – which provides financial assistance to families in the event of the death of a breadwinner – has been plagued by low budget allocations, restricted coverage, and administrative hurdles. The article examines this and other implementation issues facing the scheme, and advocates for revamping and consolidating this critical component of India’s social security framework.
The eligible denied benefits (January 5th 2022. Venkat Krishna Kagga, Chakradhar Buddha)
Thousands of farmers are denied benefits under the Rythu Bharosa scheme due to payment rejections by banks.
Worrying trends in nutrition indicators in NFHS-5 data (January 7th, 2022. Veena S Rao)
India’s nutrition programme must undergo a periodic review addressing gaps such as institutional deliveries and adolescent anemia.
Show commitment to equity in the Budget (January 31st, 2022. Aruna Roy, Nikhil Dey)
The Government needs to stop India’s avalanching slide into a grossly divided society, made worse by the pandemic. One of the most important places to show commitment to equity, is the Union Budget; and inequality should perhaps be discussed threadbare in India before, and after every Union and State Budget.
A betrayal of the social sector when it needs help (February 2nd, 2022. Dipa Sinha)
The government seems to have prioritised meeting its fiscal deficit targets rather than using this opportunity to signal a path of employment-centred and inclusive growth. As many have argued, while this trend has been exacerbated by the pandemic, the country has been experiencing increasing inequality over the last couple of decades. Further, the period after 2016 has also seen stagnant real wages and increasing unemployment.
Budget: Digital Models and Catchphrases cannot dissolve Inequality (February 2nd, 2022. Dipa Sinha)
In the midst of an economic crisis, presenting a budget is an opportunity to communicate the government's vision for the country. This budget fails to do that and seems to be completely disconnected from the realities.
Impact of Ration card cancellation: a case study of weaver family in Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh tops in the list of cancelling ration cards over the last few years. These cancellation drives have occurred even in the midst of the devastating second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic which further increased the food insecurity issues.
Kejriwal Govt Not Distributing Food to Vulnerable Families Lacking Ration Cards, Survey Reveals (January 16th, 2022)
The survey, undertaken by Delhi Rozi Roti Adhikar Abhiyan (DRRAA) between January 11 and 13, checked the status of distribution of rations to economically-vulnerable people at 62 out of the 282 schools designated as distribution points. The Abhiyan visited the centres physically or contacted them telephonically. Despite clear instructions from the courts to provide foodgrains to migrant workers and economically vulnerable families, none of the 62 distribution centres checked were found to be distributing rations.
Government abdicated responsibility in ensuring social security, says Right to Food Campaign (February 3rd, 2022)
Instead of taking bold steps to counter rising hunger following the national lockdown last year, the Union Budget has responded by introducing “cuts and deductions”. These cuts are all the more difficult to understand when there is evidence of stagnation of nutrition indicators of children and enhanced food insecurity
Budget allocation defeats spirit of rural job scheme, says report (February 4th, 2022)
NREGA Watch finds low funds, delayed wage payment acting as a defeating spirit towards rural job scheme MGNREGA in Jharkhand.
Supreme Court Questions Centre's claim of No Starvation deaths in India (January 18th, 2022)
While hearing a plea seeking a pan-India policy for community kitchens, the Supreme Court of India on Tuesday asked the Attorney General of India why the Central Government is relying on a 2015-2016 report with regard to starvation deaths in the country.
Millets can boost growth by 26-39%, reveals study (January 11th, 2022)
Millets can boost growth in children and adolescents by 26-39 per cent when they replace rice in standard meals, reveals a study. Researchers examining the nutritional benefits of millets have found that these 'smart foods' can significantly contribute to overcoming malnutrition.
Soon, tasty rice varieties suiting local preferences to be sold by ration shops in Kerala. (January 2, 2022)
Ration shops in the state will be able to distribute more tasty rice in the near future, if the plan works out. This comes in the wake of the Union food minister and the Food Corporation of India (FCI) accepting a request from the state food and civil supplies department to allot rice varieties preferred by the people here.
An extra meal and snacks twice a day was all it took to improve falling nutrition levels in this tribal district (January 22, 2022)
The district administration, under Collector Taran Sinha, launched a special campaign between June and September 2021 in the three tribal-dominated blocks of Chhuikhadan, Mohala and Manpur, funded through the District Mineral Foundation (DMF). The campaign is part of the larger Mukhyamantri Suposhan Abhiyan launched by Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel in 2019 to address the issue of undernourishment in pregnant women, lactating mothers and children.
MGNREGA unpaid dues may be around Rs 21,000 cr by FY22-end, says PAEG (January 26, 2022)
Despite allocating Rs 22,039 crore more for MGNREGA, around Rs 21,000 crore could remain pending by the end of this fiscal year (FY22) because of higher expenditure, Peoples' Action for Employment Guarantee (PAEG) said on Tuesday. So far, less than 5 percent of households employed have completed 100 days of work in the current fiscal year.
Bombay HC calls for long-term plan to stop malnutrition deaths among tribals (January 28th, 2022)
The court said, “Since the state is taking action to safeguard rights and health of tribal people, now it will monitor the PILs monthly, instead of fortnightly as done earlier.” The HC asked the state to consider formulating a long-term plan which may include preventing migration of tribals by making sources of employment available to them and ensuring every tribal person is tracked and taken care of.
India UnderSpends On Nutrition, New Nutrition Programme Yet To Be Implemented (January 31st, 2022)
The guidelines of the restructured scheme, Saksham Anganwadi and POSHAN 2.0, are still being worked out and POSHAN 2.0 has not yet been approved, an RTI response revealed. Between March 2016 and March 2021, beneficiaries receiving SNP fell by 19% from 102 million to 83.2 million. For children, it fell from 82.9 million to 67.5 million. In contrast, from 2016 to 2021, the number of children aged six months to six years was estimated to increase by 7.6%, our calculations show.
33 कोरवा आदिम जनजाति परिवारों को मृत बताकर राशन कार्ड कर दिया डिलीट, 15 महीने से नहीं मिला राशन (January 30, 2022)
राज्य में जरूरतमंदों का राशन कार्ड रद्द करने का मामला वर्तमान सरकार में चल रहा है. ताजा मामला गढवा जिले के बड़गड़ प्रखण्ड के टेहरी पंचायत का है. हेसातु और कोरवाडीह गांव के 33 आदिम जनजाति परिवारों को नवंबर 2020 से राशन नहीं दिया जा रहा है. जबकि सर्वोच्च न्यायालय ने पी0 यू0 सी0 एल0 बनाम भारत सरकार, याचिका संख्या 196/2001 के मामले में 2 मई 2003 के आदेश में सरकार को यह निर्देश दिया गया है. सभी आदिम जनजाति परिवारों को अंत्योदय योजना में शामिल करें. इसके बावजूद आदिम जनजातियों के राशन को डिलीट कर दिया गया है.
The matter of cancelling the ration card of the needy in the state is going on in the present government. The latest case is of Tehri Panchayat of Badgad block of Garhwa district. Ration has not been given to 33 primitive tribal families of Hesatu and Korwadih villages since November 2020. Whereas the Supreme Court in its order dated May 2, 2003, in the case of P.U.C.L. vs. Government of India, Petition No. 196/2001, has given this direction to the Government. Include all primitive tribal families in Antyodaya Yojana. Despite this, the ration card of primitive tribes has been deleted.
If children could vote: In poll-bound UP, high malnourishment but 66% POSHAN funds unutilised (January 29th, 2022 Gaon Connection)
With 41% of under-5 rural kids stunted and 33% underweight, government after government in Uttar Pradesh has made several changes to the anganwadi nutrition programme. Hot meals have been stopped, dry rations are in ‘short supply’ and the state government now plans to merge the anganwadi meals with the mid-day meal scheme. Meanwhile, a large chunk of funds meant to fight malnutrition has remained unutilised between 2017-18 and 2020-21.
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