UP survey

[Spurthi Reddy]

Movement for right to food and employment

Dear friends,

         We are confronted with large-scale famine, which is thrust upon people by apartheid and anti-people policies of government. India has excess food stock, more than they can store and millions of people who are facing acute hunger. The problem is of access and control over food and of poor governance. At the same time vested interests represented by powerful global players such as Monsanto and Cargill and joined by research lobbies and groups in India are taking advantage of this incompetence of government machinery and putting pressure for privatization of these essential services and change in policies.

The situation in Uttar Pradesh becomes more severe due to geographical scale and density and sheer number of its population.

 We all are concerned with this existing alarming situation and are trying our best to reduce hunger and guarantee food security. To take this process further some of the organizations met in Lucknow on 12 ^th July and on 3^rd Sept. A need was felt to do a complete situational analysis of Uttar Pradesh and take a stock of gravity of food insecurity and government response to concerns raised by various organizations and measures taken to deal with it. A consensus emerged to conduct surveys and studies, formation of people's commission, which will hold public hearings at district places finally culminating in people's court.

A three tier process is proposed: --

1. Surveys in all the districts (minimum 5 Nyaya panchayats representing different blocks per district.)

     Surveys will study of (a)-NREGS, (b)—Mid day meal scheme 

and (c)-PDS focusing on Antodaya cards

2. Public hearings covering as many districts as possible by people's commission.
3. The process will culminate in people's court where on one day we will   focus on result of the studies and findings of people's commission. Second day we will focus on relation between macro policies such as SEZ, farmer's policy, agriculture policies in reference to Uttar Pradesh and its relation in aggravating food insecurity. The other focus will be to propose draft for improvement in PDS and suggest policy changes to resist threat of privatization.

Tentative schedule—

Training for activists for survey formats—8^th and 9^th Oct'06

Surveys and studies---Oct and Nov'06

Public hearings by people's commission---Dec'06

People's court---Jan—(first fortnight)

 

  There are various groups working on these issues and some of them are also working as an alliance but the group felt that looking at the enormity of task ahead it is better to carry this process under a banner of "Movement for right to food and employment" and this formation is only provisional and to have smooth functioning till the successful completion of people's court and not to create a new alliance or network.

 

This process is fully open for further suggestions.

 

Jean Dreze has agreed to help us with developing studies and survey formats.

 

A meeting is scheduled to be held on 8^th(second half) and 9^th Oct'06 in Gandhi Bhavan, opposite Shahid smarak, Lucknow. Jean will be with us on these days. Shonali Sen from campaign secretariat will help us in this exercise. Every organization is expected to send two participants each for training of these formats.

 

The group felt that instead of institutional or core funding let every organization use their own resources and pull in whenever necessary. This will give us more equality in terms of partnership and will create more sustainable way of functioning. We all can jointly help others who do not have any resources. So we expect that organization will pay their own travel and contribute Rs100/- per participant towards the food expenses per day. The accommodation, postage and management costs are picked up by groups who initiated this process and we hope others will do the same whenever necessary. The organizations, which have financial constraints, are free to contact us and we will try and request others to help.

 

Friends, this process will be incomplete without your valuable contribution. We all need to come together, pull our energies and evolve a synthesis.

 

Kindly confirm your participation, give suggestions but do join the process in our combative but common struggle to fight hunger and food insecurity.

 

In solidarity,

 

Arundhati Dhuru—advisor to commissioners to Supreme Court (Uttar Pradesh)

 

 

 

P.S.-----A meeting of Right to information will be held at Gandhi Bhavan on 7^th and 8thOct'06 (first half) and organizations are most welcome to participate and take the RTI movement further. Commissioners of State Information Commission will be meeting activists during these days.

The invitation is as follows.

Dear friends,

A two day people's convention of activists leading the movement of RTI in UP is planned on 7th and 8th Oct in Lucknow. The programme schedule is as follows.

7th Oct---

I session--11am to 2pm--taking stock of RTI campaign in UP:challanges and problems--

II session--4pm to 7pm--Review of State Information commission--both State Information Commissioners and  Secretary Administrative Reforms will attend people's hearing anchored by NDTV

8thOct---

III session--9.3oam to 12pm--panel discussion on RTI and strengthening democracy

speakers--Shriram Arun--on police reforms and RTI

Subhasini Ali--RTI and Indian Polity

Amod Kumar (DM Faizabad)---Lokwani and RTI

Adv Prashant Bhushan---RTI and constitution

Sandeep Pandey ---RTI and people's movements.

Venue:- Gandhi Bhavan Library--

Opp Shahid Smarak,

Lucknow

Contact no ---Arundhati--9415022772,Dwarapuri--941516484

We hope you will join us to strengthen the movement.

in solidarty

arundhati dhuru,S.R.dwarapuri, R.K Sharma, and friends from RTI movement