RIGHT
TO FOOD AND WORK CAMPAIGN- WEST BENGAL
Office of
the Secretariat:75/1 Ballygunge Place, Kolkata-700019
Date:-26
June 2012
In
The War Against Hunger,Announcing the Tala Kholo Abhijan
The Right to Food
and Work Campaign-West Bengal is extremely concerned about the continuing
crisis in food availability, escalating food prices and subsequent hunger
amongst the people of West Bengal and the country as a whole. It
views with dismay the continued rot in the rationing system in West
Bengal despite the change in Government.
The seizure of bogus
cards, while initially a major pursuit of the new Government has lately fizzled
out. As per Government reports about 1.9 to 2 crores cards out of over 9
crores ration cards are supposed to be bogus cards. Only 50 lakhs have been
seized so far. While West Bengal have more ration cards than our
total population, in many villages 30-50% people , especially children do not
have ration cards. The making of new ration cards requires bribes or political
recommendations in many places though this is against the law.
The Minister of Food and Civil
Supplies has repeatedly announced ad hoc enhancements in quantities for people
in the Jangal Mahal, Aila affected areas, hill areas etc. However,
in our experience the enhanced quantities rarely reach the beneficiaries. The
biggest beneficiaries of these enhanced quantities seem to be the ration
dealers themselves. In the Kalimpong subdivision in the district of Darjeeling,
Antodaya Anna Yojana and BPL beneficiaries though listed for many years have
still to receive subsidised food grains.
A recent study in Datan 1 block
(Paschim Midnapore) conducted by one of our constituent organisations has shown
shocking results. The study covered 18 shops and 148 beneficiaries in all.
Almost 40% of the card holders had no ration cards in their possession. Most
shops did not have boards outside the MR shops that are legally required by the
Supreme Court, stating basic information such as stock rates, quotas, list of
beneficiaries. Of the 148 beneficiaries interviewed only 5 reported receiving
the correct amount of food grains. No cash memos were issued to card holders.
It was clear that Sales Registers maintained by the ration dealers were clearly
cooked up records, as were their Log Books showing stocks and allocations. The
entire Public Distribution System seemed to be functioning on a whole lot of
spurious and outdated information.
Many of our constituent
organisations joined monitoring and vigilance committees formed by the
Department of Food and Civil Supplies at the District and Sub-divisional level
as NGO representatives in the hope that they would be able to improve
functioning of the PDS. However, in some districts (e.g. Paschim Midnapore)
these committees have not even met once in the past year. Committees at the
shop level and at the block level have not been formed or are inactive and
ill-informed. Thus public vigilance of the PDS is missing, while the
Department staff seems ill equipped to do any such monitoring.
In the meantime, while food
does not reach the beneficiaries due to a corrupt delivery system, food stocks
are continuing to pile up in FCI godowns. As on 1st June
2012, the stocks had crossed the 75 million MT mark. A substantial amount is
now rotting in the open. On 1st June 2012, it is estimated
that 231.82 million MT of wheat will have to be stored under plastic cover in
the open as against 116.38 million MT which will be stored in covered godowns.
The Central Government is seriously considering exporting of these food grains
at subsidised prices but is not willing to provide this the hungry and poor
people of this country. Nor is it ready to seriously reform the system. Rs.291
crores was promised by the Central Government to West Bengal for
digitalisation of cards but that has not been forthcoming so far, so we
continue with bogus cards and huge leakages.
Empty stomachs with
sub-Saharan rates of child malnutrition on the one hand and overflowing godowns
with rotting food grains in the open on the other thus epitomise the situation
of hunger in our country. The National Food Security Bill 2011 , which is now
lying with the Parliamentary Standing Committee, is expected to change this
situation , but it remains a very inadequate piece of legislation in its
present form. The Bill divides the population into three groups: priority,
general, and excluded households. They will receive major PDS benefits, token
benefits, and no benefits, respectively. However, there is absolutely no
clarity as to how these different groups are to be identified. The Bill is also
strangely silent on food production, without any focus on agriculture and
farmers. We have a Food Security Bill that does not say where the food will
come from! Most dangerously, it seems to be paving the way for a
replacement of food grains with cash transfers. It is our contention that cash,
with its multiple uses (e.g. for alcohol purchase, at the worst) , cannot
provide people with the food security that food grains can. Such a replacement
is also likely to affect our food production systems adversely.
The Right to Food and Work
Campaign-West Bengal in this situation has therefore decided to launch a month
long Tala Kholo Campaign to focus attention on the problem of hunger and
corruption in the PDS . Our demands are:-
· Stop
the rotting of food grains: open the doors of overflowing godowns immediately
and distribute food grains at AAY prices to unorganised sector workers
and all other needy sections;
· Stop
theft in the rationing system and activate the public vigilance system on
ration dealers;
· Enact
a National Food Security Bill that removes targeting and covers all
universally.
· Give
us a Food Bill that legally guarantees food production by providing farmers
with remunerative support prices
· Do
not replace food with cash transfers.
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Please
Contact : 9433342488/ 9433002064
