Right to Food is not about charity but about ensuring that all people have the capacity to feed themselves in dignity as their right. It should be considered one of the fundamental rights of each and every citizen of this country, says NAVJYOTI JANDU, while talking to MAHTAB ALAM. She has been associated with Right to Food Campaign for a long time. She has also been an integral part of movement for the enactment of Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) in India. Excerpts:
What Right to Food Campaign actually is?
The Right to Food Campaign is an informal network of organisations and individuals committed to the realisation of the right to food in India. And realisation means that the Government must not take actions that result in increasing levels of hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition. It also means that the Government must protect people from the actions of others that might violate the right to food. And most importantly, it is not about charity, but about ensuring that all people have the capacity to feed themselves in dignity as their right. It should be considered one of the fundamental rights of each and every citizen of this country. The Campaign’s foundation statement clearly states, “We consider that everyone has a fundamental right to be free from hunger and under nutrition. Realising this right requires not only equitable and sustainable food systems, but also entitlements relating to livelihood security such as the right to work, land reform and social security. We consider that the primary responsibility for guaranteeing these entitlements rests with the state. Lack of financial resources cannot be accepted as an excuse for abdicating this responsibility….”
Would you please tell us how the campaign began?
Although, the campaign informally started in 2000 in the wake of famine in Rajasthan, rise in hunger deaths, mal- as well as non-functioning of public distribution system and of course rampant corruption, etc. However, it gained momentum with a writ petition submitted to the Supreme Court in April 2001 by Kavita Srivastava from People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), Rajasthan. This petition led to a prolonged “public interest litigation” (PUCL vs. Union of India and Others, Writ Petition [Civil] 196 of 2001). The Supreme Court hearings have been held at regular intervals, and significant “interim orders” have been issued from time to time. However, it soon became clear that the legal process would not go very far on its own. This motivated the effort to build a larger public campaign for the right to food. Many people took initiative for this. Prof. Jean Dréze and many others have done a lot of research on food security and related issues in India. There is a long list of committed individuals and organisations fighting for realisation of food security as a right in India.
What are the major objectives of the campaign?
The main objective of the campaign is to work for the recognition of the fact that food security is essential for everybody and it should be one of the fundamental rights. The campaign is committed to achieve this objective through all possible democratic means. But it is having a holistic approach in this regard. It is not only specifically working on right to food but almost each and every issue related to or interlinked with the cause of right to food.
What are the major issues the campaign is working on?
Since its inception the campaign has been focusing issues related to realise the right to food at national, state and local levels. It has already taken up a wide range of issues related to different aspects of the right to food. First, the campaign started working on food security programmes and schemes, some of which had been going on for long but their outreach was very minimal. These are like public distribution system, mid day meal, anganwadi programme. The campaign fought for the effective implementation of all nutrition-related schemes as such universal reach of cooked mid day meals in all primary and upper primary schools, universalisation of aganwadi or say integrated child development services (ICDS) and social security arrangements for all disadvantaged groups including old age, women and disables and revival of public distribution system. Other issues on the campaign’s agenda are to fight against hunger and malnutrition deaths and National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), earlier its enactment and now its proper and transparent implementation across the country. Apart from the issues the campaign is dealing with at the national level, there is a wide range of issues related to food security that the campaign people are dealing with at the local level.
What are the major activities of the campaign so far?
Within a period of not more than six or seven years, a wide range of activities has been initiated to further these demands. These include public hearings, rallies, dharnas, padyatras, conventions, action-oriented research, media advocacy, and lobbying of Members of Parliament. Some of the historical events of the campaign are “Action day on mid-day meals” in April 2003. This event was instrumental in persuading several state governments to initiate cooked mid-day meals in primary schools. Similarly, a signature campaign was organised in October-December 2004. This initiative was taken to collect demand for immediate enactment of NREGA from different corners of the country. This was followed with the Rozgar Adhikar Yatra held in May-June 2005, a 50-day tour of India’s poorest districts. Three National Conventions have been held so far: in Bhopal, June 2004, Kolkata, November 2005 and Bodh Gaya, April 2007.
What about the major successes, including legal?
Apart from various successes in terms of interim orders passed by Supreme Court, there are various successes of the campaign both at legal and ground levels. In a short period of seven years, it has set various trends in the field of right-based struggle. It can be a model for movements of other developing countries facing the same problem. It has made various interventions not only at policy level but also implementation of different government programmes and schemes to prevent from food insecurity. The NREGA emerged out of a separate process of political mobilisation involving a wider range of people outside the Right to Food Campaign, but the environment created by the Right to Food Case facilitated the emergence of the NREGA. Now, it has become a major issue throughout India. This has reaffirmed the limited role that legal action on its own can play in securing rights. It has also re-established the strength of mobilising people to assert their rights.
Apart from Right to Food Campaign, you have been part of different other movements like movement for right to work, NREGA, ICDS, etc. Do you see any inter-linkages between all these issues?
Sure, there is an intrinsic relationship between all these issues. In fact, all are interdependent. You can’t think of right to food in alienation. But to make it possible one have to work on different issues related with the right to food. Right to food is very much related with right to work, right to life with dignity, etc. To understand the relationship, one can take the case of enactment of NREGA in India; it is nothing but the brain child of Right to Food Campaign. So, in my view, there is a close relationship among these issues and there are various evidences to prove it.
What are the major challenges before Right to Food Campaign in India?
The Right to Food Campaign has very much succeeded in placing the case of hunger at the centre of development discourse in India. The campaign hopes that this long-running case will culminate in the right to food becoming a fundamental right and that can be made justifiable in any court of law. The case and the accompanying campaign have established the importance of the law as facilitator, but the right to food also requires political means and people’s participation because political will of government is very much needed for the enactment of rights. The issue of implementation of different schemes and programmes, struggling for sustainable food security and constant vigilance over it, can be considered major challenges for the campaign.