Food, Hunger and Ethics

Food, Hunger and Ethics is the title of my new working paper, which has been accepted for publication in the Indian Journal of Medical Ethics. The abstract and key words are given below.

Abstract: Management of hunger has to look into issues of availability, accessibility and adequacy. Posing it from an ethical perspective the paper argues out in favour of right to food. But, for this to happen, the state has to come up with an appropriate and effective bill on food and nutrition security, address the issue of inadequate provisioning of storage space by state agencies leading to rotting of foodgrains - a criminal waste when people are dying of hunger, and rely on a bottom-up approach involving the community that complements the top-down administrative structure to identify poor and reduce both exclusion and inclusion errors in targeting.

To read the paper, see  Food, Hunger and Ethics.


Key words: Bottom-up, cash transfers, exclusion and inclusion errors, foodgrains, Mahatma Gandhi, nutrition adequacy, poverty, Rawls, right to food, targeting, top-down, unique identification.

Links to some important papers referred to in the paper are as also given below.

What do we want form a theory of justice? by Amartya Sen

2010 Global Hunger Index

India State Hunger Index 

Right to food campaign home page

Report of Expert Group to review the methodology for estimation of poverty, Chairperson: Suresh Tendulkar, 2009.

Wealth of Nations, by Adam Smith

Link to the paper Food, Hunger and Ethics

Proposed Rally Outside Indian Parliament by Right to Food Campaign

Request: Please share this even if you feel that a friend or a friend of a friend might be interested.

This is a message from the Right to Food Campaign announcing and inviting people to a rally outside parliament demanding urgent passage of the Right to Food Act and intervention in drought stricken areas.

Organised by: Right to Food Campaign, India.
Date-November 26, 2009 Time: 11.00 am- 5.00pm
Venue-Mandi House to Parliament Street, New Delhi.

Dear All,
Greetings from the Right to Food Campaign Secretariat, New Delhi. This is to invite you to a rally on the 26th of November, 2009 to put pressure on the UPA government to enact the proposed right to food act as pledged by the congress party in its manifesto and announced by the President of India on June 4 in the parliament and Prime Minister on 15 August from the red fort. All of us are also aware of the fact, that the country is faced by severe drought and spiralling food prices. The situation of hunger and malnutrition in the country is exacerbated even more than usual. In the midst of all this, the UPA government has failed to live up to its promise of enacting the right to food act within 100 days of its inception. The government is denying the need of enacting such a useful act urgently, in the guise of its involvement and efforts in tackling drought, which is a farce.

The drafting of the essentials demand and the working draft of the act has evolved as a participatory exercise, involving a range of groups and individuals with consultations held in Delhi on June 18th, July 11th, and 17th September. On the basis of this dialogue, the steering committee of the right to food campaign has put together a list of essential demands and a working draft of the proposed right to food act.

You can read all the developments till date towards the right to food act on the web link. In order to put across our demands forcefully in front of the Govt of India and our law makers, the Right to Food Campaign has planned to have a rally and demonstration of minimum 5000 people outside on 26th November, 2009 outside parliament house at Jantar Manter. The rally will begin from Mandi house. The route of the rally shall be communicated to you later in next communication. The rally will comprise of people from various states including different drought and flood affected districts, activists from various organisations, policy makers, members of parliament and political parties) Without your support of mobilising people, this rally will not be a success and therefore we appeal to you to own this rally as your own.

In the next 40 days, we request you to support this initiative by:
a) Organising signature campaign in the local areas by all groups against the demands circulated and bringing for display in the rally. The signatures can be collected in sarees or banners using the attached documents as a mobilising tool.
b) Distributing and communicating the charter of demands for the march to the local groups and mobilising as many as possible citizens to participate in the rally.
c) To encourage as many State and district Sammelans.
d) Helping to mobilise minimum of 5000 participants on 26th November Rally.
e) Helping to raise funds for the rally.

Please come with members of your organization and be a part of this rally reminding the government of its promises and immediate responsibilities to the nation. We request you to come with your own banners, placards of demands. We attach a list of documents namely
a) Charter of demands for the march to parliament in Hindi and English
b) Summary of the demands in Hindi and English in two short and longer versions, which can be circulated to the local groups. You are free to translate this in the local language of your choice for better communication.

Please drop us a line about your participation, including the numbers of people from your groups so that we can make adequate logistic arrangements. Please help us spread the word regarding this rally. You can contact below in case of queries on the rally.

Let us make this rally a success!!

With regards,
Steering Group of the Right to Food Campaign.


--
Secretariat - Right to Food Campaign
C/o PHRN
5 A, Jungi House,
Shahpur Jat, New Delhi 110049.
India
website: www.righttofoodindia.org
Email: righttofood@gmail.com
Phone - 91 -11 -2649 9563

Read all the developments towards Right to Food Act, 2009 here.

Jan Manch 21 March 2009

I am posting the message from Secretariat - Right to Food Campaign

Jan Manch "Symposium" on Employment Guarantee and the Right To Information
(New Delhi 21st march, 2009)
Basics demands from Political Parties attached.


Dear Friends,

Greetings!

A Jan Manch on Employment Guarantee and the Right to Information will be held in New Delhi on 21 March 2009, in anticipation of the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections. At this Jan Manch, representatives of all political parties will be invited to present their party's position on these two crucial issues, and to respond to public demands or queries.

This event is being convened under the joint banner of Peoples Action for Employment Guarantee (PAEG) and the National Campaign for Peoples Right to Information (NCPRI). A draft charter of basic demands on employment guarantee, and Right to Information is pasted below and attached too for your perusal. Please send any comments you may have to janmanch09@gmail.com.

This charter of demands will be sent to political parties, and circulated widely, in advance of the Jan Manch.

The Jan Manch will be held on the lawns of Constitution Club (Rafi Marg) in New Delhi, from 10 am to 4 pm. About 5,000 participants are expected to attend from all over the country.

You are cordially invited to participate. If you are coming in a group, please inform the organizers in advance by sending a line tojanmanch09@gmail.com.

All participants are expected to make their own arrangements for travel. We shall help you finding lodging facilities if you inform us in advance (by 18th march, 2009). Subsidized food shall be arranged.


In solidarity,

Jan Manch 09

(Annie Raja, Dithi Bhattacharya, Jean Drze, Nikhil Dey, Radhika Menon, Ramit Basu)


Employment Guarantee: Demands from Political Parties*
The main demands on Employment Guarantee that were agreed upon for inclusion in the charter were as follows:

1. Expansion of the scope of the Employment Guarantee Act (EGA), including:
(a) Individual entitlements: Expansion of the work guarantee from 100 days per household per year to at least 100 days per adult per year.
(b) Enactment of an Urban Employment Guarantee Act.

2. Expansion of the list of permissible works to include rural public services as well as construction and maintenance of rural infrastructure (within the mandatory 60:40 ratio).

3. Reverse the recent freeze on NREGA wages by the Central Government and ensure linking of minimum wages to the Consumer Price Index.

4. Protection of all organizers and activists involved in the implementation of NREGA, including social audits, and investigation of recent incidents of violence against them.

5. Putting in place effective grievance redressal mechanisms.

6. Strengthening of the operational framework for NREGA, including:
Conversion of the Operational Guidelines into mandatory Rules.
Establishment of PRIs where none exist (e.g. Jharkhand).

7. Increase in financial outlays to 2% of GDP, and raising of the allocation for administrative expenses from 4% to 6% of NREGA expenditure. This would help in ensuring guaranteed minimum standards for all mandatory worksite facilities (including crche and drinking water) and minimum transparency measures.

8. Reservation of 50% of all posts in the NREGA machinery (POs, GRSs etc.) for women. Separate Job Cards for widows, separated women and other single women irrespective of their living arrangements.

* Prepared for a Jan Manch to be held in New Delhi on 21 March 2009, in anticipation of the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections. This Jan Manch is being convened under the joint banner of Peoples Action for Employment Guarantee (PAEG) and the National Campaign for Peoples Right to Information (NCPRI). The demands are based on a preparatory meeting held on 26 February 2009, and follow-up consultations.


Right To Information
The main demands on Right to Information that were agreed upon for inclusion in the charter were as follows:

1. The RTI law carries a strong mandate of the people and should not be amended in any way. Most measures to strengthen it can be undertaken through rules and administrative measures to strengthen implementation.

2. Set up a National Council for the Right to Information (along the lines of the NREGA council), to monitor the implementation of the RTI Act.

3. Set up statutory public grievance commissions across the country, which have powers to redress grievances and to punish errant officials.

4. Make the selection of information commissioners transparent and participatory.

5. Formulate model rules that can be adopted by all states.

6. Ensure Mandatory disclosure under section 4 (suo moto) disclosures, and strengthen this process, including disclosures of all financial transactions.

7. Strengthen information commissions and make them independent by directly voting their budgets and giving them financial and administrative autonomy.

8. Set up Feed Back mechanism regarding applications filed for information from Panchayat up to state to monitor implementation and address weaknesses.

9. Budget for Training of Government Personnel in RTI implementation in the Centre and the State.

10. Budget allocation and ensure spending for spreading awareness through radio and TV to facilitate peoples use of RTI to prevent Corruption and ensure accountability.

11. To ensure transparency of the corporate and private sector, in particular financial matters that affect the larger public interest.


Secretariat - Right to Food Campaign
C/o PHRN
5 A, Jungi House,
Shahpur Jat, New Delhi 110049.
India
website: www.righttofoodindia.org