Brief Report Of The State Convention of Right to Food and Work Campaign- West Bengal

The Right to Food and Work Campaign-West Bengal successfully completed it state convention on 6^th and 7^th April, 2017 at Badu, Barasat, West Bengal with about 300 delegate from 12 districts.  

The conference opened with a reading of the basic statement that had stated the issues we would focus on – food, work and democracy.

While the primary focus of the convention were the Rights to Food and Work, it was alarming to note that many of the speakers warned the delegates about the disquieting tendency of  governments and ruling political parties to suppress the democratic voice of the civil society.

Shri Swapan Ganguly gave the West Bengal context where even the smallest demand for rights had often to face repression from ruling elite and a small group of very powerful political leaders . these leaders were using the State machinery without any qualms to supress any kind of dissent. The aim seemed to be to have a situation where only the ruler’s voice would be heard. 

Shri Harsh Mander, former Commissioner to the Supreme Court of India warned against the politics of hate which now were the dominant voice in the largest democracies of the world, the USA and India. Leaders of similar nature in both countries were trying to create a situation where those in majority were being told that those in minority were responsible for their woes. The strong were being encouraged to suppress the weak.

On the first day, Dr. Binayak Sen focused on the content of feeding schemes, including PDS. His contention was that the government provided only carbohydrates in its rationing system and feeding schemes. No proteins or fat, which are the main source of malnourishment in our country, are being given. This led to a debate on the second day, when Dr. Samarjit Jana stated that if a villager can have his regular food and vegetables then there should not be any malnourishment.

In his speech, Shri Prithis Bose said that as the campaign was concerned with the right to food and work, it should equally focus on right to land and sustainability in agriculture. He further stated that our government was not at all concerned about food production, remunerative food prices, land protection etc. The consequence is that since 1995, in every 30 minutes, a farmer in India commits suicide, showing  that we have treated our farmers and agriculture with great unfairness.  

Two government official also addressed the participants. The Director of the ICDS stated that they are trying hard to develop the quality of the ICDS after admitting that there are some lacunea on the part of the government which need to be corrected by both the central and state government. On the other hand Mr. Abdur Rejjak, Officer on Special Duty in the Education Department (CMDMP), claimed that the situation of the MDM is better than the ICDS. He further claimed that the government is doing well to implement the provisions of the scheme. In response to the complaints of the participants both the officials said that they require co-operation from the beneficiaries and their families to settle various disputes. Not very clear answers were given by them to the grievances of the participants.

The day ended with the release by Binayak Sen of a film with 6 short episodes entitled “Tryst  With Food Security”. The first copy of the film was presented to the Orissa Right to Food Campaign.

The first day was also attended by about 125 (near 18 years) young adults from Rainbow schools for street children in Kolkata.

On the 2^nd day of the convention, Saswat Pandey from Orissa gave the experience of the Campaign with the implementation of various provisions of the NFSA. Campaign members from Bengal had many questions for him.

This was followed by a session of the West Bengal Food Security Rules 2017 and the possible actions one could take to implement the same.

Kavita Srivastava, National Convenor of the Right to Food Campaign, spoke about the attack on our choices of food clothes etc. She spoke about killing of people and other atrocities in the name of cow protection, which is happening in Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and UP . In the immediate future, she predicted that the same thing is going to happen in West Bengal. She also stated that without proper infrastructure government is declaring using of Aadhar is mandatory with an ulterior motive to gather private information of every citizens of India.

Sarbani Das Roy, a representative of Iswar Sankalpa stated that mentally ill, destitute people who don’t even have any identity are not getting benefits under any of the welfare scheme. It is only after their intervention in the matter that somewhere these kind of people are getting a few benefits but still a large part of this population remains out of the purview of the schemes.

Smt Shyamasri Das, State President of NFIW and Shri SP Tiwari, national Secretary of the TUCC also agreed to the demands of the campaign and promised to strengthen the movement together with the campaign. Mr. Tiwari also stated that various trade unions are also facing problems to get themselves registered which is the question of fundamental right of association of the unorganised sector’s workers and this campaign should address their issues also.   

The Convention ended with a resolution on our main conclusions, our demands and our plan of action. With great enthusiasm, the participants agreed to a large demonstration at Khadya Bhawan on 27^th April 2017 to voice their dissatisfaction with the implementation of NFSA .