The Right to Food and Work
Campaign-West Bengal successfully completed it state convention on 6th
and 7th 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 2nd 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 27th April 2017 to voice their
dissatisfaction with the implementation of NFSA .
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