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[1] Courtesy:Ronald Rebello From: Right to Food Sent: Monday, January 09, 2006 2:18 PM Subject: right to food update Dear friends, Happy New Year. Much is happening in the wake of the "second national convention on the right to food and work", held in Kolkata on 18-20 November. We shall try to keep track of the follow-up activities around the country. Here is a starter: 1. KOLKATA CONVENTION ON THE RIGHT TO FOOD AND WORK 2. PRIMERS AND OTHER CAMPAIGN MATERIAL 3. FOLLOW-UP ACTIVITIES 4. CHILDREN'S RIGHT TO FOOD 5. SUPREME COURT UPDATE 6. COMMISSIONERS' ADVISORS WAKE UP 7. SIXTH REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS 8. LEGAL ACTION IN HIGH COURTS 9. CASTE DISCRIMINATION IN MID-DAY MEALS 10. FOREST RIGHTS BILL 11. WEBSITE UPDATE 1. KOLKATA CONVENTION ON THE RIGHT TO FOOD AND WORK The second "national convention on the right to food and work" was held at Badu (near Kolkata) on 18-20 November 2005. About 600 activists from all over India participated in the convention. The inaugural address was given by P. Sainath, who took stock of the food and employment situation in the country. In the same session, Finance Minister Asim Dasgupta assured the audience that the Government of West Bengal was "fully prepared" to implement the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. Parallel workshops were held on the public distribution system, children's right to food, the protection of existing livelihoods, forest and land rights, and social security for unorganised workers. Two series of training workshops were also conducted: one on use of the Right to Information Act, and one on the Employment Guarantee Act. Other activities included cultural programmes, a plenary lecture by Dr. Debal Deb on the WTO, a presentation on the struggles of sex workers in Kolkata, spirited testimonies from two South African delegates, and an impromptu bonfire. The last session of the convention, on 20 November, focused on organisational issues. Many interesting views were presented on the possible structure of the campaign. The debate continues and it was resolved that a follow-up meeting on organisational issues would be convened soon. Meanwhile it was agreed that the annual convention would be the backbone of the campaign, that the secretariat would continue, and that an "advisory group" would be formed to guide the work of the secretariat. A more detailed report on the convention is under preparation. Meanwhile, feel free to contact the secretariat of the right to food campaign ( righttofood@gmail.com ) for further information. 2. PRIMERS AND OTHER CAMPAIGN MATERIAL The Kolkata convention was an opportunity to prepare new "campaign material", including a set of four "Primers" (introductory booklets) on various aspects of the right to food: (1) Supreme Court orders; (2) the Employment Guarantee Act; (3) mid-day meals; and (4) ICDS (a fifth Primer, on the right to information, is on the anvil). These Primers are written in simple language and addressed to a wide audience. They are ideal for training workshops, awareness generation campaigns and related activities. For instance, in the Primer on Supreme Court orders you can find a convenient summary of all the orders on a specific issue ( e.g. PDS, mid-day meals or ICDS). Similarly, the Primer on the Employment Guarantee Act discusses the key provisions of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005, in a simple question-answer format. Each Primer ends with a section on "What We Can Do", with ideas of possible campaign activities. Printed copies, with simple illustrations and a nice colour cover, can be ordered from the secretariat ( righttofood@gmail.com). The Primers are quite cheap (Rs 10 to Rs. 15 per copy). Soft copies are also available on the campaign website ( www.righttofoodindia.org ). As of now, the Primers are available in English and Hindi ??“ translations in other languages are awaited. Also available from the secretariat is a new CD on the right to food, with hundreds of key documents including the full text of all Supreme Court orders, the Commissioners' reports, the Right to Information Act, the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, soft copies of the Primers, survey questionnaires, a long list of articles, and more. All this for Rs 50 only! 3. FOLLOW-UP ACTIVITIES Many useful ideas of future campaign activities were discussed at the Kolkata convention (more on this in the forthcoming convention report). The "coordinators" of parallel workshops held at the Kolkata convention are expected to facilitate the launch of follow-up activities on the respective workshop themes. Contact details of the workshop coordinators are as follows: "Children's right to food": Jean Dreze ( jaandaraz@gmail.com ) and Vandana Prasad ( chaukhat@yahoo.com ). "Public distribution system": Annie Raja ( nfiwdelhi@yahoo.com ). "Land and forest rights": Paul Divakar ( pdivakar@satyam.net.in ) and Soumen Roy ( rsoumen@rediffmail.com ). "Social security for unorganised workers": Subhash Bhatnagar ( nmpsdelhi@sify.com). "Protection of Existing livelihoods": Ilina Sen ( ilina@senonline.com ), The training sessions on RTI and EGA were coordinated by the National Campaign for the People's Right to Information (NCPRI) and People's Action for Employment Guarantee (PAEG). They can be contacted at mkssrajasthan@gmail.com and rozgar@gmail.com , respectively. And of course you can always contact the campaign secretariat ( righttofood@gmail.com) for information and guidance. 4. CHILDREN'S RIGHT TO FOOD A lively workshop on "children's right to food" was held at the Kolkata convention, on 18 November. There were nearly 200 participants, many of whom also took part in two follow-up meetings on 19 and 20 November. Many interesting ideas of follow-up activities came up at the workshop, especially in connection with the universalization of ICDS (or rather, "universalization with quality"). A small team was formed to take this forward. The team consists of Dipa Sinha (Children's Rights Protection Forum), Gurjeet (Bharat Gyan Vigyan Samiti), Geeta Mahajan (National Federation of Indian Women), Hemlata (Mobile Cr??ches), Nandini Nayak (Centre for equity studies), Sachin Jain (Vikas Samvad, MP), Samir Garg (Koriya district, Chattisgarh), Vandana Prasad (Jan Swasthya Abhiyaan). A "preparatory meeting" will be held on 6 January 2006 in Delhi to discuss the possibility of a special convention on "children's right to food". If you are interested in participating in this meeting please write to righttofood@gmail.com or Dipa ( dipasinha@gmail.com). 5. SUPREME COURT UPDATE Supreme Court hearings in the "right to food case" (PUCL vs Union of Indian & Others, Writ Petition [Civil] 196 of 2001) continue at regular intervals but there have been no major orders in recent months. Recent hearings have focused on PDS-related issues including the "BPL list" as well as the level of food allocations from the Central Government to the state governments. No agreement has been reached so far. The next hearing will take place on 14 February 2006 . For further details of recent orders, and other aspects of the case, please write to Anup Srivastava at the Human Rights Law Network ( righttofoodsccase@hrln.org). 6. COMMISSIONERS' ADVISORS WAKE UP The state "advisors" of the Commissioners gathered at Jamia Hamdard ( New Delhi ) on 24-26 October for a three-day workshop aimed at reviving this important means of keeping the state governments on their toes. The state advisors essentially act as a link between the Commissioners, the state governments, and activist organisations. In some states the Commissioners' advisors have been quite active, and their work has helped to ensure the implementation of Supreme Court orders, or even to influence government policy beyond the Supreme Court orders. Many states, however, did not have an active advisor so far. The workshop greatly helped to reactivate and strengthen the advisors' network. For further details of the activities of the advisors please write to commissioners@vsnl.net 7. SIXTH REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS Meanwhile the Sixth Report of the Commissioners has been submitted to the Supreme Court. This is a jumbo report, with a mass of useful information on the food-related schemes (mid-day meals, ICDS, PDS, etc.) covered by recent Supreme Court orders. The report is available on the campaign website (at http://www.righttofoodindia.org/comrs/comrs_reports.html ). 8. LEGAL ACTION IN HIGH COURTS One of the issues discussed at the recent workshop of Commissioners' advisors is the possibility of legal action in the High Courts. This has already happened in Chhattisgarh, to ensure the "de-privatization" of the public distribution system (PDS). More recently, Sachin Jain (Vikas Samvad, Madhya Pradesh) filed a petition in the High Court at Jabalpur, MP. This petition relates to the Government of Madhya Pradesh's announcement inviting contractors to supply nutritional supplements under the ICDS programme. The Supreme Court order of 7 October 2004 mentions that contractors should not be used for this purpose, and that ICDS funds should be used to involve village communities, Self-Help Groups and Mahila Mandals in the purchase of food and preparation of meals for children at the Anganwadis. Further legal action in the High Courts is expected during the next few months. For further details please contact Anup Srivastava at the Human Rights Law Network ( righttofoodsccase@hrln.org ). 9. CASTE DISCRIMINATION IN MID-DAY MEALS Following media reports of discrimination against Dalit children in the provision of midday meals in Bhokludih village of Chhattisgarh , a fact-finding team of the Dalit Study Circle and Dalit Mukti Morcha visited the village in October 2005. This village has two Dalit families; all the other families are OBCs or Adivasis. Two Dalit boys in Class 5 in the government school complained that they were given meagre helpings of food, and that this was not served to them but contemptuously hurled into their plates. They were also forced to sit separately, and not allowed to mix with the other children. When the boys tried to demand more food and enter the kitchen, they were rudely reminded of their caste status, and told that they should not touch the food, or it would become polluted, and the others would not be able to eat it. A girl student was told that since she was from a Chamar family, she should be careful not to touch the water, for her touch would pollute it. When the Dalits complained, they were told that they should remember their caste status, and not overstep the bounds of such barriers. When a local teacher (Kamala Chauhan) took up their cause, she was transferred. The local police station also refused to register a complaint, on the grounds that such matters are dealt with by the special police station dealing with SC/ST issues. Deepanjali Sahu, the Sarpanch, and her husband, Shankar Sahu, also refused to address the issue, claiming that no such incident had occurred. The children, understandably, are not too keen on attending a school that does not treat them like the other children, and will only serve them small quantities of food, after humiliating them. Dalits live in fear, as hostility between castes is now palpable. Instead of acting to quell such practices, the official machinery has endorsed untouchability. On a more positive note, this incident received wide publicity and helped to raise public awareness of the need to deal sternly with any incident of caste discrimination at school. 10. FOREST RIGHTS BILL As you know, many organisations have been campaigning for a new law on "forest rights". The aim of this law is to redress the historical injustice done to millions of Adivasis and other forest-dwelling communities, by giving them titles to forest land and giving legal recognition to traditional forest rights ( e.g. the right to collect minor forest produce). The Forest Rights Bill was tabled in Parliament on 13 December 2005 . However, this Bill has many flaws and the campaign for a more effective law continues. Organisations that have been active on this issue include the Campaign for Survival and Dignity ( forestcampaignnews@gmail.com), Jan Sangharsh Morcha ( sasbetul@yahoo.com) and Punarvasan Sangharsh Samiti ( loksamanway@yahoo.co.uk), among others. A new section on "forest rights" has been added on the campaign website ( www.righttofoodindia.org), to support this movement. Among recent demonstrations related to the Forest Rights Bill was a rally and dharna held at Jantar Mantar on 7 December. Expending meagre resources and travelling long distances, hundreds of Adivasis gathered there to protest against forced evictions and demand land rights for all forest-dwelling Adivasis, even within sanctuaries and national parks. The dharna received the support of Left political parties such as the CPI, CPI(M), CPI(ML) and RPI(A). A ten-point memorandum was handed over to the Minister of Tribal Affairs. The demands included guarantees against evictions, adequate rehabilitation of those already displaced, legal titles to forest land, and an end to the marginalisation of Adivasis. This rally and dharna were initiated by Punarvasan Sangharsh Samiti and Lok Sangarsh Morcha. 11. WEBSITE UPDATE The website manager has been working hard, and there is a lot of new material on the campaign website ( www.righttofoodindia.org ). Please visit the "Latest Additions" page ( www.righttofoodindia.org/latest.html) from time to time for a list of the new documents. For instance, reports from a range of field-based studies on mid-day meals are now available through the homepage and the mid-day meals page. On the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) too there are some important and useful documents including the draft Guidelines (from the Ministry of Rural Development), the list of the 200 districts where the Act is expected to come into force soon, a power point presentation on the NREGA, etc. Other recent website additions include: - Survey tools designed for field investigations of the National Food for Work Programme (NFFWP), along with reports from a pilot survey conducted in 7 districts in May-June 2005 ( http://www.righttofoodindia.org/rtowork/nffwp.html ). - The Sixth Report of the Commissioners ( http://www.righttofoodindia.org/comrs/comrs_reports.html ), submitted to the Supreme Court in December 2005 ??“ including a massive review of all the food-related schemes covered by recent Supreme Court orders. - A new section on the Forest Rights ( http://www.righttofoodindia.org/campaigns/forestrights.html ), added in collaboration with the Campaign for Survival and Dignity. Their "updates" and other key documents are also available through the right to food campaign website. [NOTE: These Updates are prepared by volunteers on behalf of the secretariat of the right to food campaign (tel 011-2351 0042 or 9350530150, e-mail righttofood@gmail.com ), based on communications from individuals and organizations involved in the campaign. If you'd like to send any material for inclusion in the next Update, please send a line to righttofood@gmail.com. See also the campaign website ( www.righttofoodindia.org) for the full list of earlier Updates, and plenty of information on various aspects of the right to food.] ------------------------------------------ [2] From: Shiva Shankar <sshankar@cmi.ac.in> Date: Wed Jan 11, 2006 Subject: Buddhist gathering at Amarvati (fwd) Huge Buddhist gathering and teaching by Dalai Lama. http://www.phayul.com/news/article.aspx? id=11582&article=Amaravati+to+be+made+intl+Buddhist+learning+centre Amaravati to be made intl Buddhist learning centre Business Standard[Tuesday, January 10, 2006 12:08] ----------------------- [3] From: yogi sikand <ysikand@yahoo.com> Date: Wed Jan 11, 2006 Subject: International Conference on Peace and Justice in South Asia International Conference on Peace and Justice in South Asia Keshav Gore Smarak Trust, Goregaon West, Mumbai, India February 24th-26th 2006 NO NUKES! NO IMPERIALISTIC WAR! NO TO NEO LIBERAL ECONOMIC POLICIES! STOP US AGGRESSION IN THE NAME OF ANTI-TERRORISM! PEOPLE, NOT PROFIT! WELFARE NOT WARFARE! DEFEAT THE AGENDA OF THE WTO, WORLD BANK, IMF, ADB, AND THE US EMPIRE IN SOUTH ASIA! WTO - WAR BY OTHER MEANS! MANY SOVEREIGN PEOPLES, ONE WORLD! FOOD, FREEDOM, JUSTICE, EQUALITY, PEACE AND SECURITY FOR ALL! The entire region of South Asia is scarred by poverty and deprivation on one hand, and on the other, by conflict and war. Both India and Pakistan have developed nuclear weapons, and despite all talk of nuclear deterrence, this makes the region extremely volatile and dangerous. India spent $5.7 billion for weapons last year, overtaking Saudi Arabia and China to become the developing world??™s leading buyer. The huge amounts of money that India is wasting on the F-16s and F-18s being peddled by the US, should be more fruitfully spent on critical developmental needs like health, education, housing, public services and social welfare, areas which constitute real human security. The rejection of this arms race would go a long way towards bringing about peace in the region, with Pakistan. Both countries have dismal rankings on the Human Development Index: India being 127 and Pakistan 135 in the world. Similarly border skirmishes and migration issues divide India and Bangladesh. Sri Lanka, still staggering under the impact of the tsunami and then the politics of Tsunami aid, relief and reconstruction, is being systematically plundered by multinationals, while it is still in the throes of conflict surrounding the statehood of the Tamils. Nepal??™s economy is in deep crises and the monarchy has thrown out all democratic institutions and established a dictatorship in the name of fighting communism. India??™s foreign policy has been extremely short sighted, centering on achieving economic and geopolitical domination in South Asia and even the rest of Asia, rather than developing friendly ties and strengthening equal regional cooperation. The Indian government is also taking about defence liberalization and opening of this sector to private and foreign investments. India wants to curry favour with the US-UK-Israeli axis and become part of the so-called ???war against terror??™ peddled by the US, which is nothing but a vicious war against ordinary people, only to promote US military and economic interests; an illegitimate war against the people of Iraq, Palestine, Afghanistan and all the nations of the world. WTO: War by other means The US Empire, the corporations and those who control global finance try to maintain their supremacy through their trade and financial institutions, through the neo-liberal market philosophy and by physical force, by war. Trade is war by other means and deeply affects human security everywhere. In Iraq, for example, the invasion was followed shortly by so called ???reconstruction??™ and imposition of extreme neo-liberal policies of privatization, deregulation and free trade. Even before the Iraqi people could elect a sovereign regime, the govt. had applied for the WTO membership at the behest of the US government. The WTO and global financial institutions: the IMF, World Bank and ADB often determine national policies affecting the lives of the ordinary people. Through these institutions, the powerful governments of the North drive the hardest bargains possible to gain further access to the resources and markets of the South, without regard for the terrible impact that it may have on the people of these countries, including South Asia. India??™s long-term interests are best served by making common cause with the developing countries. In the WTO, the formation of the G 20 and the G 33 at the time of the Ministerial in Cancun in 2003 was a positive step in that direction. Subsequent events, especially India??™s becoming a part of the ???Five Interested Parties??? (FIP??™s), its role in bringing about the ???July Framework Agreement??? in 2004, and lately, India??™s co-chairing the Services group with USA, show a different trajectory. Both on Non-Agricultural Market access (NAMA) and GATS, India has broken ranks with the developing countries. The main issues in the Hong Kong Ministerial are agriculture and basic services, provision and access to which entails real human security and it is possible that at the ministerial the developing countries might have to compromise to the market access negotiations, which could be a denial of services to poorer people in the developing countries. What we need: Considering all of the above, for lasting peace in South, regional cooperation is crucial at all levels: political, diplomatic and economic. If the region stays divided, it provides a profitable opportunity for the global arms dealers, for the international financial institutions, the multinational co-operations, global capitalism, for the US Empire. The people of South Asia must see through the veil of illusion that has been created by the free market neo-liberal profit mongers, they have to reject the nihilist nationalism that is being used by rightist forces to divide and destroy, and they have to come together on the common aspiration for peace and justice for all. The main themes of the conference are: War and trade; the nuclear threat, gender violence, nationalism and sovereignty; religious sectarian violence; India-Pakistan peace process; Sri Lanka ??“ ethnic strife and aftermath of tsunami; democracy movement in Nepal; Bangladesh - migrants, water, textiles; etc. An important aim of the conference is to link the issues and the movements working on Trade issues and Peace issues and also to forge closer links between movements in South Asia. To discuss all these issues, to develop an alternative paradigm, a three- day conference is being organised in Goregaon from February 24th to 26, 2006. We are still contacting organizations in the rest of the country and South Asia to co-sponsor the event. We have made arrangements for moderate accommodation, which is available on a first come first serve basis and the last date to book is 15th January 2006. The registration fees are Rs. 200/- for 3 days and Rs. 75/- for a single day. Please join the conference as well as the process of organising it. Please write to us. Vikas Adhyayan Kendra For PEACE MUMBAI C/o Focus on the Global South, India A-201, Kailash Apartments, Juhu Church Road, Juhu, Mumbai ??“ 400049 Telephone ??“ 91-22-55821141/51, 26254347 Email id ??“ peacemumbai@... Peace Mumbai Partners: Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace (CNDP), National Alliance of Peoples Movements (NAPM), India Center for Human Rights and Law (ICHRL), Initiative, Explorations, Asia South Pacific Bureau for Adult Education (ASPBAE), Youth for Unity and Voluntary Action (YUVA), National Youth Federation (NYF), Pakistan-India Peoples Forum for Peace and Democracy (PIPFPD), Bombay Urban Industrial League for Development (BUILD), Focus on the Global South, India, Indo-Pak Youth Group, Media for People, Vikas Adhyayan Kendra (VAK), Akshara, Documentation Research and Training Center (DRTC), Institute For Community Organization and Research (ICOR), Movement for Peace and Justice (MPJ), Salokha, Henry Martin Institute (North East India Programme, Guwahati, Assam), All India Peace and Solidarity Organization (AIPSO), Pakistan Institute of Labor Education and Research (PILER, Pakistan) Human Rights Education Programme (HREP, Pakistan), Didibahini (Nepal), People??™s Action for Free and Fair Election (PAFFREL, Sri Lanka), MONLAR (Sri Lanka), South Asia Action for Poverty Eradication (SAAPE). Peace Mumbai C/o: Focus on the Global South, India A-201, KAILASH APTS., JUHU CHURCH ROAD, JUHU, MUMBAI ??“ 400 049. INDIA TEL: +91-22-5582 1151 / 41 TELEFAX: +91-22-2625 4347 EM: peacemumbai@... |
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| << January11, 2006 - [India Thinkers Net] GM food,Nuke news |
January13, 2006 - [India Thinkers Net]Orissa,Toyota struggle etc >> |
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