Indian Express, Delhi Fri, 29 Apr 2016, Page 9 Width: cms, Height: cms, a4, Ref:

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1 Indian Express, Delhi Fri, 29 Apr 2016, Page 9 Width: cms, Height: cms, a4, Ref:

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8 NHRC bats for using PDS to help the drought affected April 28, 2016 New Delhi, Apr 28 (PTI) With many states reeling under drought, National Human Rights Commission chairperson H L Dattu today batted for bringing the affected people under the targeted public distribution system to ensure food for all. Dattu said there was no dearth of policies and programmes for ensuring food for all, but the focus now should be on their effective implementation, especially for proper stocking and distribution and avoiding wastage, which remain areas of concern. He referred to government reports as per which 254 districts in ten states were reeling under drought and a quarter of population was severely affected. "How can we extend the services of providing foodgrains under TPDS to a large section of society reeling under the effect of drought, as a short term and long term strategy, also needs to be made part of the discussion with reference to Right to Food and National Food Security Act," he said at the Conference on Right to Food organised by the Commission. "The ultimate goal of National Food Security Act, integrated with various social welfare schemes, should be that nobody should fall prey to begging for food," He also stressed on analysing impact of steps like transferring direct subsidy and urged all sections of society to become a "watchdog" and work towards ensuring that programmes are implemented in right earnest instead of falling prey to the "allurements of pilferage". "It is not only for the governments but for all sections of society to work towards ensuring that the programmes and schemes towards ensuring food for all are implemented in right earnest so that nobody sleeps without food. "The people themselves need to become watchdog of the welfare schemes instead of falling prey to the allurements of pilferage. They must stop thinking about the government as a separate entity from them," Dattu said.

9 He said that the criticism of the government,particularly on food security front, cannot take away the responsibility on the part of the every citizen of the country. Mentioning several programmes such as the Antodaya Anna Yojna (AAY), Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) and many others, Dattu said, "There is no dearth of policy and programmes. The question can be raised only about their effective implementation." Noting that there was improvement in food grain production, Dattu said that its stocking and distribution among the needy continues to remain a point of concern. "It pains to know that 15 per cent of food worth Rs 92 thousand crore per year is wasted during production, harvesting, transportation and storage, as per a study by Union Ministry of Food and Processing Industries," he said.

10 Making food grain available to needy point of concern: NHRC chief April 28, 2016 Indicating the urgent need of strengthening country's food policies, Natiional Human Rights Commission chairman Justice (retired) H.L. Dattu on Thursday said there was an improvement in food grain production but making it available to the needy remains a point of concern. Justice Dattu, former Chief Justice of India, stressed it was painful to know that 15 percent of food worth Rs.92,000 crore per year is wasted during production, harvesting, transportation and storage. "Food security has to be read and studied with agricultural practices and the challenges facing them in the wake of falling ground water levels at a rapid speed is causing an alarming situation of drought in several districts," said Justice Dattu. He was speaking at the inauguration of the national conference on Right To Food organised by the National Human Rights Commission. The conference aimed to make a state-wise assessment of the action taken on the National Food Security Act, Special reference was to adequate quantity of quality food at affordable prices to people and the functioning of the targeted public distribution system for the priority households and under the Antodaya Anna Yojana (AAY). Justice Dattu said it was always useful and pragmatic to hold comprehensive discussions on regular intervals with all the stake holders to evaluate the progress and impediments towards ensuring food and nutritional security to the people of the country. The Right to Food and its variations is a human right protecting the right of people to feed themselves in dignity, implying that sufficient food is available,

11 that people have the means to access it, and that it adequately meets the individual's dietary needs. The former justice, who took over as the NHRC chairperson a month ago, urged the government to expand the scope of discussions on various aspects of the National Food Security Act, "There are several food schemes such as the Antodaya Yojna, Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), mid-day meal scheme and many others. There has been no dearth in the number of policies and programmes in food issues. However, the question can be raised on the effectiveness of the programmes," said Justice Dattu. He said the Supreme Court emphasised on the appointment of commissioners and other officials to look after the food issues in the country, which has improved the situation and proper implementation of the rights to food in many of the states. "The Supreme Court issued a series of interim orders recognising the constitutional Right to Food as flowing from the right to life and providing directives on proper implementation of various programmes like the ICDS and PDS. The apex court also ordered the creation of a new accountability mechanism, like commissioners for monitoring and reporting on compliance with court orders," Justice Dattu said. The event was attended by representatives of all the state human rights commissions.

12 NHRC bats for using PDS to help the drought affected April 28, 2016 New Delhi: With many states reeling under drought, National Human Rights Commission chairperson H L Dattu today batted for bringing the affected people under the targeted public distribution system to ensure food for all. Dattu said there was no dearth of policies and programmes for ensuring food for all, but the focus now should be on their effective implementation, especially for proper stocking and distribution and avoiding wastage, which remain areas of concern. He referred to government reports as per which 254 districts in ten states were reeling under drought and a quarter of population was severely affected. How can we extend the services of providing foodgrains under TPDS to a large section of society reeling under the effect of drought, as a short term and long term strategy, also needs to be made part of the discussion with reference to Right to Food and National Food Security Act, he said at the Conference on Right to Food organised by the Commission. The ultimate goal of National Food Security Act, integrated with various social welfare schemes, should be that nobody should fall prey to begging for food, He also stressed on analysing impact of steps like transferring direct subsidy and urged all sections of society to become a watchdog and work towards ensuring that programmes are implemented in right earnest instead of falling prey to the allurements of pilferage. It is not only for the governments but for all sections of society to work towards ensuring that the programmes and schemes towards ensuring food for all are implemented in right earnest so that nobody sleeps without food.

13 The people themselves need to become watchdog of the welfare schemes instead of falling prey to the allurements of pilferage. They must stop thinking about the government as a separate entity from them, Dattu said. He said that the criticism of the government,particularly on food security front, cannot take away the responsibility on the part of the every citizen of the country. Mentioning several programmes such as the Antodaya Anna Yojna (AAY), Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) and many others, Dattu said, There is no dearth of policy and programmes. The question can be raised only about their effective implementation. Noting that there was improvement in food grain production, Dattu said that its stocking and distribution among the needy continues to remain a point of concern. It pains to know that 15 per cent of food worth Rs 92 thousand crore per year is wasted during production, harvesting, transportation and storage, as per a study by Union Ministry of Food and Processing Industries, he said.

14 No dearth of govt policies ensuring food security: NHRC chairperson 28 April, 2016 The NHRC Chairperson, Justice H.L. Dattu today said that there is no dearth of Government policies and programmes for ensuring food for all in the country. Questions can be raised only about their effective implementation. He was inaugurating a two-day National Conference on Right to Food organized by the Commission in New Delhi. Appreciating the improvement in food grains production, he said that it's stocking and distribution among the needy continues to remain a concern. According to a press release by the Commission, the NHRC Chairperson said that the National Food Security Act, 2013 (NFSA) is a comprehensive document ensuring food security, primarily, for the poor in normal circumstances but natural calamities, like drought, affect all, irrespective of their economic and social status. "It needs to be discussed as to what extent the efforts to check the leakages in the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) have been effective as well as the impact of efforts like Transferring of Direct Subsidy. Problems of malnourishment, particularly, among women and children and falling levels of calorie consumption need to be reviewed in view of the impact of the measures taken up to address them," said Justice Dattu. He said that NFSA has to be read and studied with our agricultural practices and the challenges facing them in the wake of falling ground water levels, at a rapid speed, causing an alarming situation of drought in several districts of the country. "Failed monsoon is severally affecting our agriculture, which is heavily dependent on the vagaries of the weather. The issue of crop rotation to conserve soil and water levels as well as our food requirements need to be addressed with a missionary zeal," added Justice Dattu.

15 Plenty of food, plenty of schemes but reaching hungry is problem NHRC holds two-day conference on Right to Food April 28, 2016 There is no dearth of government policies and programmes to ensuring food for all; questions can be raised only about their effective implementation, says National Human Rights Commission chairperson justice HL Dattu. Inaugurating a two-day national conference on Right to Food organised by the commission in New Delhi from Thursday, he appreciated the improvement in food grains production, and said the stocking and distribution among the needy continues to remain a concern. He said the National Food Security Act, 2013 (NFSA) is a comprehensive document ensuring food security, primarily for the poor in normal circumstances but natural calamities like drought affect all, irrespective of their economic and social status. It needs to be discussed as to what extent the efforts to check the leakages in the targeted public distribution system (TPDS) have been effective as well as the impact of efforts like direct benefit transfer. Problems of malnourishment, particularly, among women and children and falling levels of calorie consumption need to be reviewed in view of the impact of the measures taken up to address them. The NHRC chairperson said that the ultimate goal of the NFSA, integrated with various social welfare schemes, should be that nobody sleeps without food or falls prey to begging for it. And it is not only for the governments but for all the sections of society to work towards ensuring that programmes and schemes towards ensuring food for all are implemented in right earnest. People should be watchdogs of the welfare schemes instead of falling prey to the allurements of pilferage.

16 Justice Dattu said that while looking into the big issue of shortage of storage facilities, the issue of distantly located fair price shops cannot be ignored. The nation is already battling the issue of paucity of nearby markets for the farmers to sell their produce, lack of quality roads and transport to shift their produce to distant mandis and storage facilities to save the produce from rotting. He said that it pains us all to know that food grains worth Rs 92,000 crore goes waste every year. If every section of the NFSA is implemented sincerely, he said, there is no reason why a food sufficient country like India cannot ensure the same for all its people. Vrinda Swaroop, secretary, department of food and public distribution, expressed happiness over the proactive action taken by the states and union territories for implementing the NFSA. As several parts of the country are facing drought, she said the government had sufficient stock of food grains to supply them to natural calamity-hit states over and above their requirements under NFSA. NHRC secretary general SN Mohanty said that the commission has maintained that Right to Food is intrinsic to living a life with dignity and it is committed to suggesting measures to the government on food security for all. The two-day discussions, divided into four thematic sessions, have participation from the NHRC members and senior officers, senior officers from the union ministries, states and union territories dealing with the subject, members of NHRC s core advisory group on Right to Food, representatives of other national and state commissions, technical institutions, international organizations, non-governmental and civil society organizations working at the grassroots and subject experts.