The nationwide lockdown to curb the spread f the coronavirus has exacerbated the plight of migrant workers and sundry urban poor, many of whom anyway lead a hand-to-mouth existence working as daily wagers in the informal sector. A lot of these people have no food and rely on either the government or the civil society to provide relief during this time.

In light of this, activists of the Steering Committee of the Right to Food Campaign (RTFc) say that first of all the relief measures announced by the state have come late and are inadequate. They write, “We, at the RTFc, believe that the importance of the continuation of food support provisions cannot be emphasized enough in these times. Along with our longstanding demand for universal PDS, we reiterate that the Government must support both NFSA and non-NFSA beneficiaries with 10kgs of grain, dal 1.5 kg and 800 gm edible oil per person per month, for the next six months (i.e. until September) at the very least.”

They write that reports of at least 270 people dying of hunger, exhaustion, state violence, suicide and inability to access healthcare services have come to people’s knowledge. Due to hospitals and clinics being shut or not working to their full capacity, many ill people have no access to healthcare. Due to restrictions on movement too, healthcare for most is out of reach. To add to these woes, the onset of summer has become an excruciatingly painful time as they have to walk miles to get water.

The activists at the RTFc write that the lockdown has also strengthened the policing of regular people in the state causing people all over the country to face sever police brutality. They write, “Migrant workers wanting to secure their right to food and return to their native places have been treated with acute inhumanity, so much so that many have been slammed with charges of Section 144 violations. We demand that the Government must take due cognizance of this immense humanitarian crisis affecting the vulnerable sections by putting an immediate end to police brutalities. The Government must also arrange safe and sanitized modes of public transport for the migrant workers to return to their native places.”

In conclusion, they say that the lockdown which has been imposed for a duration of 40 days, would have allowed the health authorities to prepare a robust healthcare system to deal with the coronavirus infection. They say that the government must now focus on putting in place systems for “vigorous identify, trace, test, isolate, treat strategies to be followed.”

They say that while the government is looking for even one case to declare “hotspots” and extend “sealings”, the cases are only bound to increase with easing movement restrictions. Now, even those who managed the initial phase of the lockdown, are feeling distressed due to money and resources running out. 

“We insist that the social and economic consequences of continuing such blanket measures are too high and cannot be justified. The right to a dignified life of the people cannot be threatened at any point of time, more so during this global pandemic,” they say.

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Poor urban migrants are more undernourished than the rest of the population, but are unable to access subsidised food benefits when they migrate for work. The forthcoming programme aims at making food rations available to them everywhere through the public distribution system. 

Indian interstate and intrastate migrants make for about 37% of the country’s total population, according to the 2011 Census. But the government does not have accurate state-wise numbers for migrants. More than a quarter of fair price shops (28%) do not have PoS machines, showed data submitted in the Lok Sabha (lower house of the parliament). 

Presently, the central government supplies subsidised food grains under the National Food Security Act, 2013, at Rs 1-3/kg, to more than 800 million people through 500,000 ‘ration’ shops. The allocation to each family depends on the number of members, and is marked in the ration card issued by the state government to the head of the family. This card is digitally linked to Aadhaar, a 12-digit unique identification number used to verify the identity of Indian citizens.

Under the existing system, once a beneficiary of the food ration scheme migrates, he or she has to apply for a fresh ration card at the new place. But the ‘One Nation, One Ration Card’ system — also linked to Aadhaar — would eliminate the need for a new card. This way, it aims to deliver the promise of Aadhaar–portability of government benefits without the need for any other proof of identity.

After the government made it mandatory for welfare beneficiaries to link their Aadhaar with their ration cards, several people were reportedly denied food grains due to malfunctioning of the biometric authentication system, IndiaSpend reported on August 11, 2018. Experts said the same could happen with the new scheme. 

“All the problems that are faced by beneficiaries in Aadhaar authentication will be faced in the ‘One Nation, One Ration Card’ scheme as well,” said Sameet Panda, state convener, Odisha, Right to Food Campaign, (RTF), an advocacy group. “If one’s Aadhaar is not seeded or the biometric authentication fails due to any of several possible reasons, one will not receive ration no matter where [they are].”

Pilot schemes show up challenges

The Odisha government began implementing a pilot of the ‘One Nation One Ration’ system on September 1, 2019, for its intrastate migrants. Out of 32 million beneficiaries, 1.8 million (6%) could not get their Aadhaar linked with their ration card before September 15, 2019, the deadline mandated by the Odisha government, The New Indian Express reported on September 17, 2019.

Up to 35% of households did not have Aadhaar-seeded ration cards, an October 2019 study of 348 households in Nabarangpur, Nuapada and Malkangiri districts of Odisha had found. Of these, 31% had children under 10 years of age. Upto 12.42% individuals did not have an Aadhaar number while 19% submitted it but could not not get it linked to their ration card, the study by the Khadya Adhikar Abhiyan (Odisha chapter of the RTF) had found.

Earlier, in August 2019, the central government had trialled interstate portability of ration cards as a pilot project in two state groups: Andhra Pradesh-Telangana and Gujarat-Maharashtra. This would have enabled migrants in each cluster to avail of ration from the partner state.

“Gujarat has both intrastate migrants from the eastern tribal belt and interstate migrants from Maharashtra working in the diamond cutting industry,” said Sejal Dand, state convener, Annasuraksha Adhikar Abhiyan, an advocacy group working on food security in Gujarat. “We have not seen a single  beneficiary who has migrated to Gujarat and been able to procure ration in the state.”

Tribal communities in Gujarat have reported not being able to get ration due to poor internet connectivity even in their own villages, Dand said. “The government should make the data public as to how many people availed the ration,” she added.

Seasonal migrant workers not tracked

The exact number of mig­rant workers within India is not easy to establish, especially at the state level, as we mentioned earlier. The latest publically available data comes from the 2011 Census.

“Migration patterns across the country will have to be studied as the fair price shops–both in the home state as well as in the state he/she has migrated to–will need information on the inflow and outflow of migrants,” said Panda of the Right to Food Campaign. “Allocation of ration to each state will have to be made much more dynamically depending on the migration patterns.”

The central government allots food grains to the state, according to the district-wise requirement based on the number of ration card holders and previous year’s allocation.

“As per our understanding, [the cost of] providing subsidised ration to seasonal migrants will be borne by the states. We are yet to get any clarity about how a particular state subsidy will be implemented in another state,” said A S S Ramarao, the south zone (Chennai) general manager of sales and procurement at the Food Corporation of India.

Electronic PoS machines

For the ‘One Nation, One Ration Card’ programme, all fair price shops offering subsidised grains would have to install electronic PoS machines and all ration cards would have to be linked with the beneficiary’s Aadhaar number, as we said earlier.

Source: Lok Sabha

By February 2019, 72% of fair price shops (388,012 of 533,165) across the country had installed electronic PoS machines, data from the Lok Sabha showed.

Bihar, which had the least number of devices installed, had the second highest number of immigrants in the country after Uttar Pradesh, according to the 2011 Census.

“The transactions based on electronic PoS machines are beneficial as the dealers at the fair price shops do not have to manually keep the records of every beneficiary anymore. The device also checks for duplication of ration card holders,” adds Ramarao.

(Ali is a reporting fellow with IndiaSpend.)

Courtesy: India Spend

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Many people are upset as they feel that what is wrong in Akshay Patra’s giving hygienic food to children, after all they pay for it, and will give it only according to their convenience. While, we laud organisation’s efforts yet it must be made absolutely clear that Akshay Patra is not providing any free services to the ‘needy’. It bagged the contract from the government to feed the children. Ofcourse, it also raises funds from its own by seeking people’s support.

Akshay Patra is an organisation supported by ISKCON which has followers world over. The mid day meal that they provide the students only the ‘satvik’ meal. According to brahmanical school of thought a satvik meal is not merely vegetarian but it will not consist of onions and garlic. A report published in The Hindu says : “In November, the department issued a notice to the foundation to include onion and garlic in the meals.

The State food commission had received complaints that many students were skipping the meals or eating smaller portions as they found the food unappetising without onion and garlic. The APF, though, has said that it can serve only “satvik” food.”

Now, there are two things in this story. First, whether this meal is liked by the children and second whether it is a healthy meal. The reports in the media suggested that the children found this meal as tasteless and at many schools they are skipping it. Probably, at many places they might be eating it under the pressure as there is no such choice of rejection which is sad. Now, the question is whether any meal consisting garlic and onion is ‘unhealthy’ ? I am sure medical fraternity has always suggested that both are useful for health. Actually, Akshay Patra is nothing but an Indian savarna vegetarian thought which is being imposed on people across the country in the name of meals. You can see this vegetarian violence being imposed in the name of culture all over the country. Not many years back, Mrs Menaka Gandhi, who was Women and Child Development Minister, opposed distribution of eggs to children in the mid day meal. In fact, Madhya Pradesh government closed it. Now, this was the height of hypocrisy that these leaders stop distribution of nutritious food for school children in the name of ‘culture’ and ‘health’. Menaka Gandhi has been a rabid anti non vegetarian person who give one thousand argument against it, all typical of the savarna mindset to deny the poor and marginalised, source of protein for health.

Tamilnadu was the first state to have introduced the mid day meal schemes long back and the food served there was absolutely as per the local cultural habits. The scheme became so popular that policy makers felt the need for an all India scheme to encourage children to come to school and also fight against malnutrition and hunger prevalent in our country.

There are risk of Akshaya Patra vision of culture. It attempt to homogenise the food habits. It imposes a vegetarian culture in the name of hygiene and ‘good health’ which need to be questioned. But the most important thing is for the government and authorities. Why they allow such institutions to dominate the discourse ? When the state is funding a large part then it must clearly indicate what it wishes but the politicians who prostrate to big babas and swamis cant really take this issue head on as the huge number of all these Babas and Swamis will never ever suggest non vegetarianism as a way of life.

Akshay Patra and its supporters thump their chest and claim that they are only doing ‘good’ work for the people. Right to food is not a charity. We can understand a huge number of ISKCON followers may be donating money but definitely they may be receiving donations from across the world for this. Hope, the donors dont impose their ‘will’ to provide a tasteless vegetarian food to children. Even if their individual and corporate donor donate to provide for vegetarian food, the government, which is the biggest donor in this case, does not provide food to be vegetarian alone san garlic and onion. Government of Karnataka must reject if there is any kind of precondition on the mid day meal being produced for the children. Suggesting that only vegetarian food is ‘tasty’ and ‘healthy’ is nothing but putting caste in the food plate. India need to grow, mature and respect the food and cultural diversity. Just because some one speak English or has huge international support, does not have right to impose its cultural practices on innocent children in the name of hygienic and healthy food. The move must be investigated thoroughly and rejected.

Vidya Bhushan Rawat is a social and human rights activist. He blogs at www.manukhsi.blogspot.com twitter @freetohumanity Email: vbrawat@gmail.com

Courtesy: Counter Current

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However, TAPF lately found itself in a major controversy after it refused to sign the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government of Karnataka for 2018-19 after the State Food Commission (SFC) officials visited various public schools and suggested addition of onion and garlic for improving the taste of the food served to children. Many activists, researchers, public health professionals and doctors have opposed the stand of TAPF.

The Issue:

TAPF is one of the largest providers of MDM in Karnataka. However, the entire issue began when the CEO of the Zilla Panchayat, Bangalore Urban, refused to sign the MoU with TAPF, citing that the organisation was not providing meals in accordance with the guidelines prescribed by the state government. This was in reference to the inclusion of onions and garlic in its meals, which is mandated by the state government, but not specified under the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Human Resource and Development (MHRD). The district administration also refused to sign the MoU based on the findings of the State Food Commission (SFC).

SFC, headed by Commissioner N. Krishnamurthy, had visited various public schools across the state in order to inspect the quality of MDM served to the children. The visit revealed that the quantity of food served to the children was less than the prescribed standards and the food was unpalatable.

The Commission found that the food was bland and monotonous which had led to children refusing to eat the food. “The food was not at all tasty. Akshaya Patra says that they have met the calorific value prescribed by the government. The problem is that the children are not consuming as many calories simply because the food doesn’t taste good to them,” Krishnamurthy said. Adding further, Krishnamurthy said, “Each child is supposed to be given 150 gm of food per day. But in many schools, especially in Ballari district, the quantity of food being given to the children was less than 150 gm per meal.”

The Commission also found that the milk being served to the children was cold and in some cases the milk was spoilt. This was in violation of the Ksheera Bhagya scheme that mandated distribution of hot milk to school and anganwadi children. Furthermore, eggs which are an extremely rich source of protein, were also not provided by TAPF due to its compliance with the ‘satvik’ diet-  a diet based on Ayurveda and yoga literature. TAPF has been accused of flouting various guidelines relating to nutritional standards and using its programmes to propagate its religious beliefs among others.

Flouting Guidelines:

Apart from providing a lesser quantity of food and cold milk, TAPF fails to comply with various other guidelines. Firstly, the National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) recommends that every children should consume at least three eggs per week. However, TAPF’s meal doesn’t include egg at all.

According to a study conducted by the Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI) in 2015, onion and garlic increase the bioaccessibility of iron and zinc. It is a known fact that iron deficiency is a huge problem in India and is present among 60-80% of children, especially girls. Dr. Sylvia Karpagam, a public health specialist and researcher in Karnataka, says, “What’s happening everywhere (in India) is the pushing of iron tablets. But that can’t be a long-term solution to the problem. Also, anything nutritional that can improve the absorption of iron should be given, whether it is onion and garlic — several studies have found them to help increase the absorption and bioavailability.” This shows that by providing a ‘satvik’ diet, TAPF has failed to prioritise the nutrition of the children over its religious beliefs.

Further, a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India submitted to the MHRD in 2015 found that 187 test samples of meals prepared by TAPF failed to meet the prescribed standards, with negative feedback from 75% children and teachers. TAPF had also utilised lower quantities of food grains than the prescribed 100-150 grams for one meal. Children eating these meals were, on an average, consuming only around 40 grams – far less than what is ideal for their age.

The 2017 revised guidelines for engagement of civil society organisations in the MDM scheme states that “operation of centralised kitchen should be entrusted to CSO/NGO with local presence and familiarity with the needs and culture of the State. The organisation should also make a commitment to abide by the scheme guidelines issued by MHRD, be willing to work with Panchayat Raj institutions and municipal bodies in accordance with relevant guidelines of the state government, should not discriminate in any manner on the basis of religion, caste and and creed and should not use the program for propagation of any religious practice.” By enforcing a purely vegetarian diet without onion and garlic, TAPF is evidently using the MDM program for enforcing its religious beliefs.

The committee on the Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, 2013 on prevention of untouchability in MDM schemes affirmed that the meal be cooked locally in the school premises, and also raised concerns about “unauthorised and illegal collection of donations or contributions by ISKCON and Akshaya Patra from public in India and abroad” for the government-sponsored scheme.

Notably, in 2017, the Chandigarh education department found food made by ISKCON without onions and garlic was unpalatable for students and the mid-day meal contract was not given to the organisation.

What Protestors Say?

A cluster of NGOs, activists, health experts and researchers have opposed the current way of execution of the MDM scheme through TAPF. They had even written letters to the state government urging it to either seek a firm commitment from TAPF that the prescribed menu including onion and garlic will be followed by the next academic year or find an alternative to TAPF.

Civil Rights organisation Jan Swasthya Abhiyan (People’s Health Movement) and Right to Food Campaign had written a letter to officials expressing their concerns over the recent controversy surrounding TAPF and its provision of MDM. Copies of the letter were submitted to several departments including the Chief Minister’s office urging them to terminate TAPF’s contract.

“Religious diktats cannot supersede the application of established principles of the right to food to mid-day meal schemes. The Akshaya Patra Foundation, which has been providing mid-day meals to 4.43 lakh school children in Karnataka, has refused to sign the memorandum for 2018-19. The State government has directed the NGO to include onion and garlic in the food, based on recommendations from the State food Commission, which the NGO is refusing to comply with.

The NGO has also not been providing eggs in the MDM as part of its ‘satvik’ diet.  However, this point has not yet been raised by the government. This standoff highlights the position of rights-based campaigns that mid-day meals should be locally prepared and culturally relevant and not provided through a centralised agency, especially one that applies limits to the food on the basis of religious belief,” states the letter.

Siddharth Joshi, an independent researcher and one of the signatories said that most of the children consuming midday meals are SC/ST and their staple diet largely includes onion and garlic.

“Children require a certain amount of protein intake everyday for normal growth and development. No matter what substitutes may have been provided, eggs are a sure-fire way to ensure that those daily required intake values are met,” states Dr Keerthika V, from Mysore.

Dr Sylvia Karpagam, said, “Children should be getting hot milk, but they are getting cold milk. The food also tends to be bland and this too results in several children wasting food and not eating, which defeats the whole purpose of the scheme.”

What TAPF Says?:

Since its inception in 2000, TAPF has been providing meals that doesn’t include onion or garlic. According to their website, the foundation has their religious belief which aligns with “advocating a lacto-vegetarian diet, strictly avoiding meat, fish, and eggs” and considers onions and garlic in food as “lower modes of nature which inhibit spiritual advancement.”
 

Denying the allegations that their meals were flouting the MHRD guidelines, Naveena Neerada Dasa, head of strategic communications and projects at TAPF, said, “We would like to clarify that our freshly cooked meals are in compliance with the nutritional norms prescribed by the MHRD. It is our constant endeavour to contribute to the government’s efforts in promoting good health and nutrition amongst children, which is essential for their holistic growth and development.” Adding further, Dasa said, “Akshaya Patra is committed to serve quality, hygienic and nutritious food to school children everyday and implement Akshara Dasoha, the flagship midday meal programme of the Karnataka government.”
Alleging that the opposition by officials to their program was due to some ‘vested interest’, foundation trustee and former Infosys CFO, Mohandas Pai, said “Akshaya Patra Foundation has been feeding midday meals as per union government’s standards. Now it is obvious that some officials under the influence of vested interests are playing mischief for reasons all known.” Saying that their meals were in line with their principles of a ‘satvik’ diet, Pai sought the intervention of Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy to resolve the issue.

Political Angle:

Predictably, this controversy has taken a political turn. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and actress Malavika Avinash slammed the government for issuing the direction to include onion and garlic, saying it was an “uncalled” intervention.

 
Latest Developments:

Putting an end to an argument that was raised earlier, the Karnataka state government signed a MoU with TAPF in March 2019 despite the foundation’s refusal to use onion and garlic in MDM served to students in government schools.
“Akshaya Patra Foundation refused to include onion and garlic. We could not make alternative arrangements to provide food, and had to yield,” an official told, adding that the issue is yet to be resolved.

The decision of the state government of not terminating TAPF’s contract comes after the National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) submitted a report in favour of TAPF. The report appears to be entirely biased without visiting a single school or talking to a single student. One of the claim made by NIN is, “The nutritive values of menus with ingredients used in the mentioned amounts, certainly meet and often exceed the prescribed energy (Kcal) and protein requirements prescribed by MHRD for the MDM.” However, the NIN has come to this conclusion sheerly on the basis of the menu prepared by TAPF without going to the schools and checking the ground-reality.

A point-by-point rebuttal to the NIN report can be viewed here.

The Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI) refused to comment on most of the questions regarding nutritional adequacy, taste, diversity, safety and hygiene etc of the food being supplied by TAPF in absence of a systematic empirical study.

Siddharth Joshi, an independent researcher in Bengaluru, has drafted an open letter to NIN calling for the withdrawal of its unscientific report, pending a systematic field evaluation.

The Implication:

This entire issue evidently has a religious angle which has even been acknowledged by TAPF itself. It seems nothing less than religious indoctrination!

The silent acceptance of the conditions of the TAPF without considering its implications on the already poorly-nourished children is just unacceptable. Instead of advocating for child rights, the BJP government has also refrained from demanding any action for the benefit of the children. Contrarily, it has supported the stand of TAPF and objected to the initial interventions by the SFC.

BJP’s stand is somewhere predictable, considering its own ideology that is based on the principles of Hindutva. 

It is significant to note that a study by IndiaSpend found that most of the BJP-ruled states were resistant to eggs in MDM. It found that:

• Only five of the 19 states governed by BJP or their allies (15 have BJP chief ministers) give eggs to children;
• Some non-BJP states too (Punjab, Mizoram and Delhi) do not provide eggs in MDM, mainly due to lack of resources than religious or cultural sentiments. However, BJP states are most likely to resist the inclusion of eggs for reasons related to the sentiments of vegetarians.

Officials in BJP governed states interviewed by IndiaSpend said they were concerned about offending the sentiments of vegetarians. “In Gujarat, most of the population is vegetarian,” said RG Trivedi, commissioner (mid-day meal scheme) in Gujarat. “Additionally, we provide pulses daily in mid-day meals as protein-rich food, hence we don’t serve eggs.”

Though religious organisations have the right to promote or oppose certain food beliefs, this cannot be a justification while providing MDM to children, belonging to different faiths, that also in government schools. Such instances contradict a secular government’s mandate as well as nutritional guidelines by scientific bodies like the NIN and the Indian Academy of Pediatrics. It also infringes the food rights of majority of children attending government schools who are often from marginalised communities and suffer poor nutrition.

Food is a basic human need. However, the current top-down approach for what food communities should receive from supplementary programmes is both paternalistic and creates major bottlenecks in the success of these programmes.
Such religious indoctrination in the name of welfare and upliftment is not only unjustifiable but also unconstitutional.

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The Right to Food Campaign requests all political parties to consider the following suggestions towards ensuring right to food for all while working on their manifestos for the General Elections 2019. We need to remember that these elections are coming at the backdrop of regular reports of starvation deaths from different parts of the country on the one hand and rural distress and farmers’ protests on the other.

While the country now has a National Food Security Act (NFSA), the recent spate of deaths shows that the Act is limited in its vision and implementation. It is currently not even able to ensure the minimum; which is that a person does not go hungry due to lack of food. The Act needs to be amended to expand its scope and also ensure that it prevents hunger (by including a section on starvation protocol) and also contributes to better nutrition status of the people (by including pulses, oil in PDS, eggs in schools and anganwadis etc.).

Along with the NFSA, it needs to be recognised the current situation of hunger is a reflection of rural distress arising out of the agrarian crisis, poor employment and livelihood opportunities, failure of various social security mechanisms and the overall macroeconomic situation. In this regard, we also make some recommendations for the manifesto beyond the changes required in the NFSA framework.

Public Distribution System
Universalisation: Currently, the NFSA is supposed to provide 67% of the population in the country with subsidised foodgrains (cereals). However, it is seen that a number of deserving households (or some members of household) are excluded in many states due to identification issues as well as the caps placed on the number of ration cards (based on 2011 Census data). In order to avoid these exclusion errors, the PDS benefits must be made universal for all residents.

Increase Foodgrains: Increase the foodgrains provided, especially millets, in the NFSA, from 5 kgs at the current prices under the Act.
Double the Antyodaya Coverage: Double the coverage of the Antyodaya Anna Yojana, with priority to vulnerable groups such as Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) and single women, as per Supreme Court orders.

Pulses and Oil: Include dal (pulses), edible cooking oil and other nutritious foods at subsidised rates in the PDS.

Local Procurement: Procurement must be done in an increasingly local manner, promoting local varieties.

Children’s Right to Quality Nutrition
Eggs: Provide eggs 6 days a week in all schools and anganwadis and ensure midday meals are also served during school vacations.
Child Development Centres: To treat severely malnourished children, substantially increase the quantum of and support for community-based village child development centres (VDCs).

Crèches: To reduce the care work burden on women as well as to provide better nutrition, all children under six years of age must have access to a crèche/day care centre which provides trained adult supervision, child development activities, adequate nutrition and link to health services. The crèche access will need to be provided through multiple models including workplace crèches, anganwadi-cum-crèches and so on. Twenty-five percent of anganwadi centres should be converted to anganwadi-cum-crèches and should be operational for 8 hours.

ICDS and Mid-day Meals: The diet under the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) and mid-day meals should be enhanced through the use of millets, animal products like eggs, milk, yogurt, and meat (for those who eat it), and other locally available foods. Menus must be decided primarily in consultation with the community.

Universalisation with quality and equity of ICDS is required to protect the rights of all young children, pregnant and lactating women and adolescent girls. All children in India must have access to the full range of anganwadi services. In addition to improving coverage, several steps should be taken to improve ICDS quality and infrastructure.

Coverage of ICDS: Along with dalits, tribals, minorities, disabled children; special efforts must be made to also cover children of PVTGs and migrants through different models. There must be greater decentralisation and flexibility in ICDS with local consultation to decide timings of Anganwadi Centres, menus etc.

Care Work as Decent Work: All workers providing care work, such as Anganwadi Workers and Helpers, ASHAs, should be provided with at least the minimum wage and a decent working conditions.

Mid-Day Meal should be extended to all children up to class XII. Local farmers and self-help groups should be given an opportunity to sell food items directly to schools for Mid-Day Meals where possible, as a means to stimulate the local economy.

Stop the systematic budget cuts and privatisation of services food and nutrition programmes of the government like ICDS, Mid-Day Meal etc.
Ban private contractors in all public feeding/food distribution programmes such as the ICDS, Mid-Day Meals and PDS.

Kitchen Gardens: Organic kitchen gardens must be promoted in schools and anganwadis to improve the nutrient content of the meals served in these institutions.

For Pregnant and Lactating Women
Community Meals: Provide free, hot and cooked nutritious midday meals for pregnant women, lactating mothers, homeless persons and the elderly in anganwadi centres (similar to programs introduced in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana).

Maternity Entitlements under NFSA: The NFSA provides an entitlement of at least ₹6,000 for all pregnant and lactating mothers. The scheme to implement this currently is applicable only to the first birth, and entitles only ₹5,000. The scheme must be amended to ensure that there are no such conditionalities and all women are included. The amount of benefit must be increased (for example, it is ₹16,000 in Madhya Pradesh and ₹18,000 in Tamil Nadu). It must also be ensured that the instalments are paid without any delays.

Universal Maternity Entitlements: The Maternity Benefit Act currently covers only women in the organised sector. Women do paid and unpaid work at multiple sites simultaneously such as farms, forests, worksites, factories, markets, and home. Legal, programmatic and institutional provisions must be made to ensure maternity entitlements that is equivalent to at least minimum wages at prevalent rates for nine months for all women.

Special Packages
Community Kitchens in urban areas: Start subsidized community kitchens in all cities, towns and block headquarters (like Tamil Nadu’s Amma Canteens) and also in hamlets with high tribal populations.

Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups: Acknowledging the crisis of hunger and malnutrition amongst PVTGs, provide all the 75 identified PVTGs nationwide with doorstep delivery of a special free nutritional package (similar to the one provided to Rajasthan’s Sahariyas of 35 kg foodgrain, 2 kg of dal, 2 kg cooking oil and 1 kg of ghee every month along with monthly social pensions as introduced in Jharkhand).

Social Security Pensions
Universal Pensions: Provide unconditional universal social security pensions to all elderly above 60 years, differently-abled persons, single women and other vulnerable communities such as transgender persons (as initiated in Tamil Nadu) and PVTGs (as initiated in Jharkhand).
Increase Pensions: Increase the amount for social security pensions from monthly ₹200 to at least ₹3,000 or half the minimum wages (whichever is higher) and ensure that they are inflation-indexed.

National Rural Employment Guarantee Act
Double NREGA: Double the annual guarantee from 100 to 200 workdays per household.

Living wages: Index NREGA wage rates to Consumer Price Index Rural Labourers and ensure that they are not less than the minimum agricultural wage rates in all states.

Timely Payment: Ensure strict timely payment of wages within a fortnight, unemployment allowance to those who are not allotted work and compensation for delayed payment in accordance with the Act.

Urban Employment Guarantee Act: Enshrine and implement a National Urban Employment Guarantee Act (as implemented as a programme in Tripura) with a guarantee of at least 100 days per household for both unskilled and skilled jobs, suitable for urban contexts.

Right to Food Choice
Beef Ban: Remove bans on slaughter of cows on religious and other grounds.

Social Accountability
Grievance Redressal: Appoint State Food Commissions, District Grievance Redressal Officers and Vigilance Committees in all states, districts, blocks and fair-price shops and also ensure a mechanism so that social audits are regularly conducted for all food schemes.

Right to Information: Do not amend the Right to Information Act, but instead strength the state information commissions, appoint Information Commissioners, Lokpals and Lokayuktas and implement the penalty provisions of these laws.

Whistleblower protection law: Implement whistleblowers protection Act and create a conductive environment wherein people have easy access to information.

Agriculture
Minimum Support Price: Enact the Bill for Farmers’ Right to Guaranteed Remunerative Minimum Support Price pending in both houses of Parliament.

Land Reforms: Implement redistributive land reforms and stop forcible land acquisition.

Minimum Wages: Secure minimum wage of not less than Rs 18000 per month for all workers.

Encourage food production: Encourage food production through sustainable and equitable means, and ensure adequate food availability in all locations at all time.

World Trade Organization: Make sure that India does not agree to any restrictions imposed by the World Trade Organization on public stockholdings and press for re-negotiating the agreements in relation to agricultural subsidies in favour of developing countries.

Sustainable Farming: India should discontinue pesticides banned by other countries and over the next five years should completely phase out all synthetic pesticides. Fertilizer subsidies should be reduced and investment should instead be made in organic agriculture. There should be a total ban on genetically modified crops and other foods.

Right to livelihoods resources of the marginalised people
Safeguard land rights of adivasis by strong implementation the Forest Rights Act (FRA) 2006; appoint people’s representative at the district and block level with immediate effect.

Protect dalits from forceful evictions, allocate specially reserved land to the landless dalits, and create fast track courts for speedy resolution of land disputes.

Implement with letter and spirit The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013.
 
Technology and Welfare
Prevent Aadhaar Exclusions: Ensure that no one is excluded because of Aadhaar to avail of their social security entitlements especially rations, pensions and NREGA – delink Aadhaar from all social welfare schemes.

Aadhaar: Delink Aadhaar from and amend Section 7 of the Act to ensure that Aadhaar is not made mandatory to avail of any social security entitlements including rations, pensions, schools and others

Technology should ensure welfares of people and not exclusion, marginalisation and pain.

Management Information System data should be accessible to people and should be in public domain.

Courtesy: Counterview.org
 

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They adopted a resolution to confront and change the state of affairs and said that they will not be silenced by the BJP-RSS promoted culture of fear and standing up for equality and basic rights enshrined in the Constitution.

Brinda Karat, the patron of AIDWA and leader of the women’s movement spoke on the challenges before women in the current political situation. The rally was presided over by Malini Bhattacharya (President) and was addressed by Subhashini Ali (Vice President) and Asha Sharma (Delhi State Secretary), among others. The Resolution of the rally was placed by Mariam Dhawale (General Secretary).

Men and women gave heart rending testimonies of the struggles for justice for victims of gender based violence. The Kathua victim’s lawyer Deepika Rajput shared her struggles about the professional abuse and political consequences she had to face in Kathua case. Similarly, Mahesh Singh Makkhi (the uncle of the Unnao victim and a petitioner in the case) talked about how he fears for his life and security of his family. The impact of social conservatism and the violence associated with it was narrated by Saroj (the mother in law of the honour killing victim) from Haryana. Cases of political violence and victimization were narrated by Swapna Ghosh of West Bengal and Vinita Choudhury from Tripura. The struggles on food security were narrated by Lahani Dauda from Maharashtra, whereas struggles on right to work were narrated by Santro from the Anganwadi Mothers’ group in Haryana, Poonam (a domestic worker from Noida, NCR) and MNREGA worker from Bihar.
 
AIDWA, in its note issued before the protest said, “The frightening regularity with which women and young girls are subjected to violence and abuse in various parts of the country, is a matter of serious concern. Gang-rape, abduction, physical and mental abuse, torture of various kinds, threats of killing and rape are not isolated incidents. Instead they are a part of the larger systemic problem. Concerted efforts have been made in the recent past by certain political groups to show women their ‘true place’. With the political patronage of the BJP-RSS, there has definitely been a spurt in the number and brutality of such incidents against women.”

Their note highlighted that though the prime agenda of the BJP in 2014 general elections was said to be ‘women’s safety’ the assault on women continued unabated.

The note drew attention to a report by the child rights NGO CRY in the month of April 2018 that had stated that a sexual offence is committed against a child in India every 15 minutes. The report had also drawn attention to the fact that almost 75,000 cases of the rape of women and children were registered in 2016. And that there has been an 82% spike in the rape of children from 2015 to 2016
Moreover, the note added, the Thompson Reuters Foundation report too ranked India the most dangerous country for women in terms of human trafficking, including sex slavery and domestic servitude, and for customary practices such as forced marriage, stoning and female infanticide.

It drew attention to the failures of the Modi regime in being able to fulfill all its promises, “The Modi regime promised two crore jobs per year, but has not provided jobs to even two lakh per year. In our country where more than 10 lakh job-seekers enter the job market every month, unemployment is at its highest, and women’s work participation rate is the lowest since Independence. 77 per cent of the households in the country have no regular wage/salaried person. According to the Labor Bureau, unemployment rate among the graduate youths (18 to 29 years) increased from 28 per cent to 35 per cent between 2014 and 2015. In addition, demonetisation has resulted in the loss of 90 lakh jobs between October 2016 and October 2017.”

Though the BJP government promised to control price rise but in fact prices of essential commodities are skyrocketing and the public distribution system is reportedly as per the reports coming in from all quarters. In fact the mandatory linkage of Aadhaar and the elimination of beneficiaries are resulting in starvation deaths.

Moreover, it said that the BJP and “fascistic” RSS have been unleashing terror by spreading caste and communal hatred and violence, with mob lynchings becoming “the order of the day”.

Not only this, that the extra-constitutional and self-appointed vigilante groups are having a free rein and roaming scot free after “killing people with impunity.” AIDWA accused that such people have received tacit support from their ‘political masters.’

Outlining these challenges, AIDWA had given the call for the protest today, on September 4 against increasing violence and brutality against women, especially girl children, growing unemployment, food security, the grim issue of starvation and malnutrition and the escalating communal and casteist attacks.

The rally was directed against the anti-women and anti-people policies of the BJP-RSS regime led by Modi.
 

The post Thousands of women under AIDWA’s leadership brave rains to protest BJP’s anti-women, anti-people policies appeared first on SabrangIndia.

This week, media reports indicate that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s sweepingly intends to encourage states to scrap the public distribution scheme (PDS) system and directly transfer money into bank accounts of poor people. Apparently the PM quoted the success of miniscule pilots conducted in Haryana and Puducherry after they “closed their PDS systems”.
 
The Right to Food Campaign strongly condemns this centralised decision-making process by the central government and excessive pressure on states based on speculative “alternative facts”. 
 
For one, despite the pilots while Chandigarh has made a complete transition to cash transfers, the rest of Haryana continues to have functional ration shops. In Puducherry too beneficiaries continue to receive both cash and food grains and the PDS has not shutdown for a fact. 
 
Second, these pilot experiments have been far from successful. A comprehensive survey conducted for the government’s own NITI Aayog by Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) in 2016 indicated that the pilots have had at best “mixed results”. 50 percent of surveyed beneficiaries received either no or less cash than that they were entitled to in lieu of subsidised foodgrains. 
 
Unsuprisingly, majority of beneficiaries continued to prefer food to cash. Another survey conducted by the Centre for Equity Studies (CES) in 2015 also found that 40 percent of the households in Chandigarh were not receiving the cash entitlement, despite their names being on beneficiary lists.
 
Third, there have been waves of protests in these union territories against the transition to cash, which has been largely unreported in the national media. In Puducherry, high decibel protests against cash transfers resulted in an earlier 2015 cash pilot being abandoned within 2 months of its launch. Gram panchayats in Dadra and Nagar Haveli, where ration shops are managed by cooperatives and not private dealers, had stalled the rollout of cash transfers and now it has only been partially implemented in urban pockets.
 
India has half a million fair price shops. The National Food Security Act guarantees two of every three Indians 5 kilos of subsidised foodgrain every month. The highly urbanised union territories, despite their better-than-average conditions of infrastructure and accessibility compared to the rest of rural India,have not yet succeded in implementing cash transfers. Worse, across India there is only 1 bank branch for every 11 ration shops.
 
With famers already reeling under an agrarian crisis it is also entirely unclear what will happen to India’s 48 million tonne mountain of food stocks, if the PDS were to be replaced with cash nationwide. The Right to Food Campaign condems the excessive pressure on states to dismantle the public distribution system which is a lifeline for 4 of every 5 Indians.

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The Bahrain government has rejected a proposal by a lawmaker to ban the import and sale of pork in the country.

The government took the view that the parliamentary proposal will militate against the rights of the large number of non-Muslims working and living in Bahrain.

In its reply to the Parliament, the government said that all kinds of meat imported by Bahrain, including pork, were duly checked to ensure they met the sanitary requirements, Bahraini daily Al Ayam reported on Sunday.

The Bahrain government has stood firm by its stand despite several attempts in the past by lawmakers to introduce the prohibition.

In 2015, MP Abdullah Bin Howail had called for a blanket ban on the import, sale and possession of pork products.

His grounds: dealing with pork or related products was against Islam and that Bahrain, as a Muslim country, should adhere to Sharia rulings.

His proposal was made three months after the Shura Council, the upper chamber of the bicameral parliament, voted to dismiss amendments to the Penal Code that would have criminalised dealing with pork.

Shura members argued that the ban would have been a violation of the human rights of the non-Muslims who lived in the kingdom.

Bahrain is home to around 600,000 foreigners, making up slightly more than half of the total population.

With inputs from Gulf News.

The post Bahrain government vetoes bid to ban pork in the country appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Image: Indian Express

School meals are an important entitlement of Indian children, legally enforceable under Supreme Court orders as well as under the National Food Security Act. Numerous studies show that India’s midday meal scheme has made an important contribution to higher school attendance, better child nutrition and more effective learning. Midday meals also help to break the barriers of class and caste by imparting to children of diverse backgrounds a habit of sharing meals.

No conditionalities can be imposed on this critical entitlement of Indian children. Making Aadhaaar compulsory for the midday meal would serve no purpose, and is bound to disrupt instead of helping this important programme. Further, this move is a violation of Supreme Court orders.

In a series of orders, the Supreme Court has made it clear that Aadhaar cannot be made compulsory for any services to which people are otherwise entitled. It has also made it clear that the Aadhaar Act does not supersede these orders, until such time as the Court settles the issue of compatibility of Aadhaar with the right to privacy.

During the last few years, Aadhaar has been made compulsory for a growing list of welfare schemes, under the garb of making them more effective. In fact, this imposition has led to serious disruptions, such as elderly people without Aadhaar being bumped off pension lists, NREGA workers being denied their wages due to Aadhaar seeding errors and PDS cardholders being deprived of their food rations because of technical glitches with Aadhaar-based biometric authentication. The government has paid no attention to the mounting evidence of these disruptive effects. Reason: the real purpose of this drive is to put pressure on people to enrol with Aadhaar. The need of the hour is to stop this rampage, not to extend it further, least of all to programmes like midday meals that are critical for the wellbeing of Indian children.

The right to food campaign demands immediate withdrawal of the illegal notification seeking to make Aadhaar compulsory for midday meals. It also calls on state governments to desist from implementing this illegal notification.

Courtesy: India Resist
 

The post Linking Mid-Day Meal to Aadhar is Illegal and Outrageous: Right to Food Campaign appeared first on SabrangIndia.

B. R. Bhaskar Prasad is a Dalit writer and activist from Nelamangala taluk, Bengaluru, and one of the main organizers behind the "Chalo Udupi" campaign.

Background 
Inspired by the Una movement, more than 160 organizations came together for the "Chalo Udupi – Food, My Choice; Land, My Right" campaign on Oct 9th. Dalit Camera (DC) spoke to B. R. Bhaskar Prasad, a Dalit writer and activist from Nelamangala taluk, Bengaluru, and one of the main organizers behind the "Chalo Udupi" campaign.

In the first part of the three-part interview, Bhaskar Prasad talks about the Una movement, the continuing atrocities on Dalits in Karnataka, the politics of beef in India and also in detail about the Chalo Udupi campaign.

Part 1
Introduction about yourself
I am B. R. Bhaskar Prasad. I live in Bangalore's rural district, Nelamangala Taluk, Karnataka. In the past I served as state president of "Karnataka Dalita Sanghatanegala Okkuta" (Karnataka Dalit Organisations Association) forum. I currently work with "Babasaheb Service Force" youth cadre.

I have been active on social media such as Facebook and Whatsapp for the past five years, the constant updates on the current affairs in India gave me an insight on the growing unrest in India. For instance, our fellow human beings are being butchered/killed because of religious intolerance. I wonder if there is an end to these atrocities. I think Babasaheb Ambedkar's democratic constitution is the only answer to the preachers of 'Bhagavad Gita,' and the group that insists on making 'Bhagavad Gita' a national text. I use social media (Facebook and Whatsapp) as a platform for my activism, which has helped me to connect with the like minded friends around Karnataka.

A Government built on violence
I blame organizations such as BJP, RSS, Shiv Sena, Bajrang Dal for the growing religious (Hindu) intolerance against people (especially lower caste poor people, and Muslims) who choose to eat beef. The BJP led central government under the prime ministership of Modi, is also to be blamed for these atrocities against humanity in India. During one of his speeches Modi said "kill me, instead of Dalits." The irony is that Modi has Z- category security 24×7 around him, who will dare to kill him? I think Modi perpetuates violence instead of peace through his contradictory speeches which are pro dominant castes and class. What else can a government which was built on violence promote? As we all may remember in the recent inhumane Una (Gujarat) incident, four Dalit men were thrashed for skinning a dead cow by the Gau Rakshak Sangh ('Cow Protection organization'). The incident was recorded on a cell phone, hence it grabbed the nation's attention.

Similar incidents are the daily lived experiences of Dalit communities in Karnataka as well. Violence against Dalits on the basis of religion and caste are taking a toll on Dalits in Karnataka. For example in Kunigal (a Taluk in Karnataka), five Dalit families used 18 acres of land to cultivate crops and feed their families. The upper caste groups in the Taluk intended to build a temple on the land that was possessed by the five Dalit families; these five families were stripped off their livelihood. Neither the police, nor the activists were able to help the Dalit families because of the political influence of the upper caste groups. I think, unless food, water and shelter becomes a top priority for human existence there is no way out of violence in this country. In another incident in Jayapura, Koppa (Karnataka), a man was beaten for owning half a kg of beef in his house. Likewise, in Udupi, a man named Praveen Pujary who was a working member of BJP, was murdered by running the cattle which he was transporting in his truck, even as he pleaded with the perpetrators that he was a Modi-loyalist and that he had worked for Modi's success. Praveen managed his livelihood by renting out his truck to people. What is the future of this country if this persists?

First they came for the Muslims, then the Dalits, and now the OBCs
The above mentioned organizations such as RSS, BJP, Bajrang Dal, Shiv Sena, are all Hindu religious bigots. Initially these organizations used Muslims as their political targets, to gain political power in the country by dividing Hindus and Muslims in the name of religion. Later these organizations used Dalit communities for their own political benefit, by perpetuating atrocities against Dalits. After a long resistance by Dalits and Muslims the Hindu religious organization are now targeting the 'Other Backward Classes (OBC)' youth. The working members of the above mentioned religious organizations are Dalit and OBC youth. The OBC and Dalit youths are used as tools for destroying their own communities. In Praveen Pujary's murder case the murderers and the deceased both belonged to OBC. The murder accused youth are being jailed and their families are helpless, because none of these organizations would volunteer to help those youth or their families. The divide and rule tactic is used well by BJP and RSS to gain political power in India. This has been the history of RSS led BJP government in India.

The Story behind Modi's "Pink Revolution"
Modi had always been critical of Congress, and accused them of creating a 'pink revolution', in other words, Congress government was accused of exporting beef to other countries. On the contrary, under today's BJP and Modi government, India exports 100 thousands tons of beef every day. India is ranked as the number one beef exporter in the world, this is under Modi government. I insist that, every working member of RSS and BJP who are Dalits and OBCs, need to understand who owns these giant beef export companies. There are 6 beef exporting giant companies in India, four of these companies are owned by upper caste Hindus. I am equipped with evidence (after inspecting audit records) when I accuse these companies which export beef. These companies donate money in millions to BJP every year. On the one hand, BJP is using its followers (mostly OBC youth) as tools to work against beef consumers in the country, but on the other hand, it legalizes beef exports and also benefits from it. Indra Nooyi, a Brahmin woman from Tamil Nadu, is in close contact with Modi, she owns a beef exporting company. BJP takes donations from her. I intend to question BJP, what is the intention behind using these OBC youth to work against beef consumption in the name of the Gau Rakshak Sangh in the country? There is a need for us to analyze and understand the existing unrest in India, who benefits from it?

Inspired by Una, "Chalo Udupi"
The main intention of BJP is to create unrest among common people (especially Dalits, Muslims, Christian minorities), and divide them in the name of religion and caste for BJP's own political interests. Under these circumstances, my friends and I, inspired by the Una (Gujarat) protest, decided to conduct a similar protest in Karnataka. As we dug deeper into the history of violence against Dalits, Muslims and women in Karnataka, starting from the Kambalapalli massacre to the recent Praveen Pujary murder, we found several incidents which led us to decide on organizing a protest similar to the Una Chalo protest. Violence and atrocities against women are also lived experiences for many. Rape has been used as a tool to gain control over women.

We requested people through social media to join us in our struggle and we received enormous support from every organization possible. There is no doubt that this movement will make history in the history of movements in Karnataka. The principles of every organization may vary, but the motto of our movement has united us together. The motto of our movement is: "Food: My Choice, Land: My Right." We have the right to choose what we eat, nobody can question us. This land belongs to us, because we are the ones working on it, hence we have the right to own it. The intention is not just to own fives acres of land but also claim our rights to live and rule; and to create the possibility to resist oppression. Almost all the Dalit organizations, progressive organizations, intellectuals, progressive thinkers and literary ccholars, minority groups and some political parties (such as Communist parties and Bahujan Samajwadi Party and BVS, a students' organization) are all supportive of our movement. Over a hundred and sixty organizations in all the districts of Karnataka – from Bidar to Kolar – have been working for this movement on their own, by conducting press meets and organizing to participate in the conference on 09-Oct at Udupi.

Why Choose Udupi?
Many people questioned us about the reason behind choosing Udupi. Udupi has a long history of being oppressive against downtrodden communities, it is a form of a laboratory of violence. These laboratory experiments are then used an example to spread violence throughout the state of Karnataka. Though Praveen Pujary's murder was one of the reasons, we decided to break this cycle of violence starting from Udupi. Victims of violence in Udupi have the right to lead a normal life. We intend to bring awareness throughout Karnataka, and also realize the 'need' to end violence.

This is a 3-phase movement. Primarily a conference will be held in Udupi to bring awareness, which is the first phase of this movement. Secondly, we will be conducting regular conferences, press meets and workshops on "Food: My Choice, Land: My Right" throughout Karnataka. Thirdly, we will have a massive conference in the state capital, Bangalore, where we intend to unite like minded people in massive numbers. We will invite Dalit scholars, progressive thinkers and literary scholars from all over India to this conference. These three phases will serve as an introduction to our upcoming organizing in the future around "Food: My Choice, Land: My Right." We will fight for our rights to live and rule, which is our ultimate goal.

I request everyone to join hands with us in fighting against violence on Dalits, women, Muslims, and organizations that are in principle religious bigots. Let us focus on the intention of the movement and not on our subjectivities.

Part 2
DC: How is your movement looking at the Land issue? Can you explain?
Bhaskar Prasad: Since 1981, under the Land Reform Act in Karnataka, several Dalit and Other Backward Class (OBC) families have been making a living on the land the government allotted to them, 1 to 3 acres each. In 1991 there was another announcement made for Dalit and OBCs who do not own any land, to apply for land grants; several people (belonging to Dalit and OBC classes) had applied for the land grants. But until today, the Dalit and OBC communities have not received a single 'title deed' for their plots of land allotted by the government. There was another call for applications by the government for land allotment for the benefit of the depressed classes, but there has not been any follow up on that. About 12,000 acres of land in and around Bangalore has been appropriated by some powerful politicians, real estate agents and land mafia gangs, who are making millions of rupees illegally. It was the government's responsibility to intervene and look into the issues, but none of the governments have taken any interest in the land issues so far. The appropriators of government land are mostly powerful politicians and gang leaders, whom the government does not dare to challenge. The issue was taken to the court, the court intervention in the issue made the matter worse for the downtrodden communities. As these peasant farmers had no title deeds for the land, they were considered as illegal occupiers of the government land, and were escorted out from the land that the government had allotted to them. These thousands of acres of 'surplus' land was put on auction by the government, which in turn was bought by the powerful politicians, mighty mafia gangs, wealthy landlords, as these were the ones who were able to afford the prices.

The Land Reform Act, was supposed to mean that the government takes the surplus land from the wealthy landowners who own thousands of acres of land, and distribute it equally among those who do not own any. But the situation is upside down today. Our demand is that, every poor person irrespective of their caste, creed, gender and sexual identity should be able to own 5 acres of land, through which they will be self sufficient. That is the main motto of our movement, as the name itself indicates, "Dalita, Damanita, swabhimani horata samithi" ('A struggle for the poor and downtrodden').

DC: Would you consider converted Christian Dalits and Muslim Dalits as part of your movement/struggle?
Bhaskar Prasad: Dalit, is not a caste based term, it denotes downtrodden in general. But, since it has been widely used as a term for caste representation we were compelled to name our movement as "Dalita, Damanita, swabhimani horata samithi" (A struggle for the poor and downtrodden). The movement represents everyone who are oppressed socially, economically, culturally, politically irrespective of their caste, creed, gender, religion and nationality.
Since Karnataka comprises several of the former untouchable communities in the Hindu caste hierarchy (such as Holeya and Madiga communities), we were compelled to use the term Dalit, because of their high population. To avoid complications in terms of confusions with the word Dalit we used the term 'damanita' (downtrodden) while naming our movement.

Everyone has a right to own a piece of land, through which the poor can lead self-sufficient, respectable lives. That's our intention.

DC: The slum renovation schemes in Karnataka are not reaching the Dalits, and lots of SC/ST funds are diverted for different/other purposes, how is your movement going to tackle this?
Bhaskar Prasad: When it comes to development of this country, the development should and must be analyzed through the perspectives of Dalits. Slums are ubiquitous in cities such as Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai. Unless we deal with the slums and slum dwellers' development we cannot consider this country as a developing or a developed country. Under social welfare schemes (for the benefit of the poor and needy) the government had set aside around 20,000 crore rupees in its budget. But, when we look closely, most of this money has not been used for the purpose that it had been set aside; instead that money has been used for other purposes. The government had made provision to rule out using the social welfare money for other purposes, which has not been implemented so far. For example, SC/ST development funds have been misused for other purposes such as road development projects and building cricket tournament courts and buying cricket supplies. I disagree with this stand of using SC/ST funds for other purposes by the government, because, the public road is used by all its citizens and not just SC/ST population. None of the leaders who were elected as representatives of SC/ST category look into these issues, because they are helpless because of the pressure from the political party that they were elected from. There is a huge lobbying around the issues of slums.
The citizens need to understand their voting power, their right to have equal living conditions such as 24×7 supply of water, electricity, and good shelter.

DC: What is your opinion about migrant workers living in makeshift tents in Bangalore which are not classified as slums and who are socially and economically vulnerable – mostly Dalits, Muslims and other marginalized communities – how you are going to address their issues?
Bhaskar Prasad: I think, basic human needs such as food and shelter for all its citizens must be the priority of a government. The politicians who represent us, should take the responsibility. That being said, it is also the responsibility of the downtrodden communities to understand their voting power, rights and responsibilities as citizens. Most of these downtrodden communities sell their vote for liquor and clothes that the politicians offer during election campaigning. The future of a family and a country is dependent on our vote, hence one must make responsible decisions while voting. Making sure to select the right candidate to represent us.

It's 24th September today, it is one of the black days in the history of Dalits. 24/9/ 1932 was when Dalits under the leadership of Dr. Ambedkar, were denied separate electorates. The day of the Poona Pact (dual voting system). If Dalits were allotted separate electorates, things would have been different for Dalits.

That's past, today the voting system is not right. We (Dalits) need to fight for separate electorates (Poona Pact) in the future to achieve equal opportunities for Dalits. We have invited Jignesh Mewani to the forum. We will discuss about the permanent solutions for the issues starting from Karnataka, and spreading them all over India.

DC: Migrant workers do not really get to vote because their voting option is in their native places and they are too poor to go back and forth to vote. Shouldn't they have voting rights in the place where they live?
Bhaskar Prasad: There are a lot of technicalities around that issue. If they are living in a particular place for over six months, they have to make sure that they get their address proof done, so that they get a voter ID.

People living in some of the slums of Bangalore do not posses title deeds for their houses but they are living in those houses for decades, this is irresponsible behavior on the part of the people. In order to claim a property and have the ownership, one must take the responsibility to make sure they posses required documents. That gives certain confidence to people, to make their own decisions in terms of their voting rights.

DC: Manual Scavenging is still a reality in Karnataka and Devadasi system is still practised especially in North Karnataka, both these inhuman systems involve Dalits. How is your movement going to fight against this?
Bhaskar Prasad: Our country has developed so much ever since independence. We have successfully sent  satellites to the moon, but when we look deeper into the reality, I feel ashamed that we still continue to have this heinous job, manual scavenging. For instance, in Kolar (a district of Karnataka), four individuals succumbed to death in a pit, in the recent past. That is just one example. There are various modern technologies for safe disposal and sanitation. But the government is least bothered to take the initiative to implement latest technologies because manual scavengers are Dalit men and women. They (dominant forces) want to keep the Dalit communities in their place, as these dominant forces are scared of Dalit power. The ban on manual scavenging should be reimplemented in reality not just on paper. The manual scavenger's right to better pay and better living conditions needs to be taken care of.

In north Karnataka, the Devadasi system, prostitution in the name of religion and god, needs to be banned. People need to be educated around this issue. This may take a long time, as it is tied to the superstitious and religious beliefs. Governments show false generosity and do nothing about these issues. We will fight for the rights of all downtrodden people.

Part 3
DC: Babasaheb Ambedkar said that Hinduism is the root cause of the problem. What is your take on it?
BP: According to Baba Saheb, Hindu Dharma is standing on the basis of the caste system. If the caste system crumbles, there is no dharma there. This building here, stands on its foundation. it's not possible to keep it standing without the foundation. Hindu dharma is the tower of falsity that's standing on the foundation of casteism. He also said that Hindu dharma is like a building with four storeys which has no staircase or ladders. Whoever belongs to the first storey, the second storey, the third storey, the fourth storey… they remain there forever. The ones who are at the bottom cannot reach the fourth floor nor can the ones on the top floor reach the bottom floors. Such a strict system of brahmans, the purohits (priests) and the religious practices has been established.

Some say that the varnas/castes are based on professions and not assigned at birth. Although it feels nice to hear it, is it practised? No. Me, my son… the ones who gave birth to me, the caste of my father is the caste that I am identified with. They say, "knowledge makes the brahmin, the work makes you a shudra, your actions make you kshatriya/vaishya". If learning the Agama Shastra makes me a brahmin, with a little effort I could learn it, but the status, the respect given to a brahmin, will it be given to me in today's world? There is a practice where brahmins alone eat first at a feast. I could internalize their ways but because I am not a brahmin by birth, and that I have only learnt the shastras, will I be granted a position among them? This system will never be implemented in india. It is a blatant lie that caste is assigned by your actions and not by birth. It's to pacify us and to give us an illusion that casteism is non-existent and hence it is meant to exploit us. If the caste system crumbles, Hinduism will not survive. As long as the caste system exists, this dharma will be there. That's it.

DC: The Praveen Poojary issue, did it create conflicts within BJP and cause Dalits and marginalized sections within BJP to revolt?
BP: It's a very strict system that we have. Be it BJP, RSS, VHP, Bajrang Dal, the system does not allow anyone to question anyone. To tell you the truth, I was brought up in the RSS ecosystem myself. There were a lot of camps organised – for kids, they called it Balashibira, for students a little older than that, the ones under the 10th grade, a camp called ITC is organised and for the ones older than that, OTC is organized. Some are 3 day camps, some are a week long, some are 20-30 days long. The ones trained here are recruited into various wings. They train them to accept the doctrines taught to them but never to question them. You can't question them. The environment disables us from questioning the authority. A thousand people gather in these camps and everyone listens and no one questions. Even if you question them, you will not get any answers. If some one gathers up the courage to say that the issue may have another side to it, he will be observed closely, pacified with a "we'll talk about this later". He may get disillusioned and quit the organisation or he may be institutionalized and participate in their schemes.

In the same vein, when Praveen Poojary was murdered, immediately after the incident, the BJP paid his family a visit and also gave them about 5 lakh rupees as compensation. Also, the BJP foot soldiers who committed the murder, when they were being arrested, were reassured that there was nothing to worry and they (BJP) will have them released. They are fighting for their principles, it may look wrong to us, but it's the ultimate truth to them. If someone voices opposing views, be it their son, their own foot soldier, they kill them. They don't bother with trying to have a dialogue or trying to correct them, they resort to murder right away. They believe in the Bhagavad Gita. This is a war and whoever is on the opposing side – be it their son, father or grandfather – they don't care. They fight for their principles only. They want to win even through lies and deceit. If you are asked to kill, you have to go ahead and kill, and that is their duty. Such is the belief system they hold. They are double agents who claim that they worship cows and also fund rioters, accept bribes, and play their game of politics. But all they see at the moment is that they are supposed to worship cows, their party believes in the protection of cows and a party worker is involved in the trade of cows and so he has to be killed. There is no way you can raise a voice to speak against them.

For the information of the BJP foot soldiers, there is a goshala (a place where domesticated cows are kept) in Mysore. And there is a machine in the goshala. This machine powders and packages the flesh and bones of cows. What is such a machine doing in a goshala? There are several cows seized when there is a violation of trafficking laws of cattle, they are given to such goshalas.. there is one such goshala in Davanagere too.. there are a lot of big goshalas.. thousands of cows are kept there. Has anyone asked what happens to these cows? Which RTI has demanded the information regarding this? There are none. Every day hundreds and thousands of cows are sent to this goshala. They have a limit there… they span up to 50 acres, 30 acres etc. how many cows can be housed in such places? If there are already a thousand cows there, what has been happening to the ones that come in every day?

Are the 33 crore gods that they believe in, taking them to their deliverance seeing that they are old? Nah! There in broad daylight they bribe the gau rakshaks, take these cows in and kill them. They use the machine to powder the bones, muscles etc to manufacture fodder for poultry hens. If you visit any poultry, you will find the name of the company.. I am unable to recall its name.. and their many products. If you try to trace where their products come from, you will find that it comes from the goshalas. you can also find their labels in the goshalas. You have to reflect on their actions. If I worship my cow like a mother, and with a lot of love and affection entrust them to the gau rakshaks, they kill it and powder its mortal remains to feed hens. Are they dharma rakshaks, or are they agents of death? You can't even question about the whereabouts of the cows. Let them be accountable.

The other day there was a person on Facebook who claimed "one can't come to stop me in Udupi.. I am a proud communalist and I am unstoppable". Why would i want to stop you, brother? I am coming to lead to the ways of the constitution drafted by Babasaheb Ambedkar, to the truth that would enlightened you. If you read a page of what he wrote, a day, you will find the problems that plague the nation and their solutions. In fact the problems of the entire world could be solved by studying Babasaheb. If it's a problem of wealth, he discussed it in the "The Problem of the Rupee: Its origin and its solution", he facilitated the construction of Bhakra Nangal dam to address the water woes and kickstarting irrigation schemes, he has discussed the evils of communalism in his treatise on the Hindu dharma, he had a solution even for the Kashmir issue. There is nothing he does not have a solution for. He is an asset to the world. if everyone strictly followed the constitution he has given us, we would have had peace. Ignoring the constitution, if we try to proclaim mythical works like Mahabharata or Ramayana as the national scripture, we are just making way for our destruction.

DC: The Dalit struggles which have been happening throughout the country have caused a blow to Sangh Parivar forces a lot, in UP Amit Shah had to even cancel his rally. Do you think a similar situation would happen in Karnataka?
BP: It's already here. when we light a lamp, there is sufficient oil in the lamp at first. It burns bright for a while. But how long will it burn? This is not a lamp that's burning on its own. Be it Amit Shah, Modi, the BJP government, their success is not a result of hard toil, nor are they good leaders. All they have done is ensure that the oil sufficient for sustenance of the lamp, is available. Consider the Vibrant Gujarat model that they showcased. They have photoshopped images of bus stations and railway stations from Italy, America and Japan. How long can the government stand on the goodwill generated by such gimmicks?

Someday someone will go to Gujarat, with high expectations of witnessing a growth similar to America, but will see the same drainage, slums, the same cattle, the same beggars. They have claimed that America was nothing compared to Gujarat. The lies that they have spoken for the past 3 years will come down crumbling. If Modi contests the elections from a constituency in Gujarat, I can bet that he will lose. Can Amit Shah contest an election and emerge victorious? If he holds a rally, will there be a good turnout? Consider the scenario in UP. The lamp that's burning has consumed all the oil. They do not have the resources to fuel it anymore. Ram was a resource that they used up to fuel the Ayodhya issue; for a while they used cows, and then the Gujarat model for a while. Now their can is empty. Their resources have been exhausted. there is no oil only water. Add the water and the the lamp will be extinguished. Like the lamp burns the brightest before it dies, this lamp of BJP will burn the entire country with fire before it's extinguished. The entire country should be cautious about it. Many people wonder if the BJP will emerge out of the situation with any dignity or will it burn the country to fuel it's own lamp by going to war with Pakistan. By doing this, they'll push the country back by 50 years and the bhakts (who believe that Modi is the ultimate god) will hail Modi as our saviour. But we as a nation have to be vigilant. They are leading us to the path of Hindu dharma and ultra nationalism. if we ignore him, Modi will not succeed. We should be on our guard and not be misled by these provocations and instead must think calmly and see Modi for what he is. If we do this, our nation might just survive for the coming centuries. If not, we will all burn to our death.

DC: In the Udupi Chalo movement, are there Muslim organisations taking part?
BP: Yes. as I said before, damanita – dalit damanita resistance association. These damanitas are not limited to any religion or caste. There are lots of them who have associated with us not just a couple of Muslim associations. All the Muslim organizations from Udupi, Bangalore, Central Karnataka, Bijapur, Gulbarga, Raichur, Imam Godekar – a notable name from Bellary, they have all organized gatherings and discussed the intention of this movement saying that these are our rights we are fighting for and that this is a movement this country needs in times like this. These were all self actuated actions. No one called them up and asked them for support. We are just propagating our message and the people inspired by it are joining us.

DC: How do you support the differences between adidravida and adikarnataka?
BP: Maybe, in times like these, questions like these are better not asked. Not when we are going to achieve something so much bigger than ourselves. These little conflicts that a few Dalit camps may have, can all be sorted with dialogue. This is not the time for it. It's a tussle we have within our family. In this family there are several members who hold different sets of belief systems. When the family of organizations have come together to start a movement, issues like these, which originated mostly because of politicians who have created these differences between us to save their own backs, if we ignore these issues we will survive. If we start responding to these questions raised, we will be facilitating the breakage of our unity. Such problems do exist. But we have to sort out our differences ourselves. Asking these questions outside will do us no good.

DC: Whom do you think the exploited Dalits should be with? Communist left wing or right wing?
BP: Dalits need not be with right or left. They don't have to be either. They should be Ambedkarite.

DC: The person you have appointed as spokesperson has released a statement today saying Dalit organizations should ignore the right wing and choose left wing as the way forward.
BP: This is what I would call media tactics. They all focus on what I said and try to twist it best for their gains. I can't answer for Jignesh Mevani. But I am of the opinion that the members of Dalit organizations may go left or right or wherever.. just be Ambedkarite. Let your thoughts and actions keep Ambedkar's advice in mind. As I already said, if there is a way to be followed that will lead us to a solution for the world's problems, it's the Ambedkar way. If you adhere to his principles, be it in right wing or left wing, you will retain your humanity.

DC: You also said that there is a third group that has extended its support to you?
BP: Oh yes! There are many organizations participating in the Udupi movement – Dalit organizations, leftist organizations, writers, individuals who are interested etc. but I am especially happy about one involvement – it is the support extended to our struggle by the transgender community. They are the ones expelled from the society not because of caste or religion but for their gender. I'll tell you what she wrote to me: "I am Veena. I belong to the transgender community. I have been following the developments regarding the Udupi Chalo movement. I am also a victim of the society's discrimination. The problems being reflected in the Udupi movement are very much relatable to our conditions. Hence me and my organization would like to volunteer our support to the Udupi Chalo movement." She posted it on Facebook and messaged us. We are fighting because we have a problem. But their community is the one whose entire life is a struggle. They have no right to vote, no right to a job, nobody mingles with them. The hijra community – they say we should not address them so but they have been identified with these terms, they are not permitted to marry, to hold jobs, no opportunities in politics. In fact, they can't live as human beings with others in a community. They could have disregarded us, saying that your problems pale in comparison with our issues. But they have treated the Udupi problems as their own and I extend my first and the foremost welcome to them. They have extended their self motivated, spirited support to the movement. Their involvement strengthens our movement further.

DC: What is your message to Karnataka and the rest of the states?
BP: The Udupi Chalo movement has been made possible by the support and the works of many friends, and the guidance of elders in Karnataka. It has turned out to be a very strong movement. Many of the state's writers, intellectuals stand as the backbone of the movement. A lot of people who have established strong unions and organizations and a lot of common folks have joined and vocalized their support to the movement. When there is a movement as strong and large as this, I ask for the people of the state to be vigilant. There could be several attempts to stop and disband our efforts by the followers of Manu. There could be attacks on us, threats, they could infiltrate our movement and try to sabotage our efforts. But this is our land, our grains, our choice, our rights. There are several issues at the bottom of these intentions. There have been many instances of exploitation and oppression related to food, land. There have been many instances of oppression, exploitation, murders related to land. Moreover, there have been several women who have been exploited, raped. This movement has taken shape keeping all these issues in mind. Whatever may be your goals, principles, let us consider this as our goal. No one can deny our rights to food and land. We should condemn the attacks that have been made on women. We should consider the progress of the third gender too. These are all inalienable rights that we are fighting for. Apart from a few people who consider dharma to be ultimate and that your patriotism stems from it, everyone will agree with us. Until we reach our goal, let us not be distracted by rumours, let us have the maturity to overcome our differences and stand strong. Let us be an example to this country. This is my request to everyone.

This interview was first published on Round Table India
 

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