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Though the Constitution of India does not contain any explicit
indication of a citizen’s right to food, the Supreme
Court has been able to rule that it had the status of a fundamental
right through interpretation. Such a ruling had come about
in the context of certain perceived inefficiencies in the
right to food programmes that had been initiated by the government
of India in response to its international treaty obligations
as well as Constitutional Directive Principles. An analysis
of how the entitlements under these and future schemes can
best be secured for the citizen is the focus of this newsletter.
And so, in our continuing focus on hunger, we have picked
out the Antyodaya Anna Yojana, the Mid-day Meal Scheme and
the Public Distribution Scheme for analysis. There is also
a primer on how the Right to Information can be used by sensitised
citizens to achieve the outcomes sought through these programmes.
- Rights First Editorial Team
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Globalisation
and the right to food
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations reported
in The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2004
that there were 852 million undernourished people in the world in
2000-2002. This is absurd when, according to FAO, the planet could
produce enough food to provide 2,100 kcals per person per day to
12 billion people, that is, almost twice the existing world population.
In Africa, a new study by the well-respected International Food
Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) has shown that chronic food insecurity
in Africa has been increasing since 1970, with the number of malnourished
people in sub-Saharan Africa soaring from 88 million to 200 million
in 1999-2001. Chronic food insecurity means that as soon as drought
strikes, it can quickly turn into catastrophic famine. The IFPRI
study shows that hunger could be reduced by investing in development
and reducing dependence on rain-fed agriculture. Investments in
simple water-harvesting technologies, agricultural extension, education
and HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment would dramatically reduce
the percentage of malnourished children in Africa. .
(Read
More...)
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 Giving
teeth to the Mental Health Act, 1987
The Government of India had initiated the
National Mental Health Programme in1982 with the objective
of improving mental health services at all levels of health
care (primary, secondary, and tertiary) for early recognition,
adequate treatment and rehabilitation of the patients with
mental health problems within the community and in the hospitals.
However, the programme did not make much headway either in
the Seventh or the Eighth Plan. Mental hospitals remained
in poor shape. The States could not or did not provided sufficient
funds for those mentally ill requiring inpatient treatment
despite the Supreme Court having directed the Center and the
States to make necessary provision for these hospitals so
that the inmates do get humane and appropriate care (Ninth
Five-Year Plan, Government of India). Hence a duty to establish,
maintain and supervise mental health facilities by the Governments
under a legislated Act was considered a progressive step,
more effective than mere recommendations or suggestive programmes.
(Read
more...) |
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