North Eastern – Eastern Regional Right to Food Campaign Convention

As per the decision on the 5th of May, 2013, on holding regional meeting with campaign constituents and other friends of Right To Food Campaign, the Eastern and North Eastern Regions will hold the convention on 8th of June 2013 at Proggalaya, Barasat in Noith 24 Parganas, West Bengal.

The convention is being called with a threefold agenda as proposed by the RTFC.

1.      PUCL SC case 197/2001 on the right to food, relating to the constitutional framework and International law to bring Right to food under the purview of Article 19, like in the Olga Tellis case.

2.      The campaign's strategy on ensuring amendments in the NFSB according to the campaign's vision and lobbying with MPs and Parties in States and Nationally

3.      On how to strengthen the state and regional campaigns


 I       Working towards specific and general orders relating to the legal framework on the Right to Food

As you are aware that after a long journey of 11 years since 2001 and more than a hundred interim orders which changed the Right to Food policy and its implementation in the country, the PUCL case is headed towards conclusion. This may take several months still, however, it was planned in one of the case advisory meeting that we must try asking for final orders which must include :

• expansion of the various scheme entitlements like on PDS reform on which discussion is underway, MDMS, ICDS, Pensions and the Homeless question 
• a legal framework on the Right to food developed on constitutional and international principles.

It was decided that it was important to take this issue to our campaign constituents and lawyers and activist friends, in the various State in order to widen our understanding


II        To continue to lobby in States and nationally for a comprehensive food security law.
 
You are also well aware that the NFSB, 2011 along with the amendments placed by the Food Minister K V Thomas, is still far short of a comprehensive food security law. (See attachment) Since the bill was not discussed in the budget session of the Parliament, we are hoping that it will come up for discussion in the Monsoon Session. We have an important chance to still influence the bill if we lobby with MPs and parties at the regional level and then once again come to Delhi and do something when the Parliament will open.

In order to discuss the above and also begin the discussion on strengthening the campaign at the grass roots, it was felt that we must meet in the four regions of the country. It is important that we hear more voices on these issues from the regions as those voices are hardly there in the campaign anymore, with many of the State's not sending any representatives for any of the campaign meetings in the last twelve months. .


III         Initiating the Discussion on strengthening the Campaign

Finally, it is also very important that we start reflecting and analysing as to how to strengthen the campaign, this has to begin from the districts and the blocks. We will also discuss the issues and the modalities related to the forthcoming Right to Food campaign convention, which is over ten months overdue.

These regional meetings are being done on short notice, however we would be very grateful if you could join on behalf of your organisation in your regional meeting.
 
The program schedule:


9:30 am Registration

10:00 Introduction of participants and to the programme

10:30 to 11:15 : On  Supreme Court Order on RTF: Harsh Mander, Supreme Court Commissioner

11.:15 to 11:45 On NFSB: Kavita Srivastava, convener National RTF

12:30 to 1:00 : Discussion and clarifications

1:00 to 2:00:  Lunch Break

2:00 to 2:45: State wise group discussion on ‘strategic planning’

2:45 to 3:15: Learning from each other – presentation

5:00 Press conference


Arrangement have made for those who like to stay back at Proggaloy for the night or for those who come on the previous day. But do inform us immediately.

Fr. Jothi and Saradindu Biswas

Convenors , West Bengal RTF&W Network

Call for Panchayat Reforms and Early Elections

Paschim Banga Khet Majoor Samity welcomes Calcutta High Court’s verdict which clears the way for the immediate holding of Panchayat elections.  While Panchayats are still far away from being people’s Panchayats and often remain under the control of different political parties and local vested interests, a further delaying of Panchayat elections will lead to powers of local decision-making being handed over to the BDO and other bureaucrats. This is definitely not an advisable course of action and a scenario worse than the present one, with all its limitations.

In addition to having timely Panchayat elections, we appeal to all our legislators and our people to start thinking about reforms in the Panchayat laws which will make them truly pro-people Panchayats. The reforms are as follows:

• Make the fourth tier of the Panchayat Raj institutions, the Gram Sansad, the most powerful of all the tiers. This would mean holding monthly or bi-monthly meetings with the Gram Sansad, the assembly of all local voters in a booth; consulting them for all decisions; and making all local institutions (the local ration shop, the ICDS centre, the health sub centre etc.) accountable to this body

• Let us not have just one Gram Unnayan committee or beneficiary committee with 10-15 voters for the five years tenure of a Panchayat. Let separate beneficiary committees be set up for the monitoring of each new scheme. These would mean that 50-100 villagers would be involved in the monitoring of all schemes making corruption and partisan decision making that much more difficult. This would also mean the involvement of many more people in the development of their villages;

• Give more funds in the hands of the Gram Panchayat. While 70% of our people continue to live in villages, the funds provided for them are only 2-5% of the GDP, a tinyamount compared to requirements, leading to the persistence of rural poverty;
• To improve the kinds of candidates that are put up by political parties , make Right to Reject an option on the EVM i.e. the “None of the Above” button should be put as an option if people do not like any candidate; 

The Right to Recall which already exists in 3-4 states of India should be legislated so that voters will be granted a right to recall an under-performing/non performing/corrupt representative before his 5 year term ends.Let us also look for candidates beyond parties - let the voters of a village come together and choose their candidates (if possible by consensus) not because the person is supported by one party or the other but because he or she is the best person they can find for their village.

We reiterate our appeal for early Panchayat elections and Panchayat reforms.

Anuradha Talwar, Bela Adak  ,Swapan Ganguly and Uttam Gayen

(on behalf of Paschim Banga Khet Majoor Samity)

Documentary -- Our Panchayat: An Introspection

As the elections in West Bengal are around the corner, this is a documentary Produced by 'Paschim Banga Khet Majoor Samity' and Directed by Akash Sharma and Akhil Shukla on the Gram Panchayat System travelling across the villages of Bengal highlighting various problems in NREGA, PDS, pension, gram sabha etc.

The main aim of the documentary was to provide solutions and reforms like having a non-party panchayat, right to recall/reject, 4 tier decentralized panchayat, and more independence to the Gram Panchayat itself. Hopefully, the documentary will make the people more conscious about their surroundings and the will gather confidence to vote for change.

The documentary is completely in Bengali because of its rural target audience.

March 8 Rally: A Mixed Bag of Promises And Rejections

Four thousand women from 11 independent trade unions and mass organisations marched from Sealdah to Esplande in Kolkata on the occasion of International Women’s Day, highlighting problems faced by women workers working in the informal sector. The women marched to demand strict measures on sexual harassment at workplace, minimum wages for all workers, including women who are employed under government programmes and working as Anganwadi workers and helpers, ASHA workers, mid-day meal cooks, link workers and those employed in tea gardens; regularization of casual and contractual Government workers; a stop to arbitrary sacking of women; social security benefits for all workers; and provision of worksite facilities, such as toilets, drinking water and crèches. The workers also highlighted the government’s refusal to register trade unions formed by women, specifically sex workers and domestic workers and the arbitrary manner in which hawkers were being treated in the absence of a State Hawkers’ Policy.

At the end of their march, while some of the women joined a public meeting organized by Maitree, a women’s network working on gender issues in West Bengal, others joined a protest by the Soni Sori Mukti Manch to demand release of Soni Sori and other such women prisoners.

A delegation also met with the Labour Minister of the State, Mr Purnendu Basu, in the evening for over an hour. On the issue of Minimum Wage, a demand for a floor level minimum wage of Rs. 400 (as per calculations of the 15^th ILC and Supreme Court Orders) was made. The Minister outrightly refused this demand and disagreed with our calculations. The issue of the minimum wage in agriculture being fixed at Rs. 167, as against Rs. 217 in other rural industries was also raised as being too low, which the Minister was not able to justify. He also stated that they had demanded that the Central Government declare Rs.171 as the minimum wage in NREGS works, but was not able to give the logic for this.  The delegation also demanded Minimum wages for all Government employees, including midday meal cooks, ASHA, Anganwadi, link workers in health, trained dai and other workers who work under Government programmes, which the Labour Minister asked us to raise with the Central Government, as these were all schemes under the Centre.

The issue of increasing casualisation and contractualisation of workers and the need for their regularization in the case of Government employees was also bought to his notice, to which the Minister agreed in principle, but showed his helplessness due to the huge debt that had been run up by the previous Government. Again we were advised to meet the Central Government and to organise an all India movement.

One of the most important discussion was on state government’s refusal to register trade unions formed by women, that of sex workers, domestic workers. The response in this regard was not positive, as the State asked us again to take up the demand with the Central Government as the Trade Union Act falls under their purview.

On a more positive note, the Minister told us that they had already taken positive steps on a state policy for hawkers, with a State Government sponsored Bill which they plan to pass soon in the State Legislature.

The demand for social security for all unorganised workers was received positively, with the Minister promising to immediately enlist all names put forward by the unions and mass organizations present under the State Assisted Scheme of Provident Fund for Unorganised Workers in West Bengal (SASPFUW) from his office itself if the requisite papers were given. Important issues of Sexual Harassment at workplaces, including government worksites such as NREGS and Construction sites and provision of worksite facilities, such as toilets, drinking water and crèches were met with seriousness, with promises that they would be looked into.

Participating organisations include New Trade Union Initiative and its affiliates such as Binodini Shramik Union, All Bengal Sales Representative Union and Paschim Banga Khet Majoor Samity, along with other mass organsaitions and unions such as Hawkers Sangram Committee,  Shramajivi Mahila Samity, Bagan Suraksha Committee (Jalpaiguri), Gogo Gaonta (Birbhum),  Paschim Banga Swarojgari O Raduni Union, Paschim Banga Nirmaan Shilpa Shramik Union ( Organising Committee), Shramajivi Samnvay Committee, , West Bengal Government Employees Union (Nabaparjaya) and Durbar Disha Mahila Griha Shramik Samanvay Committee

(Asta Bala Maity)   (Rama Debnath)
Karmajivi Mahila Parishad (Organising Committee)