The Right to Food in India

The Food Security Scenario in

South Asia
Food
Country Food Exports Food Imports Food Balance
Production

Bangladesh 26,924 1.6 2,827 -4,601

India 1,74,655 9,490 56 23,826

Nepal 5,839 11 39 57

Pakistan 24,936 2,966 288 3,818

Sri Lanka 1,938 9.8 1,307 252

Source: FAO, 2004. Figures in thousand metric tones for 2002
 Some Indicators for Child Wellbeing and malnutrition in South Asia

  Bangla- India Nepal Pakistan Sri Lanka

desh

Immunization
(% of children under 3 years who have not
received the stated vaccine)
BCG
DTP3 5 27 15 20 1
MCV 15 20 35 3
36
Pol3 23 27 33 4
44
15 20 35 3
30
Child undernutrition
(% of children with the stated condition)

Underweight 48 46 48 38 29
Stunting 43 46 51 37 14
Wasting 13 16 10 13 14

Infant and child mortality

(per 1,000 live births)

Infant mortality rate 56 62 59 80 12

Under-five mortality rate 77 85 76 101 14

 India’s Annual Growth Rate

Year GDP Per capita income

1951-79 3.6 1.3

1980-91 5.6 3.5

1992-06 6.5 4.7

 Population, GDP and Foodgrain Production

1400
1200
1000 Population

800 GDP
600
Foodgrain
400 Production
200
0
1951 1961 1971 1981 1991 2001 2006
 Growth of GDP in India

9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
1992- 1993- 1994- 1995- 1996- 1997- 1998- 1999- 2000- 2001- 2002- 2003- 2004- 2005-
93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06
annual increase 5.1 6.2 7.0 7.3 7.5 5.1 6.5 6.1 4.4 5.6 4.4 8.5 7.5 8.4
 Worrying issues
• News of starvation deaths & farmers’ suicides from
many states
• Stagnant agricultural production, and falling food
availability
• Unemployment has increased from 4 to 8% in ten
years
• Regional disparities are increasing
• IMR stagnating around 60 per 1000, it is 46 in
Bangladesh
• Immunisation coverage fell from 60 to 40% in 5 yrs
• More than 50% women are anemic
• 46% children are malnourished
• Declining child sex ratio during 1991-2001
• There is no will to improve administration in poor states
 Index number of Agricultural
Production
Index annual rate
of growth
1981-82 100
4.4%
1990-91 148
2.8%
1996-97 176
0.2%
2004-05 179
 Foodgrain Production (million tonnes)

215

205

195

185

175

165
1996-97 1997-98 1998-99 1999-00 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04

Series1 199.4 192.3 203.6 209.8 196.8 211.9 174.2 210.8

 Foodgrain exports in million tonnes

30
25
20
15
10
5
0
2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 Total
Total exports 4.685 12.385 10.308 0.753 28.131
% of Work Force dependent on
Agriculture
 Poverty
Percentage below poverty line

1973 56
1987 39
1994 35
1999 26?
2004 28
 n u m b er o f p o o r p eo p le in m illio n s

350

53 65 70 78

67

Urb a n
Ru ra l
247 239 234 236
201

0
1971 1981 1991 2001 2006
Social groups 1993-94 1999-2000
  Percentage Share in Percentage Share in

  Total Rural Below Total Rural Below

Population Poverty Population Poverty
Line Line

Scheduled 10.8 48.8 10.5 48.0

tribes

Scheduled 21.1 45.7 20.4 38.4

castes

Others 68.1 28.3 69.1 23.2

All households 100.0 34.2 100.0 28.9
 There should be no food
insecurity in India
Both GDP and foodgrain production
have risen faster than the growth in
population over the last 50 years

And yet chronic hunger and starvation persist in large

sections of the population. There has been a
declining calorie consumption especially in the
bottom 30% of the population.
 Net availability of foodgrains per capita per day in gms

500

480

460

440

420

400
1951 1956 1961 1966 1971 1976 1981 1986 1991 1996 2001
Source: Report of Committee on Long Term Grain Policy, 2002
 India has the largest food schemes
in the World
• Entitlement Feeding Programmes
– ICDS (All Children under six, Pregnant and lactating mother)
– MDMS (All Primary School children)

• Food Subsidy Programmes

– Targeted Public Distribution System (35 kgs/ month of subsidised food grains
– Annapurna (10 kgs of free food grain for destitute poor)

• Employment Programmes
– National Rural Employment Scheme (100 days of employment at minimum
wages)

• Social Safety Net Programmes

– National Old Age Pension Scheme (Monthly pension to BPL)
– National Family Benefit Scheme (Compensation in case of death of bread winner
to BPL families)
 The Right to Food Case
• PUCL petition on hunger in Rajasthan in the Supreme
Court in 2001
• Emergence of the Right to Food Campaign
• Key Issues:
– Making the Right to Food a Fundamental Right
– Converting all existing schemes into entitlements
– Tackling large scale malnutrition and chronic hunger
– Securing employment as a fundamental right linked to the Right
to Food
• Longest continuing mandamus on the Right to Food in
the World
– 51 Interim Orders so far; more than 500 affidavits; nearly 70
Interim Applications
 Highlights of Supreme Court
Orders on the Right to Food
• Converted all food and employment schemes into legal
entitlements
• Universalised food entitlement programmes for children
(ICDS for children under six and Mid Day Meal Scheme
for all primary school children)
• Instituted the independent mechanism of Commissioners
to the Supreme Court to monitor all food and
employment programmes
• Prevented the reduction of the “poverty line” from 36% to
26%
• Hauled up Government periodically by serving notice of
contempt of court on senior most Government
functionaries (Chief Secretaries)
Office of the Commissioners to the
Supreme Court (Writ 196/ 2001)
• Appointed by the Supreme Court to monitor all
food schemes in the Country
• Mandate extends to:
– Entitlement Feeding Programmes
• MDMS, ICDS
– Employment Programmes
• NREGS, SGRY I & II, NFFWP, RSVY
– Food Subsidy Programme
• TPDS, Antodaya Anna Yojana (AAY), Annapurna Yojana
– Social Security Programmes
• Pensions (NOAPS, NMBS, NFBS)
How does the Office of the
Commissioners function?
• Honorary positions; work supported by funds
mandated by the Supreme Court
• Works through a secretariat (Delhi) and a
network of Advisers across India
• Make policy recommendations through:
– Rigorous participatory research
– Articulating alternative demands of State policy
– Participating in policy bodies such as Planning
Commission Steering Groups
How does the Office of the
Commissioners function? (cont’d.)
• Monitors programmes
– Through analysis of macro-data
– Addressing complaints at the micro-level
• Holds the State accountable by:
– Regular engagement with the GoI and State
Governments
– Joint Commission of Enquiries
– Regular reports on non-compliance to the
Supreme Court
Impact so far
• Universalisation of MDMS (120 million children get
school meals) and ICDS (Government would need to
double the ICDS centres to 1.4 million centres covering
60 million children under the age of six)
• Managed to restrict the lowering of BPL quotas by GoI
from 36% to 26%
• Increase in off-take of subsidised food-grains through the
targeted public distribution system
• Increased budgetary allocation for ICDS, Old Age
Pensions (3 times the amount)
• Passage of the National Rural Employment Guarantee
Act which guarantees 100 days of employment a year (at
minimum wages)
Impact so far (cont’d.)
• Provided Civil Society an anchor to engage/
confront the State and created spaces for civil
society to engage in food/ employment
programmes
• Brought the discourse on food rights to the
centre-stage of governance in the States and
GoI
• Has been largely effective in provision of
gratuitous relief (Tea Garden Workers in West
Bengal).
• Created the environment for the passage of the
National Rural Employment Guarantee Act
 Off-take of BPL/ AAY Food Grains
• Figure 3.1: Percentage off-take of BPL/AAY food grains from 2001-02 to 2004-05

100

90
Percentage offtake

80 81.9%
73.7%
70
64.2%
60 59.2%
50

40
2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05

Source: Various issues of Monthly food grain bulletin, Department of food and public distribution, GoI
Some Challenges that we face
• Attempting reforms in an era of overall
weakening governance and state commitment to
social sectors
• Has powers (including filing contempt charges
against Chief Secretaries) which are best used
by not being exercised
• Operates in the domain of judicial activism
• Challenge of individual redressal versus
systemic policy engagement
• Has proved to be marginally effective in harder
areas of governance reforms