Right to Food Training Report

8/6/2019 Right to Food Training Report

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Training Report

Right to Food

Date 24-25 January 2011

Venue Sewa Kendra, Patna

Conducted by Karma Consultants

Supported by DKA & KFB, Austria

Date & Venue 24-25 January 2011 at Sewa Kendra, Patna

Participants Project Team Members of

partner organization of DKA & KFB, Austria inthe state of Bihar.

Resource Person

Mr. Sanjay Rai, FIAN, India

Mr. Rupesh Kumar, State Advisor to FoodCommissioner, Bihar


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Contents of the Report

Session 1. Description about - right to food, food security, food sovereigntyand rural food security

Session 2. International & National declaration related to Right to food

Session 3. Element of Human Rights and Human Rights Standard

Session 4. Nutrition aspects in Right to Food

Session 5. WHY RBA to Right to Food

Session 6. Group Exercise was facilitated for discussing problems inaccessing food entitlement schemes among eligible and

Session 7. Food Dimension

Session 8. Violation Mechanism & Processes

Session 9. National Right to Food Campaign

Annexure I. Violation Reporting, FIAN

Annexure II. Participants List

Annexure III. Training Module

Annexure IV. Invitation Letter

Attachment

1. Background of National Right to Food Campaign2. Provisions of Food Entitlements Schemes3. Questionnaire for grievance redressal & violation reporting


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Summary of the Report

The training report was presented in more theoretical ways but actionrelated to training programme was presented in the separate attachedquestionnaires in Hindi, which can be easily used by the project team

members for initiating the processes of assertion by the name / leadershipof victims only.

Training Report has covered the perspective of National & Internationalobligation with Element of Human Rights and Human Rights Standard. Duringthe training nutrition aspects of Right to Food was also highlighted andpresented in the report as malnourishment cases are very much prevalentamong dalits / tribal children.

Right Based Approach in Right to Food was elaborated in details and alsopresented in the report. Group Exercises outcome of problems in accessingfood entitlements schemes was presented in the report.

During the training session, we have highlighted the provisions of the FoodEntitlements schemes followed by processes of violation reporting /grievance redressal at National & International Platform. Case study of FIANviolation reporting was presented in annexure, where as detailsquestionnaire / guideline of violation reporting at National Right to FoodForum and government functionaries was presented in separate attachmentin the report. Questionnaire was presented for different food entitlementschemes.

Partner organization can opt any schemes violence cases as per the village

level situation the purpose of the violation reporting should be clear topartner organization. At the same time ownership and willingness to makecomplain should be liability with the affected beneficiaries.


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Session 1. Description about - right to food, food security and foodsovereignty

Background and context of right to food security was presented.

Right to Food - the right for foodis a legal concept which is realised whenevery man, woman and child, alone or in community with others hasphysical and economic access at all times to adequate food or means for itsprocurement in ways consistent with human dignity

Food Security - Food security is a technical concept, which refers to theaccess to food both in terms of food availability as well as being able toafford food, which is available. States are not accountable for food security

Good Sovereignty - Food sovereigntyis a political concept, which offers analternative framework that challenges the mainstream, liberal trade-basedfood security paradigm. It refers to the right of people or countries to

define their own food policies, which are appropriate (ecologically,culturally, economically, socially) to their circumstances. Food sovereigntyimplies a true right for safe, nutritious food for the people; values foodproducers and providers; localises food systems so that producers andconsumers are close to each other; puts control locally; builds knowledgeand skills and works with nature.

Session 2. International & National declaration related to Right to food

Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Art. 25 - Everyone has the right to astandard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and his

family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessarysocial services, and the right to the security in the event of unemployment,sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood incircumstances beyond his control

International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Art 11 - Thestates parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to anadequate standard of living including adequate food and to the continuousimprovement of living conditions. The fundamental right of everyone to befree from hunger

General Comment 12 (it is referring to the ICESCR of 1966) - The right toadequate food is realized when every man, woman and child, alone or incommunity with others, has physical and economic access food or to meansof its procurement

General Comment 15 - The human right to water entitles everyone tosufficient, safe, acceptable, physically accessible and affordable water forpersonal and domestic use. This is specified further by noting theimportance of ensuring sustainable access to water resources for agricultureto realize the right to adequate food

Principle of Non Discrimination - The principle of non-discrimination is anunderlying principle of international law and human rights. Art 2 UDHR


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Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedom sets forth in thisdeclaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, color, sex,language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social originproperty, birth or other status

Session 3. Element of Human Rights and Human Rights Standard

State Obligations to respect, protect and fulfil the human rightsstandards

Enforcing Mechanisms Instrument to make states meet their obligationHuman Rights Standard under the Right to Food

Human Rights Standard Physical and economic access at all times toadequate food and the means for its procurement

Core Content the fundamental right of everyone to be free from hunger

The right to adequate Food - The right to adequate food needs clarity onfollowing

Adequacy sufficient to satisfy the dietry needs of individuals, free fromadverse substances, and acceptable within a given culture

Accessibility economic accessibility, physical accessibility, sustainableaccessibility and accessibility in dignity

Human Rights State Obligations

Rights and obligations are two sides of the same coin. People have rights, the state has obligation Human Rights empower people to make the states meet their obligationsState obligations the obligation to respect states must respect existingaccess to adequate food and must not take any measures preventing ordestroying such access

Violation of Human Rights = Breaches of States obligations

A breach of one of the right to food. Any discrimination in access tofood, as well as means and entitlements for its procurement, on thegrounds of race, color, sex, language, age religion, political or otheropinion, etc

The obligation to protect the state must take necessary measures toensure that enterprises or individual do not deprive people of theiraccess to adequate food

The obligation to fulfil The state must guarantee each deprivedpersons access to food and food producing resources with maximum

efforts. This obligation applies also for victims of natural or otherdisasters.


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Session 4. Nutrition aspects in Right to Food

Nutrition Component of Child Rights Convention on Rights of the Child

Child have right to adequate nutrition and access to safe andnutritious food

Elementary Birth Feeding and Complementary feeding are child'sright

Person require protein carbohydrate fat and minerals for healthyliving

BPL support system ignore the nutrition aspects It only provide food grains, sugar which are the source of

carbohydrate

Under the BPL support system 35kg (wheat & rice) allocated fordistribution on subsidies rate, which is inadequate

Concept of Nutrition

FOOD / Energy HEALTH CARE LOVE & CARE

What goes wrong?

Non Exclusive Breastfeeding Improper complementary Food Poor Hygiene, Sanitation and immunization Too many too soon Inadequate care & support by family / community

Challenges to be met

Community Empowerment Sharing responsibility and accountability for development of true

child and women friendly community

Provisions of quality health services and delivery of integratednutrition package

Development of communication skill at every level for bringing inbahaviour change


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Session 5. WHY RBA to Right to Food

The covenant of Economic, Social and Cultural rights state (that allhuman beings have the right to food and to be free from hunger) -the obligation of the state under the 1966 International Covenant of

the Economics, Social and cultural rights to which India is party

The covenant, Article 11, expressly recognizes the right of everyoneto an adequate standard of living, including adequate food.

Article 21 of the constitution of India guarantees fundamental rightto life and personal liberty. In the light to this, the state is obliged toprovide for all those minimum requirements which must be satisfiedin order to enable a person to live with dignity, such education,healthcare, just and humane conditions of work, protection againstexploitation etc.

The right to food in inherent to a life with dignity, and Article 21 withArticles 39(a) and 47 places the Right to Food a guaranteedFundamental Right, which is enforceable by virtue of theconstitutional remedy provided under Article 32 of the constitution.

It is a fundamental right to be free from hunger. Starvationconstitutes a gross denial and violation of this right. As starvationdeaths reported from some pockets of the country are now invariablythe consequences of mis-governance resulting from acts of omissionand commission on the part of public servants, they are directconcern to the commission under the provisions of the Protection of

Human Rights Act, 1993.

Other than obligation need of RBA in Right to Food Context

Need for demanding accountability of development service providers,PRIs members and other responsible government functionaries

Need for mobilization of Food Security Schemes i.e. Targeted PublicDistribution System (TPDS), Antodaya Ann Yojna, Annpurna Yojna,National Family Benefits Schemes, National Old Age Pension Scheme,Mid Day Meal in Schools, Integrated Child Development Services

(ICDS) a

Need for mobilization of Mahatama Gandhi National Rural RuralEmployment Guarantee Act

Need for creating a movement as well as violation reporting on thebasis of appropriate information and informed choice

Advantages of Rights Based Approach for combating hunger

Turns people into claimers of rights The strategies aim at the empowerment of the victims and at makingtheir voices heard at different level


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The human rights approach enphasizes the indivisibility of humanrights and sets minimum criteria for state behviour

A rights based combines case work with effective advocacy and mediawork, networking, training and mobilization

It aims both at overcoming the concrete human rights violation as atintroducing structural changes

Though the existing legal approach to the human right to food,hunger can be prevented, and international and national mechanismsfor enforcing human rights can be strengthened

Session 6. Group Exercise was facilitated for discussing problems inaccessing food entitlement schemes among eligible and

Problems in accessing PDS

Lack of awareness No clarity about exact provisions / norms of the schemes How to assert and where to approach not clear PRIs members are not supporting Dominant groups have control over schemes benefits Distortion on BPL list finalization

Problems in Accessing ICDS

Not functional many centre are running in paper only Not supply of food as per provisions If running only 40 children get benefit other children are not getting

benefits

Parents are also not sending their children regularly to ICDS centre Immunization facilities but not properly immunization are happening

Problems in old age pension

Only those person get benefits who have reach to PRIs members Selection processes is not transparent and not going through gram

sabha

Middle men are exploiting to potential beneficiaries of the schemes No participation of people in the gram sabha Eligible beneficiaries are not getting space in the selection processes


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Group 2 Discussed about problems MDM, JSY, NFBS, MGNREGA

Problems in Mid Day Meal

Lack of awareness about provisions of schemes MENU not followed Quality not ensured in food Food are not making as per the attendance Education committee is not active Teachers are giving more concentration in food preparation

Problems in Janni Suraksha Yojna

Lack of awareness Lack of trust in health service providers Processes of payment is delayed Lack of services of professional doctors at PHC

Problems in National Family Benefit Schemes

Lack of Awareness More demand of Bribe No timely payment Processes of death certification is complicated & time consuming

Problems in MGNREGA

Lack of awareness how to demand wage work waiting that work begiven by PRIs and Panchayat Rojgar Sewak

Difficulties in preparing Job Card Not getting wage work through easy process not getting 100 day

wage work in one financial year

Women are not getting wage work opportunities as per provisions Work site facilities not ensured Social audit not organized Job card is not preparing for women

Facilitators has concluded the session by stating that details of the schemes

provisions and violation reporting / grievance redressal mechanism will bediscussed in details in another session.


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Session 7. Food Dimension

As per ICMR one adult need minimum 14 kg cereal One family (05 members) requires 70 Kg cereal Planning Commission considered calories to define poverty in India The person who consumes below than 2400 cal (rural) & 2100 (urban)

will consider BPL

Current National Debate on food rights

Supreme Court interim order related to Food Entitlement schemes processes continuing and also incorporated different dimensions

Political system UPA 1 promised to frame legislations on Food UPA 2 Congress Party include the Food Rights in election manifesto

President of India promised to frame the laws

NAC of UPA Chairperson Mrs Sonia Gandhi taken the agenda on boardand initiated the process for framing the food bill National FoodSecurity Bill

Government (food ministry) rejected there major part ofrecommendation

NAC has given the proposed NFSB to EGOM EGOM Food Ministry Parliamentary standing committee for getting

public opinionEGOM Parliament

Key features of National Food Security Bill

Poverty coverage extended Redressal mechanism introduced for transparency & accountability Central Food Security Fund State Food Security allowance Fund Programme to constitutional rights like MGNREGA

Need of hour

Building progressive environment Placing and keep momentum at public domain on NFSA Keep contacting media functionaries for making it alive Consultation needed at various level Inclusion of productive resources (water, land, forest, credit, wages,


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etc) debate as current focus is limited only on distribution

Make Nutritional dimension as integral part Sustained struggle for universalisation of food entitlements

Session 8. Violation Mechanism & Processes

Why Violation mechanism needed

Inclusion & Gender Perspective Promotion of Transparency & Accountability Culture Ensuring implementation of Food Entitlement schemes in favour of

eligible beneficiaries

Processes of Violation Reporting

Identification of cases of violation Gathering information about the available policies and system Mapping the different stakeholders and their roles assessment Inform the victims Data collection with authentic facts with inputs sessions Collection of testimonies

Action Points

Collection of relevant authority with their address, phone & fax Letter Writing to authority Delegation visits to authority Meeting with policy makers Media advocacy Legal action as per need and aiming towards its logical end

Examples of Urgent Action of FIAN International Mr. Sanjay has sightedexamples of Urgent action of FIAN. Refer Annexure 1 for details about theURGENT ACTION on non functioning of ICDS.


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Session 9. National Right to Food Campaign

Mr. Rupesh, State Advisor to Food Commissioners has briefly explainedabout the National Right to Food Campaign.

Some points need attention

How many poor families distortion of BPL is common Does people died from hunger debate? Society agenda -

Refer attached Power point presentation RTF.ppsx

Later Mr. Rupesh has explained about the different Food EntitlementSchemes and he requested that please get update on the current provisionsof the food entitlemewnt schemes from website address

At the same time one can also use Right to Information Act for getting exactinformation related to food entitlement schemes of PDS, ANNAPURNA Yojna,ANNATODAYA Yojna, ICDS, MID DAY MEAL, Janni Suraksha Yojna, Old AgePension, National Family Benefit Schemes, MGNREGA,

Refer attached Power Point presentation Food Entitlement Schemes.

Session 9. Violation Reporting Mechanism

Mr. Rupesh has explained about the violation reporting mechanism

Existing platform of grievances redressal and violation gram sabha,gram kachahari, use of RTI, Legal Process, etc

Collection of violation cases with authenticity and signature of thevictims

Preparation of report Sending report to concern block & district level authority and one

copy to Mr. Rupesh, State Advisor to Food Commissioner, Bihar

Follow up of the cases with the respective departmentMr. Rupesh has stressed upon authenticity of the complaints with details ofname of the affected person, his / her father / husband name, villages,gram panchayat. Mr. Ashok has later stated that before moving ahead in theviolatation reporting the organization should be properly informed about theprogress on the same.


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Lastly feedback session was facilitated and participants have given theirfeedback related ton training programme.

Training programme ended with vote of thanks by Mr. Ashok. He hasthanked to participants and resource person for their participation in the

programme. He hoped that in the coming day rate of food entitlementsschemes will be increased in the project operational areas and violationreporting & grievance redressal will be done under the leadership of thevictims / community based organization.


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Training programme ended with vote of thanks by Mr. Ashok. He hasthanked to participants and resource person for their participation in theprogramme. He hoped that in the coming day rate of food entitlementsschemes will be increased in the project operational areas and violationreporting & grievance redressal will be done under the leadership of thevictims / community based organization.


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Annexure 1. Examples of Violation Reporting FIAN India

Non-implementation of Integrated Child Development Services threatens theright to food of children and women in Jalalpur village of Uttar Pradesh.ICDS programmes address the health and nutrition needs of children under

the age of six and also extend to adolescent girls, pregnant women andnursing mothers.

ICDS is provided through a network of centers called Anganwadis (AWC). Itis mandatory for the state to provide AWC for every settlement with fortychildren. However, in Jalalpur where 300 families reside, including 100children, the state has failed to establish AWC, thereby making children andwomen susceptible to hunger and under nourishment.

Call to Action

An international action is urgently needed to ensure that the state providesICDS in Jalalpur so that children and women can receive supplementarynutrition and health care. Please write polite letters to the Minister ofState of the Ministry of Women and Child Development requesting her tomeet the obligations under the human right to food.

In India, 16 percent of the population is below six years of age and everysecond child is underweight. The number of children who are anemic duringtheir first 35 months has been rising during the past few years to an

alarmingly high rate of 85 percent. In Uttar Pradesh, according to theSample Registration Service (SRS) 47 percent of the children under 3 areunderweight and 34 percent of the women have a body mass index belownormal.

The Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), established in India in1975, is the major national program addressing the health and nutritionneeds of children under the age of six. It seeks to provide infants and youngchildren with an integrated package of services, including supplementarynutrition, health care and pre-school education. Since the needs of a childcannot be addressed in isolation from those of his or her mother, the

program also extends to adolescent girls, pregnant women and nursingmothers. ICDS services are provided through a vast network of ICDS centers,better known as "Anganwadis" (AWC). It is mandatory for the stategovernment to provide an AWC to every settlement with 40 children.

The supplementary nutrition currently provided is cereal based and does nottake into consideration the protein and vitamin requirements of the childrenand young women. However, the Supplementary Nutrition Programme,rendered under the ICDS, is one of its prime services that provide nutritiousfood to the children in the age group of 6 months to 6 years, pregnantwomen and lactating mothers. Priority is given to the families living below

the poverty line.


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Although the ICDS scheme has been working for over 30 years, the numberof malnourished children is still very high. In many settlements, particularlyslums or rural areas, children are still excluded from the benefits of thescheme. The situation in Jalalpur village is a case in point. The village ofJalalpur is located in Lakhimpur district in Uttar Pradesh and the home to

around 300 families. Most of them belong to the Dalit caste. The mainsource of food for the locals is rice that lacks a variety of vitamins orproteins. There are around 100 children in the village, but there is no AWCor school despite the fact that it is mandatory for the state government toset up an AWC for each settlement with at least 40 children. The people ofJalalpur are being ignored and discriminated by local authorities.

FIAN MANDATE

India is a state party to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and

Cultural Rights. Therefore it is duty bound under international law to fulfillits peoples right to food. By failing to effectively implement the ICDS andan AWC in the village of Jalalpur, the state of Uttar Pradesh, and henceIndia, violates the right to food and breaches its international obligationsunder the Covenant.

As a consequence children and women there are denied nutritional andhealth benefits they are entitled to. Lack of nutritional benefits makesthem susceptible to hunger and under nourishment and prone to illnesses.


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Annexure II participants list


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Annexure III. Tentative Training Programme Schedule on Concept of Right toFood & Food security

Particulars Description Duration

Registration of Participants 9.00a.m. 9.30a.m

Introduction & Welcome 9.30 a.m. 9.45 a.m.

Brief introduction ofparticipants & their workingareas & responsibilities

Present Context of theorganization interventiontowards Right to Food Agenda Highlights of the NGOsintervention

9.45 a.m. 10.15a.m.

Objective & Expectation ofparticipants from theTraining workshop on RTF

10.15 a.m. 10.45a.m.

Concept of Right to Food Introduction & backgroundcontext National context

10.45 a.m. 11.15a.m.

Tea Break 11.15 a.m. 11.30a.m.

Concept of Food Security International & Nationalperspective

11.30 a.m. 12.00p.m.

Differences between Right toFood, Food Security and Food

Sovereignty

Theoretical ConceptPresentation

12.00 p.m. 1.00p.m.

Lunch Break 1.00 p.m. 2.00 p.m.

Scope of Rights BasedApproach

Key aspects of Right BasedApproach

2.00 p.m. 2.40 p.m.

Experiences of participants Use of Rights Based Approach 2.40 p.m. 3.30 p.m.

Tea Break 3.30 p.m. 3.45 p.m.

Nutrition & Health Aspects 3.45 p.m. 4.30 p.m.

Conclusion 4.30 p.m. 5.00 p.m.

Day II

Recap of the first Day 9.30 a.m. 9.45 a.m.

Human Right Perspectives incontext of RTF

Right Based Approach andGeneration of rights

9.45 a.m. 10.30a.m.

Right to Food & Livelihood National & Internationalcommitments & government

obligation such as MDGs

10.30 a.m. 11.00a.m.


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Tea break 11.00 a.m. 11.15a.m.

Food Entitlements Food Entitlements Social

Security & Food securityschemes supreme courtguideline

11.15 a.m. 11.45a.m.

Status of Schemes in theproject operational areas

Realization status

Processes of realization

11.45 a.m. 12.00a.m.

Experience sharing Invited Resource Person fromother agency working on Rightto Food Concept

12.00 a.m. 1.00p.m.

Strategy of different agencyon Right to Food

Sharing of experiences and itdocumentation strategy

National & state action on Rightto Food

2.30 p.m. 3.15 p.m.

Alliance & Networking About Alliance & Networking asan strategy to address right tofood

How to support International,

National, & Regional leveladvocacy campaign with grassroot initiatives

2.40 p.m. 3.15 p.m.

Tea Break 3.30 p.m. 3.45 p.m.

Action Agenda Way Forward Presentation of Action Plan &Follow up Strategy with timestructure

3.45 p.m. 4.15 p.m.

Feedback session 4.15 p.m. 4.30 p.m.

Conclusion & Thanks 4.30 p.m. 4.45 p.m.


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Annexure IV. Invitation Letter

Dear partners in development,

Greetings & Wishing you all Happy New Year 2011!

Hoping that your work is in full swing. For making our project / programme morecomprehensive in the interest of target community groups, we had conducted two

days training cum exchange programme on Mahatma Gandhi National RuralEmployment Guarantee Act. We anticipate that you all must have done fewactivities for ensuring wage work entitlements under MGNREGA.

As next step, together with Karma Consultants I am very happy that we are againimparting training on Right to Food issues in Patna. The objectives of thetraining are as follows:

Perspective building among representatives of partner organization about rightto food agenda

To increase the pace of entitlements of Right to Food Entitlements in favour ofeligible target families

Mainstreaming of food right issues in the regular course of implementationamong partner organization with gender & inclusion perspective

To define the roles of CBOs and partner NGOs in monitoring the violation andfulfillment of rights and human rights of food

To work out strategic direction for initiation of Right to Food Campaign in thestate of Bihar

All partners of DKA and KFB Austria are cordially invited to participate in this

training programme. Please send not more than two team members on 24-25thJanuary 2011 to Sewa Kendra, Patna. We request you all to kindly come with basicobservation of your project areas about status of functioning of ICDS, Mid DayMeal, TPDS, Annatodaya Yojna, Annapurna Yojna, National Family Benefit

Schemes, etc. For details of the training, any questions please kindly consult AshokKumar Sinha, Karma Consultants - Mob no 9431810206 / email id [email protected]

I am wishing you a successful and interesting training.

Yours sincerely,

Eva

Dr. Eva Wallensteiner

Project Dept.

----------------------------------------------------------

DKA Austria / kfb AustriaWilhelminenstrae 91/II f

1160 ViennaAustriaPhone: +43-1-4810991-73Fax: +43-1-4810991-30E-Mail: [email protected]

Web: www.dka.at, www.teilen.at

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