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Interviews | Anjali Bhardwaj, transparency activist and founder of the Delhi-based Satark Nagrik Sangathan (SNS), interviewed by Shreehari Paliath (IndiaSpend.com)
Anjali Bhardwaj, transparency activist and founder of the Delhi-based Satark Nagrik Sangathan (SNS), interviewed by Shreehari Paliath (IndiaSpend.com)

Anjali Bhardwaj, transparency activist and founder of the Delhi-based Satark Nagrik Sangathan (SNS), interviewed by Shreehari Paliath (IndiaSpend.com)

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published Published on Jun 25, 2021   modified Modified on Jun 25, 2021

-IndiaSpend.com

To fight hunger and distress due to the pandemic, India must universalise foodgrain distribution, expand the food basket in its rations scheme and provide cash transfers, activist Anjali Bhardwaj tells us in this interview

Bengaluru: The pandemic-induced lockdowns have had a profound impact on livelihoods, affecting poor Indians' food intake, studies show. In October 2020, more than half the respondents of a Hunger Survey said their rice/wheat consumption had declined during the lockdown and ensuing months. Two in three reported that the quantity of food they consumed "decreased somewhat" or "decreased a lot".

A June 2021 report of the Stranded Workers Action Network on migrant worker distress during the second wave found that they had inadequate dry rations, no work and less than Rs 200 cash available.

There is no shortage of foodgrain stocks in government granaries. In its March 2021 report on price policy for kharif crops, the Commission on Agricultural Costs and Prices reiterated its recommendation to dispose of excess foodgrain stocks to "save huge carrying cost of excessive stocks and ease storage space constraint". Despite additional offtake of foodgrains and higher exports during 2020-21, rice and wheat stock as on February 28 was nearly 2.7 times more than the stocking norms--58.2 million tonnes, for the quarter beginning April 1.

These stocks should have been used to alleviate the distress caused by the second wave of the pandemic, says Anjali Bhardwaj, transparency activist and founder of the Delhi-based Satark Nagrik Sangathan (SNS) or Society for Citizens' Vigilance Initiatives. Bhardwaj is also a member of the Right to Food Campaign, which advocates for the universalisation of the Public Distribution System (PDS), social security and right to work. To ensure that poor and vulnerable households do not go hungry, PDS must be universalised, she says.

Food rights groups and activists have highlighted the plight of migrant workers and the poor, and made submissions in the Supreme Court. Yet, "adequate steps have not been taken showing total apathy and lack of political will", she tells us in an interview.

Edited excerpts:

* In October, Hunger Watch survey reported that even after the end of the national lockdown, the hunger situation was "grave". Has the access to food essentials and rations improved since and during recent statewide lockdowns?

Nearly 90% of India's workforce is in the informal sector, with a large percentage working as daily wagers. A lockdown results in the cessation of earning opportunities for them. The national lockdown in 2020 was imposed at an extremely short notice, without adequately addressing the two grave challenges the working poor and migrants faced due to loss of livelihoods: the inability to feed their families and themselves, and the lack of resources to pay for their accommodation at work destinations. This led to the widespread distress the nation witnessed, with migrant workers walking hundreds of miles to return to their villages.

The government announced the PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) to provide extra 5 kg of foodgrains (to individuals) and 1 kg of dal (to households) free of cost [every month] for 800 million ration card holders under the National Food Security Act (NFSA). The PDS became a lifeline for those in rural and urban areas. But millions of poor not covered under the food security system--especially migrant workers who often do not have the necessary address proofs and documents--were in distress. Eventually, nearly two months after imposition of the lockdown, under the Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan, the Centre made provision to provide free foodgrains for two months for up to 80 million non-ration card holders.

Even after the lockdown was lifted in 2020, economic activity has not resumed fully. We [Right to Food Campaign] have been asking the government to take cognisance of the acute distress and unemployment. The PMGKAY and the Atma Nirbhar Bharat scheme were stopped despite issues [of access to food essentials].

In the second wave, most states imposed lockdowns. Governments have been in denial about the distress--stating that there has been no national lockdown. If governments had learnt lessons from the national lockdown, they would have been able to alleviate the distress during the second wave to a large extent. They should have provided similar food security measures for ration and non-ration card holders. Unfortunately, it seems no lessons were learnt to tackle the second wave.

PMGKAY was restarted by the central government [to last] until June [2021] and then extended until Diwali for ration card holders, but it has not restarted the Atma Nirbhar scheme for non-ration cards, who are often the poorest and most marginalised.

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Image Courtesy: Twitter


IndiaSpend.com, 25 June, 2021, https://www.indiaspend.com/indiaspend-interviews/pandemic-food-hunger-ration-scheme-cash-transfer-food-distribution-757450


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