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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | India’s Coming Misadventure With Rice Fortification in All Food Schemes -Kavitha Kuruganti

India’s Coming Misadventure With Rice Fortification in All Food Schemes -Kavitha Kuruganti

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published Published on May 24, 2022   modified Modified on May 25, 2022

-TheWire.in

The Union government, cut off from the realities of the vast diversity of health and poverty conditions of the country, appears to have bitten the bait of corporate lobbies.

Madhu Soren (12) and Bokai Soren (7) are two brothers with thalassemia in a village in Jharkhand’s East Singhbhum district.

Thalassemia is a genetic blood disorder in which the body has lower than normal amounts of haemoglobin, an oxygen-carrying protein. When there is not enough haemoglobin, red blood cells cannot function normally and last for shorter periods of time. This leads to further complications. A person with thalassemia major might need regular blood transfusions to deal with the condition.

The parents of Soren brothers have reported that the boys, who used to get monthly or bi-monthly blood transfusions, now need weekly treatment. The government is supplying them with iron-fortified rice, which is contra-indicated for thalassemia patients. In fact, FSSAI’s regulations ask for iron-fortified foods to have a label stating that thalassemia patients are to consume such foods under medical supervision.

When asked whether they can stop feeding their sons iron-fortified PDS (public distribution system) rice, Joba Soren said, “What else can I feed them. We cannot afford to buy our rice from the market.”

The Sorens live in the Chakuliya Block of East Singhbhum district, where Vandana Patro and her brother Biswajit Patro are sickle cell anaemia (SCA) patients. SCA is another inherited blood disorder where the red blood cells are malformed, and FSSAI labeling requirements ask SCA patients not to consume iron-fortified rice. But this family receives iron-fortified rice too through the PDS.

Please click here to read more. 

Please click here to access the 'Report of the Fact Finding Visit to Jharkhand, on Rice Fortification in Government Food Schemes'. The visit took place during 8-11 May, 2022. The report has been prepared by Alliance for Sustainable & Holistic Agriculture (ASHA-Kisan Swaraj) and the Right To Food Campaign.

The team members were: 

1. Dr Vandana Prasad, Community Pediatrician and Public Health Expert, Former Member (Child Health) National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), Member National Secretariat Advisory Group, Right to Food Campaign;
2. Kavitha Kuruganti, Co-Convenor, ASHA-Kisan Swaraj and Former Member, High Level Committee on the Status of Women in India, MoWCD, Government of India;
3. Balram, Right to Food Campaign Jharkhand;
4. Rohin Kumar, Project Lead, Food For Future, Greenpeace India;
5. James Herenz, Right to Food Campaign, Jharkhand;
6. Raj Shekhar Singh, Right to Food Campaign National Secretariat;
7. Soumik Banerjee, ASHA-Kisan Swaraj and Independent Researcher.  


TheWire.in, 24 May, 2022, https://thewire.in/government/indias-coming-misadventure-with-rice-fortification-in-all-food-schemes


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