Food insecurity in Odisha still remains a matter of great concern because of a vast majority of rural poor of venerable sections subjected to extreme poverty and hunger death in spite of targeted public distribution system and supplementary feeding programmes.
The food insecurity issue in the State is historically referred back to the famine of 1866 and the statement made by Gandhi on Odisha’s poverty during freedom struggle and later by Pandit Gopabandhu Das in Bihar-Odisha Assembly. Today after 65 years of independence the issue remains as a challenge before the State.
In recent times, there are a number of studies such as MS Swaminathan Foundation report on food insecurity in rural India, reports of World Bank, UNDP, Odisha Human Development Report, Planning Commission and many more.
They have identified Odisha as one of the severely food insecure States having highest incidence of chronic poverty. The issues of hunger death and malnourishment in Kalahandi and Kashipur of Rayagada district had hit the headlines in media in early nineties.
This along with the related issue of child selling has been quite pathetic for the populace constantly reeling under acute poverty and failing to get two square meals per day.
The starvation death of ‘Juanga’ tribe was also reported along with vulnerability of tribal in Mayurbhanj and Sundergarh in 1990.
The starvation death in poor Dalit families in Jagatsinghpur, Dhenkanal and other parts have drawn attention of the Supreme Court appointed Special Commissioner on Right to Food in the year 2008.
The Commissioners to the Supreme Court on Right to Food was appointed by two Supreme Court interim orders in the year 2002 and 2003 to monitor the implementation of all orders relating to Right to Food.
The people in remote backward rural, hilly, forested and inaccessible areas and those who belong to socially marginalised sections, SCs, STs, religious minority, PTGs, landless wage labourers, the migrant workers, child labour and distress women, single women, single men without means of livelihood, widows, aged, terminally ill person, orphans, homeless and destitute persons are the large constituents of food insecurity group who are struggling very hard to survive.
The lean period in rural area and during natural calamities, drought and flood it has been extremely difficult for poor families to survive. Though there have been reports of starvation death from almost all parts of the State but particularly the western and north-west, and specially in KBK, remains unchanged with the image of vulnerability with poverty, malnutrition and hunger.
The NHRC sought explanation from the State Government on improper implementation of PDS in KBK in 2010 in intervening in the incident of alleged starvation death of 12 children in Nabarangpur and Balangir districts. Many people’s movements, political parties, CSOs, media, food rights campaigns and activists in the State have been protesting before the Government and brought the issues before judiciary.
A number of judicial interventions have been made but nothing substantially has been changed in the State due to lack of political will and bureaucracy’s apathy to the most marginalized and vulnerable section of the State.
The Indian council of medical research recommended 370 cereals (460 gram) per day per person as minimum requirement. Access to adequate quantity of quality food is a basic human right recognized by Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in all international conventions.
The Constitution of India gives guarantee of basic rights to all its citizens including rights to food in Article 21. The National Food Security Act, 2013 is to provide food and nutritional security in human life cycle approach by ensuring access to adequate quantity of quality food at affordable prices to the people to live a life with dignity.
With the objectives to ensure food security, the targeted Pubic Distribution System (PDS) and supplementary feeding programme through ICDS and Mid Day Meal (MDM) have been in operation by the Central and State Government and also with involvement of agencies like World Bank, CARE, UNICEF and WFP to make available minimum food need of the poor and vulnerable household under the category of BPl and AAY. Odisha has about 38 lakh BPl, 30 lakh APl and 10 lakh AAY households who have been issued ration cards to get rice, wheat, sugar and kerosene from about 25,000 fair price shops/retail shops run by private dealers and self help groups in rural areas and on an average there are about 300 card holders per shops.
The Ministry of Food and Consumer Affairs and Food and Public distribution and State Department of Food Supply and Consumer Welfare are responsible to administer the programme and manage procurement, storage and distribution by enforcing Acts like Essential Commodities Act, 1955 and Prevention of Black marketing and Maintenance of Services of Essential Commodities Act 1980, Standard of Weights and Measure Enforcement Act, 1985 and Odisha Public Distribution System Control Order, 2008.
The States like Kerala and Tamil Nadu have very successfully managed PDS and served the purpose in reaching to the people in need. The shops in Kerala are managed efficiently and there is no private fair shop in Tamil Nadu.
The PDS in Tamil Nadu has been managed by cooperatives, panchayats and self help groups, but in Odisha, the PDS system is still under the dominant control of private dealers those are mostly local politicians of ruling parties.
Though very late, the Government has allowed women self help groups in a small way. Indian Institute of Public Administration in its report on PDS suggest to ensure political will for the implementation of the PDS and further suggested for financial support to women SHGs to improve the delivery system.
It has been always told that the BPl list is not correct and existence of inclusion and exclusion errors in identification though there is provision that Gramasabha has to review every year for the deletion of ineligible families and addition of eligible but left out families and elimination of fake cards as per provision of the Odisha PDS Control Order 2008.
It is also said that the residence of forest village without record of rights over the habitation should be issued card and land less, homeless and destitute persons should be issued cards, who are without having a permanent address.
There is also lack of adequate fair price shops in the State, particularly in inaccessible remote tribal areas, ITDP and DPAP blocks where about 90 mobile vans are being used to reach to the beneficiaries.
The monitoring mechanisms are not being carried out by the statutory committee at retailer’s level, block, district and State level to promote transparency and accountability of the authorities through promoting vigilance and public participation.
In all these committees though there is provision of involvement of women, SCs and STs, Consumer forums and Civil Society Organizations but very few members of the committee know about their roles and responsibilities because mostly the local MlAs are the chairman of the block committee, controlling the whole process through his nominees at retail level.
While giving importance to access to productive assets and livelihood opportunities to the poor, the PDS carries much importance in the context to ensuring food security of the vulnerable households in Odisha where a vast majority depends on public support system.
Therefore the PDS system needs to be improved in terms of inclusiveness and by ensuring discrimination free access without any limitation.
The beneficiaries who are mostly poor SCs and STs need to be encouraged to manage the system by promoting cooperatives and self help groups among them with adequate training and financial support and relaxing the eligibility criteria of appointment of dealers laid down in Odisha PDS control order 2008.
This will ensure larger participation of people to avoid hegemonic control of private dealers with political and administrative backing and democratize the public distribution system in the State.
(The writer is a rights activist, who can be reached at ojaabbsr@gmail.com)