Annual Report - National Human Rights Commission

Food Security
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World’s poor and people who suffer from hunger, by the year 2015. The Commission reiterated that
“India has a special responsibility in this regard. The prevalence of extreme poverty and hunger is
unconscionable in this day and age, for not only does it militate against respect for human rights, but
it also undermines the prospects of peace and harmony within a State. For all these reasons the
Commission will continue to be deeply involved with the issues raised in these hearings in the period
ahead.”
6.4 The Commission conducted eleven hearings, on the Starvation Death Petition, between
September 1997 to January 1998, twelve hearings between April 1998 to October 2002, one
hearing in 2003 and in April 2004 the Commission directed the State of Orissa to file up-to-date
status report till 31.3.04 both with regard to short-term and long-term measures and steps in the
pipe-line for meeting the situation. The two dozen hearings were based on the field enquiries made
by the investigations of the Commission, interactions with concerned State officials and experts on
the subject. In their first Order (of 1998) and second Order (of 2003) the Commission had
recommended several short term and long term measures for coping with the harsh reality of
starvation deaths. Particularly notable are short-term measures like Emergency Feeding Programmes,
Old age pensions, and long term measures such as Employment Generation, Land Reform and a
need for paradigm shift in Public Policies and Relief Codes relating to public relief.
6.5 In view of the significance of freedom from hunger, the Commission felt the need to formulate
a program of action for making the ‘Right to Food’ a reality in the country. With this end in view,
a preliminary meeting was organized in January 2004, with leading experts on the subject, to
discuss issues relating to the ‘Right to Food’. The Commission approved the constitution of a
Core Group on the ‘Right to Food’ under the chairmanship of the Hon’ble Chairperson. The
issues that emerged from the meeting of experts include:
1. The Government should frame a long-term policy in order to ensure that every citizen in
the country has access to adequate food.
2. Accountability while implementing government programmes must be made central to issues
connected with starvation.
3. The systems of delivery need to be firmed up by bringing Panchayats within the ambit of
the delivery system.
4. Purchasing power of the rural people could be increased by rationalizing mployment
generation programs, increase in minimum wages and taking up food-for-work programs.
5. Both the political leadership and the bureaucracy be held responsible for deaths
due to starvation. The Rural Development Department and the Departments of Food and
Agriculture of all States be made accountable.
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