National Food Security Act 2013

A historic legislation (because it took almost 6 decades to realise the problem) was passed on September 2013 which legally grants a right to food to 67% of our perennially hungry and nutritionally deficient population.The break up for rural and urban population goes like this: 75% rural population and 50% urban population will come under the ambit of the food security cover.
The bill has many other equally important features which have been less discussed in the public domain.Some of the salient features are as stated below:

• Right to receive foodgrains at subsidised prices by persons belonging to eligible households under Targeted Public Distribution System.To be specific eligible beneficiaries are entitled to get 5 kgs of quality grains at Rs 1 per Kg for coarse grains,Rs 2 per kg for wheat and Rs 3 per kg for rice and persons covered under Antyodaya Anna Yojana (Central government scheme launched on 25th December 2000 for the poorest of the poor) will continue to get their monthly quota of 35 kgs of food grains.But the responsibility to identify the beneficiaries rests with the state government.
• In case there is a shortage of foodgrains with the state government, union government will provide the requisite quantity to meet the demand.
• Nutritional support to pregnant and lactating mothers in the form of free meals at anganwadis during pregnancy and after six months of childbirth and maternity benefit of not less than Rs 6000 for 6 months to be distributed in a manner to be decided by central government .
• For children upto 14 years free food in the form of mid day meal and through anganwadis will be provided to meet the nutritional needs
• If the state government fails to provide food to the beneficiaries then it will have to pay food allowance to them.
• State and district level grievance redressal units will be set up.
• State food Commissions will be set up for implementation and monitoring the scheme.

eac.gov.in/reports/rep_NFSB.pdf‎ - Read the full act here.

In short we can say it is an amalgamation of the best features of the myriad schemes run by the central government in a single legislation touted as the Right to Food Act .Can we say the bill is OLD WINE IN NEW BOTTLE?

Given the vast diversity of India and the vast expanse of our territory there are an almost commensurate number of schemes to cater to the wide variety of needs of the diverse and vibrant population available in all hues and colours.

But still there is rampant poverty and hunger in our country and the world statistics are there to substantiate this fact.We have the largest number of children in our country who are below the acceptable levels of nutrition set by international bodies.

Then where does the problem persists?

It undoubtedly points to the failure and incapacity of our government machinery in effectively and efficiently implementing the policies launched by the government either as a populist measure or as a genuine one to meet the need of the hour.

And this historic legislation may also have the same fate if corrective measures are not taken in the implementation department earnestly.A hope lingers, for the act has a provision for redressal mechanism to check the rampant corruption but only the time will tell if it will prove to be a game changer or not.

We have problems in other areas too with respect to the effective realisation of the provisions of this bill. Some experts say that it will burden the Indian exchequer and that it will burn a hole in the pocket and will lead to inflation due to near wipe out of food grains from the private market.More and more food will be routed to the granaries of Food Corporation of India and less will be available for free market.

I see this situation as an opportunity for all the stakeholders to improve the infrastructure and help in satiating the hunger of millions.The situation can be used advantageously if public and private entities resolve to strengthen each other. FCI's infrastructure to store the additional amount of food grains is not at all adequate and thus a lot needs to be done in this regard.Government has the option of encouraging private players to invest in storage infrastructure to prevent losses.Also distribution can be planned near the site of procurement to avoid extra transportation and storage charges.

Not only the bill has got a national criticism but there was a consistent lobby against the bill at the international level too and to be specific, noises were coming from WTO side.WTO feared that to fulfil the obligations under the bill Indian Government will surely exceed its quota of 10% subsidy on total production.But at the WTO Bali convention,159 member WTO reached a historic agreement that allows nations such as India to fix a Minimum Support price for farm produce and to sell the staple grains to poor at subsidised prices.It also allows countries to store the foodgrains to meet contingency requirements. 

This indicates that even international bodies are taking flexible stand to help us fulfil our right to food dream.When the universe is conspiring for the success of the bill it becomes all the more important for Indian government to use all its strength and resources to make it a reality.

Notwithstanding the charges that the burden can be to the tune of about 1.5% of our GDP, we have a task to provide food to all the hungry souls under our geographical limits.It may be close to what people have estimated and even a little more given the amount of state machinery required to realize it but can we not afford to meet the very basic need of our human resource? Everyone boasts of the demographic advantage India is experiencing at the moment and likely to bask in it till 2025.Then why not make the full use of this advantage? We have enough food production ever since we ventured into an era of Green Revolution.All we need is effective procurement and distribution of the produce and giving maximum benefit to the producer for toiling hard(MSP is helping the farmers in this regard). 

And if the government is able to successfully implement this it can leverage the benefit that accrues from a healthy, skilled and educated population to become a dominant force in Asia.

The bill has also provided for the benefits for women thereby envisaging to bridge the gender divide and to make womenfolk socially as well as economically stronger.Children also have a lot to gain with the provisions of this bill not only in terms of nutrition but also in the number of hours and days they may be encouraged to spend in schools even if just for food.

Thus a lot of hope rests on the Food Security Bill and the government must buckle up to make it a huge success not just for the sake of garnering votes in the upcoming elections but to genuinely wipe out hunger of decades, hunger of millions.

A hungry man cannot see right or wrong. He sees only food.

For now i ask no more than the justice of eating because hunger is not an issue of charity but an issue of justice.

Are Maoist Attacks bleeding India or govt policies destroying mother's womb?

"Maoist attack on the rally of congress leaders in Chattisgarh's Bastar district wiped out almost the entire congress cadre of the area": "cold blooded attack on the congress election campaign rally in Chattisgarh": "Mahendra Karma: the progenitor of Salwa Judum" stabbed almost 78 times to death": We woke up on May 26th morning with this gruesome killing report flashing on the front cover of all the national, international as well as local dailies.A shiver ran down my spine after reading about this highly condemnable act of violence which became the National breaking news that day. 

Were maladies like terrorism,communal violence,extortion, rape, acid attacks not enough to give us mind numbing stories in our daily newspapers that another crime cropped up in the national scene spreading its wings across the length of the eastern part of our mother land? From the past decade or so Maoist attacks have captured are attention but for all the wrong reasons.What started as a movement against the atrocities meted out to helpless farmers and tribals, started turning into a dead sore, in fact a cancerous outgrowth for the state/government. 

Who are these Maoists or in common Parlance as we call them, the "Naxalites"?

• Maoists are the group of people who are inspired by the political philosophy of China's great leader Mao Zedong.In India,though post independence the precursors of this movement could be felt in regions like Andhra Pradesh, it was an attack on a tribal man in the Naxalbari village in West Bengal which sparked this violent and extremist left wing movement.
• Their mission is to fight for the poor families and landless laborers, to fight against the social oppression of tribal people and the economic exploitation of their prized resources i.e. the forest and the forest land.

What these people are fighting for? 

If we closely observe the events which have turned this generally non violent movement till the beginning of LPG (Liberalisation, Privatisation and Globalisation ) era in 1990s in  into one of the most dreadful and violent attacks on humanity, we can see the reason quite clearly.

• Mostly these groups are active in states like Jharkhand, Chattisgarh,Maharashtra (Gadchirroli area to be specific),Orissa, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh. If we keenly observe these eastern states we come across the fact that these areas are also the ones with highest forest cover in India (Madhya Pradesh has the highest percentage of land under forest cover )and also these areas are  rich in natural resources like iron, coal(Jharkhand,Chattisgarh), bauxite(Chattisgarh),mica (Chottanagpur Plateau region),diamond (Panna Mines,MP) and many other valuable minerals. 
• These people have increased their agitation due to government's irresponsible action and attitude towards them.Owing to the fact that these areas are very rich in mineral resources specially Chattisgarh, private honchos like Tata , Jindal Steel and Power, Vedanta group, Posco etc are eyeing these untapped resources for their humongous monetary gains by establishing power and steel factories here.And government of India is hand in glove with them and is leaving no stone unturned to help them get the necessary resources at meager price (remember the Coalgate Scam). 
• Govt. is trying to lock up as much tribal land as it possibly can for various public projects and also for private players because our constitution prohibits the non tribal people to acquire tribal land for their commercial use.Thus govt. on private company's behalf purchases the tribal land and later sells it to them whereas the native tribal people are left with no rehabilitation or very little compensation as compared to the gains that would be amassed be these private companies later.

This has put the govt. and the Naxalites in conflict with each other and the whole thing looks like MAO-VADI VS MoU-VADI (govt.'s memorandum of understanding with the private companies) affair.
Note:Mao-VADI (followers of the principles of Mao Zedong ,as the naxalites are called in Hindi).

It has resulted in more paramilitary operations like Operation grey hounds, black cats, Green hunt ,Cobra and the ensemble of various other operations to wipe out the Maoists.

But all this is taking a toll on the victims who are not party to any group, the poor villagers of these Naxal affected areas are crushed from both sides of this proxy war and are more likely to become the radicalists themselves, if the same destruction persists.Hundreds of thousands of people have been affected by this war on humanity ,be it on either side.Countless number of attacks on the paramilitary forces like the one in Dantewada in 2010 in which almost 75 CRPF jawans were wiped out by the Naxals, the attack on Gnaneshwari express killing hundreds of innocent passengers (about 350).Then there were counter attacks too from govt.'s side killing many Maoists in organised action against them like the famous Operation Lalgarh in West Bengal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Lalgarh).
The government also formed an anti -maoist group called SALWA JUDUM which in local tribal dialect Gondi means "Purification Hunt" to counter the Naxal Violence.It was a civilian militia formed by the congress leader Mahendra Karma.
Also in 2009 govt started a movement called OPERATION GREEN HUNT , though officially they never declared it, to catch or kill the top Maoist leaders and make their movement a "headless organisation".In retaliation, maoists launched a BREAK OPERATION to check the operation green hunt and keep their group strong and going.
But what is actually being achieved by all these irresponsible acts from both the sides?

People are being killed in thousands ruthlessly, properties are being demolished recklessly, money is being wasted like anything on countless attacks and the counter attacks, whereas tribal people are still mired in the vicious circle of their age old poverty. Neither govt. nor the Maoists could prove to be their Savior.

In fact whatever small development was there earlier has also come to a standstill now.Both the parties seem to be waiting for the other person's call for a cease fire.No one is ready to bend but are continuously breaking the backbone of India. It's time now to call it quit for if it persists any longer then our country's future is doomed. These internal conflicts will shatter the fabric of unity of our motherland and may make it vulnerable to external aggression. Not only this, it will back track whatever development and progress we have done in the past decade or two.Instead of treating naxalism as a law and order issue govt. must buckle up to solve this problem of social oppression and economic exploitation by making peace with the tribal people who are affected by reckless govt. policies to promote private sector.In return Maoist must pledge to shun violence and join the mainstream to contribute towards the betterment of their society and establish a just environment for their tribal clan.

Mother India is bleeding and that too profusely. Heal her wound and let her live a peaceful and prosperous life.

 

Shiva- The Youth Style Icon

Recently i came across an article regarding how Shiva-The god has become such a rage amongst the youth. From T-shirts to tops, from sandals to socks.. bracelets to pendants... from tattoos to towel.. every commodity seems touched with the whiff of Shiva..and then it just invigorated my mind as to why... Suddenly why has he become so famous or better to say THE STYLE ICON OF THE YEAR. Is it because the totally different outlook and perspective we have been presented in the Shiva trio-logy by Author AMISH TRIPATHI has somewhere made us believe that he too is like a normal human being? He is just like you and me.A mortal being who gets terrified and troubled by issues affecting him, thinks from his heart, cares for the ones he loves and also makes mistakes and regrets later.The simplicity by which the author has detailed the life story and dilemma of the god made him so like us- the earthly creatures.
One can relate to him in the current age and scenario.He is not too mystical to be understood only after taking sanyaas. He is available 24*7 on internet, in your drawing room TV sets (Serial: Mahadev On Life OK), in temples and anywhere and everywhere. He has a rough and rugged style statement which does not shout for attention. In fact he is cool with his uncombed and ruffled hair, ash smeared body, non-branded home made chillum, serpent necklace and bare minimum leopard skin. He is like any other young boy who tries to get the attention of the person he loves or the person he thinks he will eventually fall in love with. He gets hurt when not able to get what he desires and what he feels he rightly so deserves. He has the courage to fight for himself and for the beliefs he stands for.All this and many other qualities make him all the more desirable and the one to be looked up to for inspiration.And with the so cool image which is being presented to us people actually look up to him also for fashion statement.He is walking the ramp albeit in designer clothes and chunk jewelry launched to commemorate the fad of Shiva-the cool god.
Today's youth is fed up of the corruption mired governance and is not afraid to rebel against it.The uncountable number of rallies and protests staged nowadays for any wrongful act are a proof of it.And in this scenario if he can relate to any god is none other than SHIVA.He also revolted against the Evil and unjust practices.There is no place for hypocrisy in his world.He wants you to be true to your Karma and wants you to keep at bay from the sinful activities.He respects truth and wreaks a havoc on unjust cruel irrevocable corrupt person.
If at all someone nominates him for the Style Icon of the year I reassure you, he will give the rest a run for the money.

All said and done,i hope the current Shiva fad will also help the youth to take some cue from his qualities, his nature and his attitude towards everything be it small ,insignificant or huge and influential.

You have made him the god of the season and please do not forget him as the years pass by like any other Icon you reverred a few years back and whose name you cannot  even recollect without browsing on internet.Follow him but from heart and not just to join the bandwagon of blind followers or better to say to be a part of the herd of sheep.


Har Har Mahadev
Om Namah Shivay