Arundhati Dhuru, advisor from UP to Commissioners appointed by the Supreme Court in matters related to Right to Food, writes about the state of nutrition and the PDS in rural UP and reports from the Public Hearing at Gorakhpur.

None of the villagers are carrying banners or flags. They are not familiar with slogan shouting and do not know any of the well-known songs associated with struggles.

For young women like Shahibun, Prabhavati, Subhavati and Vimla it was solidarity of a different kind. Their common tragedy binds them. Every one of them has lost a member of their family due to starvation. They themselves are warding off hunger. God knows till when.

Though entitled to help from the Public Distribution System (PDS) they either do not possess ration cards or like many others attending the Jan Sunvai rarely receive their rightful quota.

The children accompanying the mothers, mostly widows, are visibly malnourished and may never grow up to have healthy lives.

The 200-odd people who participated in the Public Hearing on the �Right for Food� in Gorakhpur on 20th December had to narrate tales representative of districts like Gorakhpur, Kushinagar, Hardoi, Deoria, Varanasi, Sant Kabir Nagar, Maharajganj and Ghazipur.

The hearing was attended by Kavita Srivastava, PUCL, Arundhati Dhuru, advisor to Commissioners appointed by Supreme Court in matters of Right to Food from U.P., Shahira Naim, senior journalist of The Tribune and Sandeep Pandey, NAPM. It was chaired by Prof. R.M. Tripathi of People�s Forum, a local organization.

It was jointly organized by NAPM, People�s Forum, PUHR, Asha Parivar and PGSSS, Gorakhpur. It was divided into four themes.
1. Cases of starvation deaths.
2. Cases on the verge of starvation.
3. Problems in the mid day meal scheme.
4. Irregularities in the execution of Food for Work scheme.
5. Cases relating to irregularities in the PDS system.

Cases of Starvation Deaths

Sixteen cases of starvation deaths were presented. The victims� family members presented most the cases. In a few cases activists or journalists who had followed the case presented the cases.

The social context of starvation deaths was startingly similar. All the victims were either dalits or Muslims. Amongst the dead 70 percent were Mushars, one of the most marginalized dalit sub caste living on the periphery of villages untouched by any developmental scheme.

The state government has not accepted that any of them had died of starvation.
Only 30 percent of the families had ration cards before tragedy struck. Even in these cases the ration shop owner kept the cards in his possession.

In just one out of ten cases the family had once owned 8 bighas of land which had been mortgaged for treatment of the head of family- once again a reflection on the state of public health. In the remaining cases the families had never possessed any land.

In 50 percent of the cases the source of livelihood for the victims in their last few days was begging. The presenters said that when they had more regular meals and had strength in their bodies they used to do �mazdoori� in fields. But gradually with lack of food they grew weak and could not do a hard day�s work. Left with no option they resorted to begging in the nearby markets.

They had not been able to access any other benefit from existing schemes like Indira Awas Yojana or Anganwadi for that matter. In the case of Mushars some of the families had to trudge long distances to fetch drinking water.

Cases on the verge of starvation

Four cases, all women claimed to be on the verge of starvation. Three of them were widows and were not receiving the widow pension. The fourth woman had a disabled spouse who was not a beneficiary of the handicapped pension.

Only one family had a ration card on which they have not been able to access food grains as it is lying with the ration card owner. All of these women work as daily wagers.

Sushila, from village Barauli in Hardoi is a widow who has three children to support. She is a landless agricultural labourer without a pucca house working on a wage of Rs 20 to 30 on days when she is lucky.

Problems in the mid day meal scheme
Phoolmati of village Jungleghosal, block Chargawan, district Gorakhpur is a Mahila Mandal member who caught irregularity in the school�s mid day meal programme.

There were worms in the food being served. After she complained to the Basic Shiksha Adhikari, the Gram Pradhan�s supporters tried to beat her up. She did not give up and informed the local MLA and MP. The distribution of the mid day meal has stopped since then.

Irregularities in the execution of Food for Work Programme

There were two cases from Kushinagar. One case was reported from Dharora where machines were used instead of people. Some persons found tractors being used on location and produced photographs of the same.

On 25 May 2005 the DM seized the tractor being used in the operation. The contractor�s assistant was also arrested. However because of the pressure of the local leaders the tractors were released while the owners had given a written undertaking that they had come for the digging of the pond.

In a similar case in Badhara village in the same district J.V.C. machines were being used. The protest of the local people produced no result. Finally letters were sent to the CM and the Chief Secretary. Action has still not been taken against the concerned B.D.O

Cases relating to irregularities in the PDS system
The most startling fact that emerged during the Jan Sunvai was that Gram Pradhan Mukesh of village Nagepur in Varanasi and Gram Pradhan Ram Pravesh Nishad of village Harpur in Deoria disclosed that they were under pressure from the BDO�s office to reduce the number of people entitled to BPL ration cards.

They also said that they were regularly asked to maneuver lists to add undeserving names and leave out deserving ones. They also said that they had caught the ration shop owners red handed indulging in irregularities ranging from non distribution of grains, black marketing of grains etc. Despite their complaints no action was initiated against the culprits.

After hearing out the cases, the jury members shared the experience of similar problems across the country in the context of the Supreme Court rulings. The villagers were also informed about entitlements under the provisions of the law and the rulings.

The process of documenting the cases along with relevant papers has begun. Soon it will be taken up with the state government and forwarded to the Commissioners office.

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