Dear friends,
We wish to share with you the following statement from a Joint Working Group of the Right to Food Campaign and Jan Swasthya Abhiyan.
Asian Human Rights Commission
Hong Kong
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A Statement from a Joint Working Group of the Right to Food Campaign and Jan Swasthya Abhiyan forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission
Child undernutrition levels in India are among the highest in the world. This situation has been tolerated for too long, and the National Food Security Act is a unique opportunity for radical change in this field. Even though the National Advisory Committee (NAC) has made some welcome ecommendations, we are dismayed to note that children’s entitlements have been completely sidelined by the “Expert Committee” appointed by the Prime Minister (chaired by Dr. C. Rangarajan).
Over one third of children have low birth weights, and by the age of 1-2 years nearly half are underweight, and close to 80% are anaemic. These appalling figures are associated with equally dismal nutrition indicators among adult women, especially pregnant or lactating women. Ensuring children’s right to food depends upon the existence of comprehensive and universal minimum entitlements of all households to food and nutrition including a universal PDS. Further, specific actions are required for children based on age-appropriate strategies as have been elaborated upon by the Right to Food Campaign in its draft Food Entitlements Act. One of the main shortcomings of the NAC framework is its failure to protect the universality of the entitlements to food in general, whereas it does better in terms of spelling out entitlements for children.
Some of these entitlements are already included, wholly or partly, in a series of Supreme Court orders on the right to food. These orders must be incorporated in toto in the draft Act, as a basic first step towards the protection of children’s right to food. Beyond this, the NFSA must create and safeguard new entitlements.
The NAC has in fact adopted many of the recommendations of the Right to Food Campaign and also broken new ground in spelling out some important preconditions for actualisation of children’s right to food such as stating, “Any child below the age of 14 years may approach any feeding facility … for a freshly cooked nutritious meal, and will not be turned away on any ground” and laying out a well thought out grievance redressal mechanism.
However, the NAC framework falls short on many counts. For instance, adolescent girls have not been included in the NAC draft, in spite of a far-reaching Supreme Court order dated 13 December 2006, directing Governments to universalize the ICDS, in the specific sense of “extending all ICDS services (supplementary nutrition, growth monitoring, nutrition and health education, immunization, referral and preschool education) to every child under the age of 6, all pregnant women and lactating mothers and all adolescent girls”. It is impossible to understand the grounds or logic upon which an already existing legal entitlement for a group of children has been omitted in the proposed NAC framework.
The NAC has also fallen short of laying out the reforms required in the existing programmes such as ICDS, to meet these entitlements. For e.g. there is no mention of ensuring adequate human resources, better training, improving conditions of work for anganwadi workers, providing required financial investments for adequate infrastructure and quality improvements, enhancing the quality of supplementary nutrition through introduction of animal proteins, conducting awareness campaigns etc.
On the other hand in the case of maternity entitlements though the NAC has extended beyond Supreme Court orders by recommending universal benefits, it has only committed a half-hearted Rs. 1000 per month for six months which is not in consonance with rights available to women in the formal sector. At the very least maternity benefits should be linked to existing wages to prevent an inequity being created in the law. Provision of skilled breastfeeding counselling, maternity benefits and child care facilities must be seen as enabling conditions for food security.
Meanwhile, the Rangarajan Committee did not even acknowledge the recommendations of the NAC pertaining to children leave alone respond to them.The Committee’s report, submitted to the Prime Minister on 7 January 2011, focuses exclusively on the Public Distribution System (PDS), that too in an obstructive mode. This blind spot jars with the Expert Committee’s opening recognition of the “disturbing statistics” of nutritional deficiencies in India, and of the potential of the proposed Act as “the most important national effort yet to address these deficiencies”.
The Government must recognise that children are citizens of today whose nutritional rights have been grossly violated for far too long and who must not be kept waiting any longer. We demand that the NAC rectifies its recommendations in relation to children’s right to food and that these be incorporated into the law. Such a law must also guarantee sufficiency of funds for its effective implementation.
We reiterate our demand for full-fledged inclusion of the entitlements below in the NFSA.
I. Infant and Young Child Feeding
1. Breastfeeding support: Every mother shall be provided with all support services required for exclusive breastfeeding up to six months, including: (a) Skill counselling during pregnancy (b) Practical and skilled support at time of birth for initiating breastfeeding (c) On-going support during first six months through maternity entitlements and (d) Monthly visits by a skilled worker during the first six months after delivery. That means India needs a plan, a budget and coordination to realize infants right to food.
2. No promotion of baby foods and foods for children under six years: No person shall take part in the promotion of any commercial foods meant for children, directly or indirectly. Promotion of baby foods or infant milk substitutes, using any kind of media, gifts and other incentives such as sponsorship, seminars and workshops for health personnel, distribution of child health cards or other material related to infant and young child health using manufacturer’s logo, name, etc., by public or private companies, shall not be allowed at any level either with the public or with professionals. The provisions of this Act shall be in addition to the Infant Milk Substitutes (IMS) Act, 2003. In the case of any conflict the latter Act shall prevail.
3. Take-home rations: All pregnant and nursing women and all children in the age group of 6 months to 3 years shall be provided weekly take-home rations that can be locally prepared and meet minimum nutrition norms, with adequate animal proteins (milk, eggs, meat, fish) as well as fats, fruit and vegetables. The take-home rations shall be provided for at least 300 days in a year. No private contractors shall be used for the supply of take-home rations. In the event that the family is unable to collect the ration, it will be delivered to the home of the infant/young child.
II. Children Aged 0-6 Years
1. Universalization of ICDS: All children in the age group of 0-6 years shall be entitled to basic nutrition, health and pre-school education services under the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS).
2. Basic services: These basic services shall include all child development services available under ICDS as of 1 April 2009, namely: (1) supplementary nutrition; (2) immunization; (2) health checkups; (4) referral services; (5) growth monitoring and promotion; (6) pre-school education.
3. Anganwadis for all: For the purpose of providing ICDS services, a full fledged Anganwadi shall be made available in every habitation of at least 300 persons. There shall be no ceiling on the number of children to be enrolled in a particular Anganwadi, and no eligibility criterion other than age. In habitations of less than 300 persons, ICDS services shall be provided through extension services or mini-Anganwadis, linked with the nearest Anganwadi.
4. Anganwadis on demand: Rural communities and slum dwellers shall be entitled to an “Anganwadi on demand” (not later than three months from the date of demand) in cases where a settlement has at least 40 children under the age of six years but no Anganwadi.
5. Cooked mid-day meal: It shall be the duty of all Anganwadis to provide a hot, cooked, nutritious mid-day meal to children who attend the Anganwadi every day of the year, except during holidays (and in any case for at least 300 days).
6. No private contractors: The mid-day meal under ICDS shall be cooked on the Anganwadi premises, using local foods, without the involvement of any private contractor.
7. Inclusion: Special provisions shall be made for the inclusion of marginalized children in ICDS, including disabled children, street children, and children of migrant families.
8. Minimum Facilities: Each Anganwadi shall have the following minimum facilities:
a. At least two Anganwadi workers and one Anganwadi helper.
b. Its own, independent pacca building.
c. Weighing scales required for different age groups.
d. A medical kit with basic drugs (including ORS and IFA tablets/syrup).
e. A kitchen with adequate ventilation, utensils, storage facilities, etc.
f. Child-friendly toilets
g. Safe drinking water as well as adequate water for cleaning
h. Plates in sufficient quantity for all children.
i. Toys and teaching material for pre-school education.
III. Identification and treatment of acute malnutrition:
1. Anganwadi workers under ICDS will be imparted suitable training to identify children with growth faltering, including those who are severe acute malnourished (SAM), and referring them for further treatment and nutrition education. In the event of any complaint or other alert of the possibility of a child suffering from severe malnutrition in the Gram Panchayat, it shall be the duty of the Anganwadi worker to investigate the situation and refer the mother and child to a nutrition rehabilitation centre if required.
2. Nutrition Rehabilitation Centres (NRCs) shall be set up in every District within one year and in every Primary Health Centre within five years of this Act coming into force.
3. All children with growth faltering referred to NRCs shall be entitled to free treatment at the nearest NRC, for as long as may be required to restore them to good health. During this period, the mother of the concerned child shall also be entitled to free board and lodging at or near the same NRC.
4. Any therapeutic food that is provided for the treatment of SAM shall be domestically produced with a special effort being made to procure the food locally, without the involvement of private contractors.
IV. School Meals
1. Cooked mid-day meals: It shall be the duty of all government and government-aided schools to provide a hot, cooked, nutritious mid-day meal to children up to Class 10 every day of the year, except during school holidays (and in any case for at least 200 days).
2. Droughts and disasters: At times of drought or natural or human-made disasters, mid-day meals shall also be provided during school holidays.
3. Weekly menu: The mid-day meal shall have a different menu on each day of the week. The weekly menu shall be prominently painted on the walls of the school, along with a functional Helpline number.
4. Nutrition norms: The nutrition content of the mid-day meal should be such as to meet minimum nutrition norms (calories, proteins etc.)
5. No private contractors: In rural areas, the mid-day meal shall be cooked on the school premises, using local foods. Private contractors shall not be allowed to supply the meal.
6. Minimum facilities: For the purpose of effective and hygienic provision of the mid-day meal, every government or government-aided primary school (or school with a primary section) in rural areas shall have the following minimum facilities:
a. A kitchen shed with adequate ventilation, utensils, storage facilities, etc.
b. At least one cook and helper, earning the minimum wage applicable to NREGA workers.
c. Toilets
d. Safe drinking water as well as adequate water for cleaning.
e. Plates in sufficient quantity for all children.
7. Social equity: Mid-day meal cooks and helpers shall be women from the local community. Preference shall be given to single women and SC/ST women in the appointment of cooks and helpers; in such a way that at least half of them are from these disadvantaged groups.
V. Financial Allocations: Different recipes for take home rations and mid day meals in ICDS and schools should be finalized by nutritionists such that nutritional norms are met. The financial allocations should be based on this and further, inflation indexed. There should be special financial allocation as a separate ‘budget line’ (as for immunisation) under child related schemes for protection, promotion and support of breastfeeding of infants to realise infants’ right to food.
Signed by:
Arun Gupta, arun.ibfan@gmail.com
Biraj Patnaik, biraj.patnaik@gmail.com
Devika Singh, singhstheman@gmail.com
Dipa Sinha, dipasinha@gmail.com
Radha Holla, radhahb@yahoo.com
Sachin Jain, sachinwrites@gmail.com
Samir Garg, koriya@gmail.com
Sejal Dand, sejaldand@gmail.com
T. Sundararaman, sundararaman.t@gmail.com
Vandana Prasad, chaukhat@gmail.com
Veena Shatrugna, veenashatrugna@yahoo.com
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About AHRC: The Asian Human Rights Commission is a regional non-governmental organisation that monitors human rights in Asia, documents violations and advocates for justice and institutional reform to ensure the protection and promotion of these rights. The Hong Kong-based group was founded in 1984.
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