The document discusses the Right to Food case in India and the work of the Office of the Commissioners to the Supreme Court, which was established to monitor food and employment schemes. It summarizes that the Commissioners have helped universalize key programs, increase budget allocations, restrict lowering of poverty lines, and engage civil society, but face ongoing challenges in reforming weak governance systems and balancing individual and systemic responsibilities.

1. The Right to Food in India

2. The Food Security Scenario in
South Asia
Country
Food
Production
Food Exports Food Imports Food Balance
Bangladesh 26,924 1.6 2,827 -4,601
India 1,74,655 9,490 56 23,826
Nepal 5,839 11 39 57
Pakistan 24,936 2,966 288 3,818
Sri Lanka 1,938 9.8 1,307 252
Source: FAO, 2004. Figures in thousand metric tones for 2002

4. Some Indicators for Child Wellbeing and malnutrition in South Asia
Bangla-
desh
India Nepal Pakistan Sri Lanka
Immunization
(% of children under 3 years who have not
received the stated vaccine)
BCG
DTP3
MCV
Pol3
5
15
23
15
27
36
44
30
15
20
27
20
20
35
33
35
1
3
4
3
Child undernutrition
(% of children with the stated condition)
Underweight
Stunting
Wasting
48
43
13
46
46
16
48
51
10
38
37
13
29
14
14
Infant and child mortality
(per 1,000 live births)
Infant mortality rate
Under-five mortality rate
56
77
62
85
59
76
80
101
12
14

5. India’s Annual Growth Rate
Year GDP Per capita income
1951-79 3.6 1.3
1980-91 5.6 3.5
1992-06 6.5 4.7

6. Population, GDP and Foodgrain Production
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1951 1961 1971 1981 1991 2001 2006
Population
GDP
Foodgrain
Production

7. Growthof GDPinIndia
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
annualincrease 5.1 6.2 7.0 7.3 7.5 5.1 6.5 6.1 4.4 5.6 4.4 8.5 7.5 8.4
1992-
93
1993-
94
1994-
95
1995-
96
1996-
97
1997-
98
1998-
99
1999-
00
2000-
01
2001-
02
2002-
03
2003-
04
2004-
05
2005-
06

8. Worrying issues
• News of starvation deaths & farmers’ suicides from
many states
• Stagnant agricultural production, and falling food
availability
• Unemployment has increased from 4 to 8% in ten
years
• Regional disparities are increasing
• IMR stagnating around 60 per 1000, it is 46 in
Bangladesh
• Immunisation coverage fell from 60 to 40% in 5 yrs
• More than 50% women are anemic
• 46% children are malnourished
• Declining child sex ratio during 1991-2001
• There is no will to improve administration in poor
states

9. Index number of Agricultural
Production
Index annual rate
of growth
1981-82 100
4.4%
1990-91 148
2.8%
1996-97 176
0.2%
2004-05 179

10. 165
175
185
195
205
215
Foodgrain Production (million tonnes)
Series1 199.4 192.3 203.6 209.8 196.8 211.9 174.2 210.8
1996-97 1997-98 1998-99 1999-00 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04

11. 0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Foodgrain exports in million tonnes
Total exports 4.685 12.385 10.308 0.753 28.131
2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 Total

12. 69.7
64.8
59.8
66.5
69.5
59
62
65
68
71
1961 1971 1981 1991 2001
% of Work Force dependent on
Agriculture

13. Percentage below poverty
line
1973 56
1987 39
1994 35
1999 26?
2004 28
Poverty

14. number of poor people in millions
247 239 234
201
236
53 65 70
67
78
0
350
1971 1981 1991 2001 2006
Urban
Rural

15. Social groups 1993-94 1999-2000
Percentage Share in Percentage Share in
Total Rural
Population
Below
Poverty
Line
Total Rural
Population
Below
Poverty
Line
Scheduled
tribes
10.8 48.8 10.5 48.0
Scheduled
castes
21.1 45.7 20.4 38.4
Others 68.1 28.3 69.1 23.2
All households 100.0 34.2 100.0 28.9

16. There should be no food
insecurity in India
Both GDP and foodgrain production
have risen faster than the growth in
population over the last 50 years
And yet chronic hunger and starvation persist in large
sections of the population. There has been a
declining calorie consumption especially in the
bottom 30% of the population.

17. Net availability of foodgrains per capita per day in gms
400
420
440
460
480
500
1951 1956 1961 1966 1971 1976 1981 1986 1991 1996 2001

18. Source: Report of Committee on Long Term Grain Policy, 2002

20. India has the largest food schemes
in the World
• Entitlement Feeding Programmes
– ICDS (All Children under six, Pregnant and lactating mother)
– MDMS (All Primary School children)
• Food Subsidy Programmes
– Targeted Public Distribution System (35 kgs/ month of subsidised food grains
– Annapurna (10 kgs of free food grain for destitute poor)
• Employment Programmes
– National Rural Employment Scheme (100 days of employment at minimum
wages)
• Social Safety Net Programmes
– National Old Age Pension Scheme (Monthly pension to BPL)
– National Family Benefit Scheme (Compensation in case of death of bread winner
to BPL families)

21. The Right to Food Case
• PUCL petition on hunger in Rajasthan in the Supreme
Court in 2001
• Emergence of the Right to Food Campaign
• Key Issues:
– Making the Right to Food a Fundamental Right
– Converting all existing schemes into entitlements
– Tackling large scale malnutrition and chronic hunger
– Securing employment as a fundamental right linked to the Right
to Food
• Longest continuing mandamus on the Right to Food in
the World
– 51 Interim Orders so far; more than 500 affidavits; nearly 70
Interim Applications

22. Highlights of Supreme Court
Orders on the Right to Food
• Converted all food and employment schemes into legal
entitlements
• Universalised food entitlement programmes for children
(ICDS for children under six and Mid Day Meal Scheme
for all primary school children)
• Instituted the independent mechanism of Commissioners
to the Supreme Court to monitor all food and
employment programmes
• Prevented the reduction of the “poverty line” from 36% to
26%
• Hauled up Government periodically by serving notice of
contempt of court on senior most Government
functionaries (Chief Secretaries)

23. Office of the Commissioners to the
Supreme Court (Writ 196/ 2001)
• Appointed by the Supreme Court to monitor all
food schemes in the Country
• Mandate extends to:
– Entitlement Feeding Programmes
• MDMS, ICDS
– Employment Programmes
• NREGS, SGRY I & II, NFFWP, RSVY
– Food Subsidy Programme
• TPDS, Antodaya Anna Yojana (AAY), Annapurna Yojana
– Social Security Programmes
• Pensions (NOAPS, NMBS, NFBS)

24. How does the Office of the
Commissioners function?
• Honorary positions; work supported by funds
mandated by the Supreme Court
• Works through a secretariat (Delhi) and a
network of Advisers across India
• Make policy recommendations through:
– Rigorous participatory research
– Articulating alternative demands of State policy
– Participating in policy bodies such as Planning
Commission Steering Groups

25. How does the Office of the
Commissioners function? (cont’d.)
• Monitors programmes
– Through analysis of macro-data
– Addressing complaints at the micro-level
• Holds the State accountable by:
– Regular engagement with the GoI and State
Governments
– Joint Commission of Enquiries
– Regular reports on non-compliance to the
Supreme Court

26. Impact so far
• Universalisation of MDMS (120 million children get
school meals) and ICDS (Government would need to
double the ICDS centres to 1.4 million centres covering
60 million children under the age of six)
• Managed to restrict the lowering of BPL quotas by GoI
from 36% to 26%
• Increase in off-take of subsidised food-grains through the
targeted public distribution system
• Increased budgetary allocation for ICDS, Old Age
Pensions (3 times the amount)
• Passage of the National Rural Employment Guarantee
Act which guarantees 100 days of employment a year (at
minimum wages)

27. Impact so far (cont’d.)
• Provided Civil Society an anchor to engage/
confront the State and created spaces for civil
society to engage in food/ employment
programmes
• Brought the discourse on food rights to the
centre-stage of governance in the States and
GoI
• Has been largely effective in provision of
gratuitous relief (Tea Garden Workers in West
Bengal).
• Created the environment for the passage of the
National Rural Employment Guarantee Act

28. Off-take of BPL/ AAY Food Grains
• Figure 3.1: Percentage off-take of BPL/AAY food grains from 2001-02 to 2004-05
81.9%
73.7%
64.2%
59.2%
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05
Percentageofftake
Source: Various issues of Monthly food grain bulletin, Department of food and public distribution, GoI

29. Some Challenges that we face
• Attempting reforms in an era of overall
weakening governance and state commitment to
social sectors
• Has powers (including filing contempt charges
against Chief Secretaries) which are best used
by not being exercised
• Operates in the domain of judicial activism
• Challenge of individual redressal versus
systemic policy engagement
• Has proved to be marginally effective in harder
areas of governance reforms