Right to food needs to be looked into with human rights perspective: NHRC

The NHRC hosted a meeting on the issues of food security with its member saying that the right to food, besides being a statutory right also needs to be looked into with a "human rights perspective".

The NHRC on Tuesday hosted a meeting on the issues of food security with its member saying that the right to food, besides being a statutory right also needs to be looked into with a "human rights perspective".

During the meeting, status of nutrition of children, pregnant women and lactating mothers and implementation of the 'One Nation One Ration Card' scheme in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic were also discussed, officials said.

The rights panel on Monday had said that reportedly, as per the Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey (CNNS) Report 2016-18 of the Union Health Ministry, 34.7 per cent of children under five years are categorised as stunted in India, 33.4 per cent of children under five years are underweight, 28.4 per cent adolescents aged 10-19 years are anaemic.

On Tuesday, in a statement, the National Human Rights Commission said, offered several key suggestions on the subject.

Chairing the meeting, NHRC Member Rajiv Jain said that the right to food, besides being a statutory right also needs to be looked into with a human rights perspective.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights, different international Covenants as well as the Sustainable Development Goals have underlined its importance, the statement said.

Therefore, food grain availability, sustainability and its supply towards seeking zero hunger needs to be assessed and evaluated on time to time to find gaps, if any, in policies and implementation thereof with some concrete suggestions, which can be further deliberated upon by the commission for recommendations to the government, it said.

Earlier, NHRC Secretary General Bimbadhar Pradhan said the COVID-19 pandemic has once again drawn the attention to different aspects of access and portability of food entitlements. The One Nation One Ration Card scheme is a "game changer" in our journey of 'Right to Food' in its entirety, the statement said.

In addition to the inaugural session, the meeting was divided into three thematic sessions, including nutrition of pregnant women, lactating mothers and children below six years and 6-14 years, and One Nation One Ration Card scheme (ONORC) implementation, challenges and the way forward.

Some of the other important suggestions that emerged during the discussions, included a need to introduce a policy for the urban poor and migrants on the lines of MGNREGA; need to monitor data on transferring of food grains to all the vulnerable sections, including the SC/ST by states.

Strengthening the ICDS (Integrated Child Development Services) in terms of expanding its reach, adequate finances and staff and their wages; extending the mid-day meal scheme to the students up to class 12 from the existing class 8; popularising benefits of breastfeeding, were other suggestions.

Including all children and not just the first born for the benefits under PMGKAY (Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana); handling of cancellation process of bogus ration cards with sensitivity so as to ensure no genuine beneficiary is excluded, were also suggested.

Insistence of Aadhaar card linkage with the ration card is restricting the intent of PMGKAY, the rights panel suggested, adding, guidelines should be simplified and a system not exclusively based on Aadhaar and smart cards, need to be thought out.