Supreme Court asks govt to step up efforts to combat hunger.

Source – indiatoday.in

With 14.8 per cent of India’s population, pegged at around about 195 million people, going hungry every day, the Supreme Court has asked the central and state governments why there are no “community kitchens” or similar schemes for persons falling outside the public distribution system scheme (PDS).

According to the PIL filed before the apex court by social Activist Anun Dhawan and others, a report by the Ministry of health and Family Welfare had shown that in 2017-18, over 19 crore people went to sleep hungry every day.

In 2015-16, 53 per cent women in India and 23 per cent men aged 15-49 are anaemic. At least 21 per cent of children aged less than five years are too thin for their height, as per WHO standards, which is a sign of malnutrition.

The PIL also pointed out that the government had spent more than Rs 1.15 lakh crore in 2015-16 and had allocated Rs 1.74 lakh crore in the 2018-19 budget for the Department of Food and Public Distribution. In 2018-19, more than Rs 1.69 lakh crore is budgeted solely for food subsidies.

Despite this, the plea mentions that present operational schemes “suffer on account of ineffective implementation owing to their drawbacks/Lacunae”.

The PIL has sought court intervention to start schemes for distribution of cooked food to urban poor and homeless, on the lines of the Mukhyamantri Dal Bhat Yojanaayen in Jharkhand, Amma Kitchens in Tamil Nadu and Andhra, and Odisha’s Ahar canteens.

CENTRE PASSES THE BUCK

On September 2, the Supreme Court had issued a notice to the Centre, asking whether there could be a national scheme for community kitchens for the urban poor.

In its response, the central government filed an application highlighting that it is the state governments that have to implement the food distribution schemes.

During the hearing on October 23, the bench of Justices NV Ramana, Sanjeev Khanna and Krishna Murari issued notice to all states and Union territories, asking them to respond to the PIL.

The bench has asked the central government and the states to respond within 4 weeks on the steps that can be taken to create a national food grid and a food distribution system to combat urban hunger and malnutrition.