Odisha Leads Way With Climate Budget

This piece was carried on March 16, 2020 in Outlook web version

magazine'shttps://poshan.outlookindia.com/story/poshan-news-odisha-leads-way-with-climate-budget/348879

Climate budget is a step in the right direction. It is not the same as a gender budget or a nutrition budget. It’s essentially a perspective paper on budgetary components relating to climate change. The challenge remains how far the various departments will implement the suggestions.

Pradeep Baisakh | Mar 16, 2020

Odisha is the first state to present a climate budget. The importance of such a move reflects the fact that climate has direct relevance to outcomes in agriculture, health, hunger, forests, water, etc. In fact, every aspect of life and thus climate budget is a step in the right direction. But the challenge remains how far the departments will implement the suggestions made in the budget.

Climate budget is not the same as a gender budget or a nutrition budget. It’s essentially a perspective paper on budgetary components relating to climate change. Odisha’s State Action Plan on Climate Change (SAPCC) 2015-23 has formed the basis of the state climate budget.

 The budget encompasses 11 departments - Department of Agriculture and Farmers’ Empowerment, Revenue and Disaster Management, Energy, Fisheries and Animal Resources

Development, Forest & Environment, Health & Family Welfare, Panchayati Raj & Drinking Water, Rural Development, Commerce and Transport, Housing and Urban Development
and Water Resource, in its analysis.

It is unfortunate that the Departments of Industries and Steels & Mines have been excluded from this exercise. The department of Women and Child Development is also not part of the budget. Tribal development department does not also figure though a lot of infrastructure projects are carried out through the Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA). The expenditures in these departments have far-reaching impacts on climate change adaptation and mitigation.

The budget document states that “the purpose of this analysis is to assist the government in first identifying sectors and schemes to focus on improving climate resilience and mitigation outcomes, and secondly to support government in deciding whether programmes need redesigning or additional funding to accommodate changes needed to deliver climate benefits and/or safeguard projects from the impacts of climate change.”

The next step is to ensure that related schemes are revisited and resource allocations realigned. A consultation recently organized by the Foundation For Sustainable
Development and Climate Action (FSDCA) (www.fsdca.org), a non-profit organization, in association with Action For Sustainable Development (Action4SD) (action4sd.org),
a global civil society platform engaged on issues of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), looked into how far the Climate Budget addresses the climate issues of the state. About 50 people from civil society, academia, students, corporate houses and media persons participated in the event.

Just budgeting is only one step. In order to widen its intervene on the issues of climate change, it needs to create more awareness among the people on the subject
and rope in the civil society and community in the implementation of the climate action plans.

Climate Issues in Odisha:

“Despite being on the frontline to experience climate change impacts, Odisha hasn't yet attracted wider discussion in national forums. Though some discussion is taking place over coastal erosion and coastal climate, the impacts of climate change are significant on forests, rivers and overall landscape of the state,” stated Basudev Mahapatra, environment journalist. Mahapatra pointed out that due to climate change, forests in the state are degrading, rivers are dying, agriculture is facing uncertainties, and farmers are facing the brunt of it. Due to the rise of sea temperature fishes are travelling to colder area. For example, fish catch in Astaranga coast has gone down.

Globally, temperature has risen by 1.1 degree centigrade in comparison to the pre-industrial era. Rise in sea level and irregular weather conditions affecting food production are some clear impacts of climate change. The Paris Climate Deal signed by the world leaders in 2015 aims at keeping the global rise in temperature to 2 degrees above the pre-industrial era. Otherwise, it will have some irreversible impacts.

Though the people of Odisha are least responsible for climate change, we are certainly facing the heat as climate change is a global phenomenon, which does not respect boundaries. As Odisha is predominantly an agrarian society, it needs proactive actions to save its farmers and the general populace. “Climate change will drastically reduce the food production in coming years which will affect the people in Odisha,” warns Mahapatra.

Prof Surendranath Pasupalak , former Vice Chancellor, OUAT, blamed rapid, unmindful industrialization for many of the woes. “Capitalism is profit oriented. Such development does not care about the climate issues. This is the primary reason for climate change. Population growth and their rising requirement have led to consumerism and impacted negatively climate change,” stated Pasupalak.

Experts at the meet felt more funding agencies need to come forward to support climate actions undertaken by the NGOs and the government. The implementing agencies
and the monitoring agencies should be identified. These are structural needs. In addition, the participants felt traditional knowledge of locals should be utilized to help us fight climate change.

Pratap Pradhan of Samaja, a prominent Odia newspaper, stressed need for more focus on climate issues in the media by bridging the gap between the researchers on climate change and the journalists in the state. Giving a gender angle to the discussion, Bijayini Mohanty, social worker, opined, “The socio-economic impacts of climate change on the women is more than the men. The climate discussion and actions ought to reckon with this fact.” Pasupalak felt setting up of a Climate Change Commission in the state could help in bringing all the climate linked issues under one umbrella.

---------------

(The writer is Director, Foundation For Sustainable Development and Climate Change)

People’s Assembly -- An antithesis To UN General Assembly?

This piece was carried in Outlook magazine on January 9, 2020

https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/opinion-peoples-assembly-an-antithesis-to-un-general-assembly/345434?fbclid=IwAR352mna1wHle7jk0u7OCV-9RaN37widnw1lwZFVKzrYd-_ikhsy2hJYZ6g

When the UN SDG Summit was taking place on September 24 and 25, 2019 at the UN headquarters, a parallel People’s Assembly was being held at the UN Church Center

Pradeep Baisakh

“What do you want? Climate justice. When do you want it? Now. If we don’t get it? Shut it down!”

Around 300 activists from 80 countries, who had gathered in New York to join the People’s Assembly raised such slogans at the Dag Hammarskjold Park in Manhattan.

When the UN SDG Summit (High-Level Political Forum convened under auspices of UN General Assembly) was taking place on September 24 and 25, 2019 at the UN headquarters, New York for quadrennial review of the working of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a parallel People’s Assembly was being held at the UN Church Center, opposite the UN building. This was organised by the wider civil societies like GCAP, Action4SD, CIVICUS, Action Aid, ADRF, Forus, Women’s Major Group, Global Policy Forum, Trust Africa, FEMNET, SDG Watch Europe and others. 

The member nations of the United Nations adopted the framework of Agenda 2030 in September 2015 outlining various developmental goals. For example, SDG 1 promises to end extreme poverty, SDG 2 to end hunger, SDG 10 to reduce inequality, SDG 13 to fight climate change and SDG 16 to promote peaceful societies in the World so on. But what is the situation after four years? In comparison to 2015, there is more hunger; the gap between the rich and poor has widened. The global temperature has risen by 1.1 degree comparison to pre-industrial level, concentration of the greenhouse gases (GHG) reached a new high in 2018; genocide, and attacks on the human rights defenders and the civil society continue unabated.

In the voluntary national reviews (VNR), presented during the High-Level Political Forums (HLPF) in the last four years, most governments have listed their performances on achieving the SDGs and exhibited complacency with the ‘business as usual’ approach. By end of the two-day UN SDG Summit, the World leaders adopted a political declaration that reads “Gearing up for a decade of action and delivery of sustainable development”. This is also nothing other than a mere promise, which is issued during every such meeting.

People now feel cheated by governments for making false promises.

The Assembly was a gathering of people from civil society organisations and communities from countries like India, China, Russia, Philippines, Ghana, Kenya, Germany, United Kingdom, United States and Argentina etc. Among others, the indigenous communities from Amazon, community discriminated based on work and descent (DWD), termed as Dalits in India and other South Asian countries, and the women with disabilities from Ghana and other African countries participated. The two-day event discussed various ills faced by the world and marginalized and left-behind communities. The public demonstration in the Dag Hammarskjold Park was part of the event.

The gathering was an expression of disenchantment and restlessness by the people at the governments’ misdemeanor of taking them for granted. One can draw a similarity between the People’s Assembly to the World Social Forum, which is held as an anti-thesis to the World Economic Forum.

The Assembly brought forth some glaring facts. Over 730 million people in the world are still living under extreme poverty, 820 million go hungry every day, 1.1 billion do not have access to electricity, 2.7 billion are still without access to clean cooking facilities, and more than 260 million people across the world suffer daily exclusion and discrimination based on work and descent. The Assembly attributed some of these failures to the lopsided global economic system, so also social order.

In one voice, the gathering in the Assembly declared, “We exist in a world of profound inequality, climate emergency, a crisis of human rights and closing civic space and where violence is increasingly protracted and normalized. We live in a world where there is a crisis of accountability and governance. In 2019, at the end of the UNGA Summit, we are saddened by the persisting lack of political will & leadership to even begin to address these issues.  This is not good enough. This is a failure.”

Democracy and human rights have taken a beating in the last years. Across the world, there is a visible rise in the right-wing populists, nationalists and extremist groups, many of who have come to power and using the majority to attack the most vulnerable, who are perennially powerless. Such groups have grossly misused the social media to spread falsehood and create division and hatred between the dominant communities and the minorities.

The argument by some governments in Asia about the initiatives taken to produce renewable energy is belied by the fact that the plans for major coal utilization in South Asia and Southeast Asia alone would upset the Paris agreement targets, according to Climate Analytics. The US has already withdrawn from the Paris Climate deal despite being the second-largest emitter of carbon dioxide. India is the fourth-largest emitter, but its coal import in 2018 was largest in the last four years.

The Assembly demanded fundamental structural and system changes. It demanded climate justice, civic space, and equality.

In the coming years, the organizers are pondering to do such assemblies across the world, not just in New York or the national capitals, to unleash the people power and energy, to give it a shape of mass social movement and to force their political representatives to mend their ways of governance and be accountable to global citizens. No wonder, as the governments are failing to act on emergencies, the people are devising ways to protect the planet and drive the globe towards a more egalitarian and sustainable order.

(Baisakh is the Asia Coordinator of GCAP, a global campaign fighting inequality, and poverty. Views expressed are personal. Email id: 2006pradeep@gmail.com Twitter: @pradeepbaisakh)

Telangana Rape Case Encounter: Delivery Of Justice In India Needs Radical Reforms

This piece was carried on December 9, 2019 in OdishaBytes.

https://odishabytes.com/hyderabad-rape-case-encounter-delivery-of-justice-in-india-needs-radical-reforms/?fbclid=IwAR1IGTeCkeSZMNqhlNXMHsNofu0hV2TaygXiL50w-PtzonhtI3PYZ4tAuQg



Pradeep Baisakh 

We cannot wish away the feelings, emotions and helplessness of the people, particularly the parents of the victims, in this country in the garb of arguments that “The law should take its own course.”

On December 6 evening, when I was watching the prime time shows of various news channels to know different viewpoints about the encounter by the Telangana police in the Hyderabad rape incident, killing the four accused, I struggled a bit to fix my position on the issue.

I generally do not support such an action, as I believe that the due process of law should be followed while punishing the guilty. We are a civilized society and law has its own role to maintain the civility and protect democratic practices and values. We are not an anarchical society.

There is no iota of doubt that the four accused in the rape and murder of the veterinary doctor in Hyderabad on November 27 were guilty and deserve the highest form of punishment. But the case was to be investigated by the police and would have been heard by a judge to pronounce the punishment. But the police’s controversial action on the day, which many think is actually a cold-blooded murder reading the circumstantial factors, put an end to such a process. The police action evoked merriment among the common people, mostly women and young girls, who celebrated the occasion by beating drums, feeding sweets to each other and to the police and tying rakhi to police personnel.

Most Hindi news channels were supported the common man’s emotions defending the police action, while most English channels preferred towing an intellectual line arguing in favour of the “due process of law”. Odia regional channels also argued in favour of a popular sentiment.

As I heard the news of death of the Unnao rape victim on late night of December 6, my conscience was shaken, so also my views. The thought that repeatedly challenged my intellectual standing is: had the Uttar Pradesh police acted like the Telangana police, we would not have lost this victim!

It is also true that the negligence of the police in the Unnao case is a cause for which the alleged rapists could catch hold of the victim on the road.

It may be pointed out that this Unnao rape case is different from another infamous case in the same district where a minor girl was gang raped in 2017 in which the former BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar is an accused.

The police and justice system have miserably failed us in case of heinous crime like rape followed by murder. The mother of the Nirbhaya (2012 Delhi rape case that enraged the whole country) justified the police action in Hyderabad while blaming the system. “I have seen my daughter dying every moment while she was in her last stage of life. I have been running incessantly to get justice for my daughter. What have I got in the last seven years?” After the Nirbhaya case, there were changes in the justice delivery mechanisms to fast track the disposal of such cases in follow up to the Justice JS Verma committee report. Now, after seven years, the convicts might be hanged soon as the home ministry is likely to recommend rejection of clemency by the President (India Today report).

Nirbhaya’s mother is right. Seven years is too long a time for anyone to wait for justice in a crime as heinous and barbaric like rape and murder. Also listen to the brother of the Unnao victim, who said, “When I hugged my sister she told me, she does not want to die. She asked me to ensure that the attackers are not speared.” He adds. “Hyderabad police was right. I also want “quick justice” for my sister”. Now her father also wants the same.

Yesterday, a friend, who is a high class professional, called me and said, “ Being the father of a daughter, I support the Hyderabad police action.”

We cannot wish away the feelings, emotions and helplessness of the people, particularly the parents of the victims, in this country in the garb of arguments that “The law should take its own course.” They also have a right to speedy justice. Had the due process of law been followed, the people would not have come out dancing in support of the encounter of the rape accused. Laws are a means to an end. They are meant to give justice to the people. Laws are not end in themselves.

How did the rape accused in the Unnao case get bail? Was it not part of the justice system? And see the audacity. He had threatened the family members of victims while on bail and committted this crime. It means that the legal system is terribly vulnerable to manipulation, which we witness in several cases. It is another wake up call for our politicians, police, judiciary, intellectuals and we as society at large to undertake radical reforms in the justice delivery system, otherwise I will not be surprised to see more such “Tatkal justice system” through encounters or any other forms which mask serious human rights violations.

(The writer is a senior Bhubaneswar-based journalist and the views are personal)

Starved for Five Days, Disabled Child Succumbs in Indian Province

This piece was carried in CounterPunch (US-based journal) on September 3, 2019

https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/09/03/starved-for-five-days-disabled-child-succumbs-in-indian-province/



by PRADEEP BAISAKHFacebooTwitterRedditEmail

Starved for five days, Goutam Behera, 17, a disabled child from Odisha, an eastern state of India, finally succumbed on July 8, 2019. Was it a starvation death? Government is evasive; but the activists say, ‘yes’. If there are so many food related schemes in the state, then why the starvation deaths? That’s the moot question.

Goutam’s death is a story of state apathy and callousness, and breakdown of the social systems. His father and stepmother abandoned this disabled child as his disability became crippling in nature. Goutam was from Sargimunda village of Karlakot Panchayat under Boden block of Nuapada district in Odisha.

Goutam’s life

He has disabilities from childhood, but he studied till 5^th class in the village school and then completed 7^th class in a special school meant for disabled children in the Khariar block. But he had to discontinue his studies owing to increasing degree of disability. When he was about 13, he was limited to his tricycle as the part of the body below the waist became paralytic. The ordeal of Goutam started when his mother died and father married to another lady. Back in home from the school, he was beaten and tortured by the parents (Step-mother and father) for his inability do his daily-works. After driven out of his house, he took shelter under a tree for some year before he finally returned to his parental house after his parents shifted to another house. His elder sister Debanti, 22 was his caregiver.

Eventually, when Goutam and Debanti were completely separated from their parents, they were on their own. They were beneficiaries of some government schemes. They had a priority ration card, which fetched them 10 kg of subsidised rice per month from the public distribution system, which came irregularly. Goutam got the disability pension of rupees 500 ($7) per month. Insufficient these benefits were, Goutam would go out to beg on a daily basis to feed both of them. Debanti has also some disabilities and has dermatological problems.

Some activists had approached the administration to provide them an Antodaya card, which fetches 35 kg of subsidised rice per month, for which Goutam and his sister were eligible for being in the category of poorest of the poor and being disabled. But they were denied. And they were also denied a house under the Prime Minister housing scheme for the poor.

Conditions before the death

Owing to disability, Goutam developed a bedsore on his back and was admitted to a government hospital in April 2019. After being discharged from the hospital, he spent his pension money to buy his medicines. He could no more use the tricycle to go out for begging, Debanti tried to fetch some food from the neighbours for both of them. But it did not continue for more days. Last quota of rice they received was on May 25. Sameet Panda, member of Odisha Khadya Adhikar Abhiyan (Right to Food Campaign), who visited the village as part of a fact-finding team, narrates “Debanti felt ashamed to beg more as the neighbours also denied help after some days. The general condition of people in the village is also not well enough to support them for long.”

Attempts to cover up by the authorities

Both the brother and sister did not take any food for five days before Goutam died in evening on July 8. The next day the Manoj Mohanty, Additional Block Development Officer (ABDO) of Boden block reached the village and persuaded the villagers to cremate the body at the earliest despite request by the villagers to send the body for post-mortem. As per the legal norms (Odisha Relief Code), in case of alleged starvation death, the body should mandatorily be sent for post-mortem. The act of this officer was an attempt to cover up the case. Debanti has now been shifted to a government run rehabilitation center in nearby block headquarters.

Post the death; some damage-control measures have taken by the district administration. Debanti was issued with an Antodaya card hurriedly on 9^th of July along with 70 kg of rice. The Irony is, explains Ajit Panda, the local activist “They withdrew the card issued on 9^th July and then re-issued a card with a previous date mentioned on it i.e. 6^th July!” This is another attempt of covering up.

Some money was deposited in June 2019 in Debanti’s bank account from Chief Minister Relief fund before Goutam’s death, but Debanti was not aware about it as no authority informed her. It came to knowledge only after the death. It remained unutilized. She does not have a mobile to fetch any Sms-alert service from the banks and the branch is far off to make too many visits.

Where does the buck stop?

Agenda 2030 has been adopted by the member states of United Nations in September 2015 promising achieving 17 ambitious goals. The sustainable development goals 2 (SDG 2) aims to end hunger by 2030. Both the central and state governments are expected to work in tandem to achieve these goals. Sameet Panda says that about 13 alleged cases of hunger-deaths have taken place in last four years in Odisha. Both the state and central government owe an answer to the state of affairs vis-à-vis the SDGs.

The Supreme Court, in an interim order in October 2002 in PUCL vs. Union of India and Others fixed the responsibility on the Chief Secretary for any starvation death occurring in a state. In Odisha, further order by the Chief Secretary makes the entire administration responsible mentioning the Collectors as the key functionaries. By implication, the district collectors and the Chief Secretary ought to be responsible, and of course then the entire administration.

But this arrangement has not worked. In none of the cases, any such functionary has been fixed, as government has never accepted them as starvation deaths. In this case also, sources suggest, official inquiry report refuses to accept it as a case of starvation death.

Repeated attempt by this reporter to reach out to the district Collector, Madhusmita Sahu to get her reaction on the matter, went in vain.

How to stave off the starvation deaths

Rajkishor Mishra of Rupayan, a NGO working in food issues says “Earlier we had an emergency feeding programme under which the destitute would get free cooked meal from the Anganwadis once in a day. This has been discontinued since April 2015. Similar programme with a better focus should be launched forthwith.”

In view of the fast crumbling social systems, foolproof mechanism should be developed to stop hunger deaths. The village Panchayats should prepare and regularly update a roster identifying the families in vulnerable condition and suffering from chronic hunger. These families should be given Antodaya cards. In every Panchayat, there must be hoardings explaining the parameters for identification of such individuals and families and schemes meant for them.

Post the death; the Chief Minister’s Office woke up to the cause and doing a survey in backward districts to identify the vulnerable families and individuals. In Balangir district of the province, such people have been included all possible government schemes. These are good moves, but reactionary in nature. Government ought to be proactive in addressing issues of starvation.

The government should adopt a “graduation approach” to deal with such families and individuals. When immediate relief should be provided to a starving family, long term support for their livelihood and linking to the health facilities will stave the people to slip into same situation again.

.....

Pradeep Baisakh is a senior journalist based in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India. He can be reached through email: 2006pradeep@gmail.com

Despite supposed food assistance in India, people are starving to death

This piece was carried in OpenGlobalRights (UK based journal) on December 2019. 

https://www.openglobalrights.org/despite-food-assistance-in-india-people-are-starving-to-death/?fbclid=IwAR1BSHv-uKtIslAKutRElfj9Ht0K0nlx8ho-Nw2WTIluCj1dmLKyFoEjYHc

By: Pradeep Baisakh

Social systems in India are crumbling, leading to starvation deaths despite a plethora of food security programs. What is going wrong?

Starved for five days, Goutam Behera, 17, a disabled teenager from Odisha, an eastern state of India, finally succumbed on July 8, 2019. The government is evasive on whether the death was due to starvation, while human rights activists argue that it most certainly was. But if it was, this begs the question: with so many food security programs and schemes in this state, why are people dying of starvation?

Goutam’s death is a story of state apathy and callousness, alongside a breakdown of social systems. This boy was from Sargimunda village in the Nuapada district of Odisha. Nuapada is a poor and underdeveloped district of the state, predominantly inhabited by the Tribal communities. It was formerly part of Kalahandi district, which had been infamous for high levels of poverty and parents desperately selling their children. Goutam had disabilities that eventually became crippling in nature, which is when his father and stepmother abandoned him.

Despite having disabilities since childhood, he studied until fifth grade in the village school and then completed seventh grade in a special school meant for disabled children. After this, he had to discontinue his studies due to increasing degrees of disability.  When he was about 13, he was limited to his tricycle as his body below the waist became paralytic. When his mother died, his father remarried and the couple frequently beat him for his inability do his daily chores. After being driven away, Goutam took shelter under a tree for about two years before his parents moved to a new home (received through a government assistance scheme), and he was able to live in their old and deteriorating house. At that time, his elder sister Debanti, 22, became his caregiver.

Goutam’s death is a story of state apathy and callousness, alongside a breakdown of social systems.

The two siblings were thus completely separated from their parents, and they were also beneficiaries of some government assistance schemes. They had a priority ration card, which allotted them 10 kg of subsidised rice per month from the public distribution system; however, this supply came irregularly. Goutam also got the disability pension of rupees 500 ($7) per month. But as these benefits were wholly insufficient, Goutam would beg on the streets daily so they would have enough money to buy food, as Debanti has also some disabilities.

In an interview, local activist Ajit Panda said that he had approached the state administration to provide the brother and sister with an Antodaya card, which fetches 35 kg of subsidised rice per month. Even though Goutam and his sister were eligible for this due to being categorized as the poorest of the poor and being disabled, they were denied. And they were also denied a house under the Prime Minister Rural housing scheme, under the reasoning that their parents had already received one. As per provisions, however, they were eligible for being disabled and sans parental support.

The last quota of rice they received was on May 25. Sameet Panda, member of Odisha Khadya Adhikar Abhiyan (Odisha Food Rights Campaign), who visited the village as part of a fact-finding team, says: “Debanti felt ashamed to beg more, as the neighbours also denied help after some days. The general condition of people in the village is also not well enough to support them for long.” Both the brother and sister had not eaten for five days before Goutam died on July 8.

The next day, a government official persuaded the villagers to cremate the body as early as possible, despite legal norms stating that in case of alleged starvation death the body should automatically be sent for a post-mortem examination. In addition, the government quickly tried to do damage control: Debanti was issued with an Antodaya card hurriedly on July 9th, along with 70 kg of rice. But as local activist, Ajit Panda, explains: “They withdrew the card issued on 9th July and then re-issued a card with a previous date mentioned on it, that is: 6th July! It may be pointed that the death occurred on 8th.” In other words, the government was trying to backdate the ration card to cover up the cause of death. 

In addition, funds were deposited in June 2019 in Debanti’s bank account from the Chief Minister Relief fund before Goutam’s death, but Debanti was not aware about it as no authority informed her, and she is still unable to access it. She does not have a mobile to fetch any SMS alerts from the bank, and the branch is too far to make many visits.

About 13 alleged cases of hunger-deaths have taken place in last four years in Odisha.

While the sustainable development goal 2 (SDG 2) aims to end hunger by 2030, Sameet Panda says that about 13 alleged cases of hunger-deaths have taken place in last four years in Odisha and many more before.

The Supreme Court, in an interim order in October 2002 in PUCL vs. Union of India and Others fixed the responsibility on the Chief Secretary (top bureaucrat of the state) for any starvation death occurring in a state. In Odisha, further order by the Chief Secretary makes the entire administration responsible mentioning the Collectors as the key functionaries. But this arrangement has not worked. In none of the suspected starvation death cases since 2001 has anyone been held accountable, as government has never accepted them as starvation deaths. In this case also, sources suggest, the official inquiry report refuses to accept it as a case of starvation death. And my repeated attempts to reach the district Collector, Madhusmita Sahu, went unanswered.

This death happened in a state with a plethora of government food, work, housing and health schemes for the poor, disabled and old. The National Food Security Act, for example, provides subsidised food grains to the poor; there is also an old age pension scheme, a disability pension scheme, a rural housing scheme, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA), the State Health Insurance Scheme, and others.

Rajkishor Mishra of Rupayan, a NGO working on food issues says, “Earlier we had an emergency feeding programme under which the destitute would get free cooked meal from the Anganwadis—the government initiated and supported rural childcare centres in India—once in a day. This feeding programme has been discontinued since April 2015. Similar programmes with a better focus should be launched forthwith.”

In view of the rapidly crumbling social systems, the government must develop foolproof mechanisms to stop hunger deaths. The village Panchayats should prepare and regularly update a roster identifying the families in vulnerable condition and suffering from chronic hunger, and these families should be given Antodaya cards.

Since Goutam’s death, the Chief Minister’s Office has done a survey in poor districts to identify vulnerable families and individuals. In the Balangir district of the province, such people have been included in all possible government schemes. While this is good progress, it is reactionary in nature. Citizens entitled to assistance should not have to wait until children and youth die before the government takes action.

Sustainable Development Goals in India: Ambitious, but Achievable

Link to the Full paper: https://gcap.global/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/SDGs-in-India-Ambitious-but-achievable.pdf

This paper is jointly done by me and Amitabh Behar, CEO, Oxfam India for the book titled, "2030 Agenda and India: Moving from Quantity to Quality" published in December 2019 by Springer publication.

Sustainable Development Goals in India: Ambitious, but AchievablePradeep Baisakh (GCAP) and Amitabh Behar (OXFAM India)

This paper focuses on the discussion around the role of civil society in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), starting from its framing to implementation, and on different mechanisms of monitoring and accountability. It aims to evaluate the contribution of civil society in SDG implementation, and make recommendations to achieve the goals.

The Agenda 2030, which is popularly known as SDGs, was adopted by the United Nations in September 2015 involving extensive process of consultation with various stakeholders, including the civil society and reckoning the learning from the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The civil society played a key role in the drafting phase by advocating with the governments and the UN systems, and by undertaking mass actions. The paper briefly discusses about progressive provisions and shortcomings of the SDGs. India has shown adequate commitment at the top level for its execution; and structures to carry out the implementation have been put on place. However, things are hardly changing on the ground. While some of the policy initiatives are in line of the SDGs, many are not in sync with the leave no one behind (LNOB) slogan. Civil Society has been active in many ways in influencing the implementation process, monitoring and seeking accountability. The paper finally makes some key recommendations vis-à-vis the role of the civil society for better implementation of the SDGs.

https://countercurrents.org/2019/09/triumph-of-people-power

The piece was published Countercurrents on September 29, 2019

Triumph of People Power

in India — by Pradeep Baisakh — September 29, 2019 

On 7th September, thousands of people gathered at the Raj Mahal square in Bhubaneswar, the capital city of Odisha and protested against the implementation of the newly amended Motor Vehicle Act, 2019. Under the amended law, implemented from September 1, the police are collecting hefty penalties from common people for the violation of traffic rules e.g. not wearing helmets, not using a seat belt, not having the driving license and insurance, not having the pollution certificate, drunken driving so on and so forth. On the day, when the police were collecting fines, the driver of a media house van was also penalized for not using a seat belt. A tiff started with the police thereafter on how the fines would be deposited. Gradually people joined in one by one and the crowd swelled to thousands in a few moments. The agitated people then took law unto their hands and started checking the papers of the government vehicles and found that the drivers of the police van, the Municipality vehicle and the transport department bus were not wearing seat belts. Some documents of these government vehicles were also missing. Senior police officials rushed to the spot to handle the situation but failed. People asked the authorities why they are being treated like criminals while the government vehicles are let off. The collective anger had come to a state of being exploded. People went on the rampage – broke the police van, started pelting stone at the police, etc. The police also resorted to lathi charge disperse the crowd. The incidence forced the Chief Minister to relax the implementation of the act from the next day for three months.

Photo Credit: Manoj Kumar Swain

It may look like a one-off incidence, but the incidence has larger democratic connotations.

For the last one week, one was witnessing a complete police raj across the state. In an instance, an auto driver was fined as much as 47,500 rupees for various violations in Bhubaneswar, and the government proudly declared to have collected 88.9 lakhs lakh rupees in penalties in just four days, which was highest in India!  People were taken aback by the swiftness with which the government decided to implement the amended act. The amended bill was adopted by the Parliament on July 31 and eventually became an act, which came to an effect on September 1. The amended law aims at making the roads and driving safer. Unconventional requirements like the pollution checking, which is completely a new concept for many drivers in Odisha, both private and commercial – demanding fines on such violations were audacious. And look at the quantum of the fines!

The said auto driver was fined 500 rupees for general offence, 5,000 rupees for driving without a valid license,2,000 rupees for not having the insurance, 10,000 rupees for drunken driving, 10,000 rupees for not having pollution clearance certificates, 5,000 rupees for using a vehicle without registration and fitness certificate, rupees 10,000 for violating permit conditions. 5000 rupees for allowing unauthorized person to drive.

On the day of confrontation, during the lathi-charge, two constables were seen beating a video journalist who fell down while suiting the incidence. It was a clear attempt to shoot the messenger – another characteristic of a police state.

In a phase of economic slowdown affecting everyone’s pocket, forcefully collecting such hefty penalties, which are severely disproportionate to the violations done, without any prior warning for preparedness, was not to be taken easily by the people at large. Everyone, small and big, felt the pinch. Extensive media coverage and widespread criticism by people and political leaders could not relent the stubborn government, which continued to “extort” people under the garb of a draconian law.

People Power: In a democracy, people elect the government in a regular interval and the latter is expected to govern the state fulfilling the will of people. If people find the government unworthy, it votes the same out and brings another party to power. India being a Constitutional democracy, the laws and governance should be in consonance with its provisions, not in its violation. And there are institutional mechanisms existing in our country for people to approach and redress their grievances e.g. the courts, the human rights commissions etc. However, when all of these do not work, people do come to the streets, and peaceful demonstrations are permitted as a fundamental right. But in this case, breathing space was not given forcing people to turn violent during protests. The gathering was extemporaneous in nature; similar to the mass protests erupted after the Nirbhaya incidence in 2012, where everyone felt being vulnerable.

Photo Credit: Manoj Kumar Swain

A people-friendly government takes all the necessary steps so that people do not come to the streets. Their grievances were addressed beforehand. In this particular case, the Naveen Patnaik government failed the test. It behaved like a dictatorial government with brutal use of police power. It could have gone the West Bengal way and not implement the law right away.

The abrupt implementation of the law without any prior awareness drive was unreasonable. The hefty character of penalties cannot pass any tests of reasonableness either, though that’s for the courts to decide. But from an auto driver’s perspective, who earns 15,000 rupees a month to support his family in the times when the cost of living is so high, a fine of 47,500 rupees is certainly unjust and unreasonable. The irony is that the amended law also has made the contractors accountable for bad roads; the government, however, did not prefer to implement the same though many areas in Bhubaneswar have very rough roads. It, instead, it chose the soft targets – the common people. The purpose of penalties in case of traffic violations ought to be reformative in character, not retributive.

When a draconian law is implemented in a forceful way, people do come out in open to protest, which many a time take a violent turn. It happens across the globe. See the instance in Hong Kong, where people are doing violent protests against a proposed extradition bill for the last four months, finally forcing the Hong Kong government to withdraw the same. Under the proposed law, the suspects from Hong Kong would have been taken to Mainland China to be tried in the Judicial System, widely believed to be opaque. This is the victory of people power. The incidence at the RajMahal Square, which was followed by the state government revising its decision, is also an instance of the triumph of people.

Pradeep Baisakh is a senior journalist based in Bhubaneswar. Email: 2006pradeep@gmail.com