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UTTAR PRADESH: STRUGGLE FOR RIGHT TO FOOD AND INFORMATION

"Vivek" vivekdse@yahoo.com

On 11 January 2003, just a day after the President of India put his
seal on the Union Right to Information Act, over 250 people from
Bharawan village in Hardoi district (U.P.) staged a spontaneous dharna (peaceful demonstration) to demand information on development-related schemes in their block. The demand was fiercely opposed by vested interests, and the struggle intensified over the next two weeks, with the active involvement of Sandeep Pandey. After ten days of dharna and several days of hunger strike in icy weather, the administration turned hostile and even threatened a lathi charge. Despite dire warnings, the people of Bharawan moved towards the district headquarters in Hardoi. They marched with black bands tied across their mouth to symbolize the stifling of the voice of democracy.

The District Magistrate, Mr M.A.A. Khan, assured them that he would complete an enquiry and give a detailed report by 15 February. As a first victory, the people of Bharawan got information about various public works taken up for a part of last year. Seeing un-built roads and ghost 'projects' has created a stir among the participants. This has also put pressure on the administration with various officials being suspended, possibly for the first time in UP with the use of right to information.

To take this process forward, a workshop on the right to food and information was organised in Bharawan on 20-21 February. The workshop had widespread participation from people all over the block and even from different parts of UP. Members of PUCL (Rajasthan), Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan, Parivartan (Delhi) and the support group of the right to food campaign facilitated the workshop.

There are widespread irregularities in the region. Few people have seen ration cards. A survey done in five panchayats revealed that only 0.5 % of the people had a ration card. This is staggering even by UP's unusual standards. Only one woman among hundreds of participants had heard of a survey being conducted for identifying BPL families, even though local officials claimed that a door-to-door BPL identification survey had just been completed. Participants from just one panchayat had worked in an SGRY programme, and even they had not received their full wages.

The meeting ended with a resolve to take up issues of employment, pensions and the public distribution system. The team hopes to make use of the right to information in securing better compliance in the region with respect to these schemes. Hopefully this would lead to a
much larger movement in the whole of Uttar Pradesh.