Hello friends,
In India, we have many institutions that provide free food for the poor / needy at various levels. Many-many religious institutions - Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Christian, Muslim and many others - provide food for the needy on a daily basis. There are institutions that feed 1000s every day all over the country. I think this is very good philanthropic work that is happening all over India, well diversified and is completely decentralized.
And then we have the mid-day meal scheme for school children. This is available in many states of India, which encourages children of the poor or needy to go through their education, even if the free education is not enticing enough for such families.
Some basic questions come up on recent events.
1. Now, where is the need to come up with a Food Security Bill? I do agree that we may not have free food distribution in small villages and some rural areas, but is that reason enough to come up with a gargantuan plan?
2. Who really gets the "add"vantage? Are the bureaucrats and politicians (and their henchmen who are spread far and wide) the main people to benefit?
3. How is this going to improve the security of the poor / needy, compared to their current status? Or rather, what is the improvement in % figures that we expect to see in really needy folks getting the security? Don't many of them already benefit from philanthropic activities, which need not be touched when it is working?
3. What should be done by the various institutions to adapt to the change proposed - should Annadhanams and Free meal plans of all private / NGO institutions be dropped? Or will they complement each other? If so, what is the advantage of the Food security bill to be added to the existing processes?
5. Will the noon-meal scheme complement the FSB? Or will it come within FSB now? Or will they all run in parallel (for the different controllers to control; and exploit)?
6. PDS has been successfully going on in many states. How does that get affected by this FSB? Will they continue together? Does one supersede the other?
7. In light of other existing systems, is this really a "Food Super-security bill" (if at all; for the needy)?
And then there are many more questions at the simple level, leave alone organization, planning, execution, etc. It will be interesting to hear further opinion on these basic questions we have.
Jai Hind
In India, we have many institutions that provide free food for the poor / needy at various levels. Many-many religious institutions - Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Christian, Muslim and many others - provide food for the needy on a daily basis. There are institutions that feed 1000s every day all over the country. I think this is very good philanthropic work that is happening all over India, well diversified and is completely decentralized.
And then we have the mid-day meal scheme for school children. This is available in many states of India, which encourages children of the poor or needy to go through their education, even if the free education is not enticing enough for such families.
Some basic questions come up on recent events.
1. Now, where is the need to come up with a Food Security Bill? I do agree that we may not have free food distribution in small villages and some rural areas, but is that reason enough to come up with a gargantuan plan?
2. Who really gets the "add"vantage? Are the bureaucrats and politicians (and their henchmen who are spread far and wide) the main people to benefit?
3. How is this going to improve the security of the poor / needy, compared to their current status? Or rather, what is the improvement in % figures that we expect to see in really needy folks getting the security? Don't many of them already benefit from philanthropic activities, which need not be touched when it is working?
3. What should be done by the various institutions to adapt to the change proposed - should Annadhanams and Free meal plans of all private / NGO institutions be dropped? Or will they complement each other? If so, what is the advantage of the Food security bill to be added to the existing processes?
5. Will the noon-meal scheme complement the FSB? Or will it come within FSB now? Or will they all run in parallel (for the different controllers to control; and exploit)?
6. PDS has been successfully going on in many states. How does that get affected by this FSB? Will they continue together? Does one supersede the other?
7. In light of other existing systems, is this really a "Food Super-security bill" (if at all; for the needy)?
And then there are many more questions at the simple level, leave alone organization, planning, execution, etc. It will be interesting to hear further opinion on these basic questions we have.
Jai Hind
