The Right to Food Campaign (RFT), Jharkhand, prepared detailed reports on the starvation death of two more persons in the state, Motka Manjhi and Ramachandra Munda. Text of the reports: Motka Manjhi: On 3rd June 2019 a fact-finding team consisting of Mr. Ashrfi Nand Prasad, Mr Prathyush S,  both from Right to Food Campaign (RTF), Mr. Sushanto … More Had pensions been paid on time, Motka Manjhi and Ramachandra Munda would perhaps be alive today

By Mohan Guruswamy* Late last year, two young men decided to live a month of their lives on the income of an average poor Indian. One of them, Tushar, the son of a police officer in Haryana, studied at the University of Pennsylvania and worked for three years as an investment banker in the US … More Two friends’ brief encounter with poverty taught them why food security is so essential for all

Kavita Srivastava and Dipa Sinha, conveners, Right to Food Campaign (RFT), on behalf of the  Steering Committee of the RFT, have released a list of demands which political parties must address in their election manifestos: The Right to Food Campaign requests all political parties to consider the following suggestions towards ensuring right to food for all … More Hunger in India is reflection of rural distress arising out of the agrarian crisis, poor livelihood options

By Moin Qazi* India produces enough food to meet the needs of its entire population, and has at its disposal arable land that has the potential to produce food surplus for export. Yet, it is unable to feed millions of its people, especially women and children. India ranks 100th among 119 countries in the Global … More Wasting food in a hungry world: Why India ranks 100th among 119 countries in Hunger Index

Three minor girls Mansi (8), Shikha (4) and Parul (2) died on July 24, 2018 in Mandawali, East Delhi, and the post mortem reports listed starvation as the cause of the deaths. Members of the Delhi Rozi Roti Adhikar Abhiyan (DRRAA), Anjali Bhardwaj and Amrita Johri along with Harsh Mander (former special commissioner to the … More Starvation deaths in Delhi: Lack of ID proof, aadhaar, excluding most needy, marginalised

Report of a civil society fact finding on the death of Rajendra Birhor: On 26 July 2018, a fact finding team comprising of Basant Hetamsaria and Leo Singh (National Alliance of People’s Movements), Ankita Aggarwal and Siraj Dutta (Right to Food Campaign) and Sonal Tiwary (Human Rights Law Network) investigated the death of Rajendra Birhor … More Starvation death in Jharkhand: Belonging to PVTG, the family didn’t have ration card, aadhaar

By Moin Qazi*   “In general, the rural moneylender as a species has proved surprisingly resilient, even in countries such as India and Indonesia where it has been a declared objective of state intervention in financial markets to suppress him.” — Hulme and Mosley, Finance Against Poverty A sense of deep despair runs through the lives … More Moneylender still is all-season creature, who has resisted all types of socio-economic antibiotics