PHM-Exch> JANA AROGYA ANDOLANA KARNATAKA LAUNCHES HUNGER & MALNUTRITION WATCH PORTAL IN KARNATAKA STATE

Wed Jan 25 04:21:22 PST 2012

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*JANA AROGYA ANDOLANA KARNATAKA LAUNCHES *

*HUNGER & MALNUTRITION WATCH PORTAL IN KARNATAKA STATE*

www.republicofhunger.org

JAAK, the Karnataka circle of People’s Health Movement, active in Karnataka
for the past 12 years, has raised people’s concerns on access to primary
health care through Right to Primary Healthcare Campaign, Right to
Essential Drugs and by raising critical concerns on the issues of
malnutrition and food security, the latter being an essential requirement
for health.

*Whatever has happened to the Democratic and Socialist Republic of India?*

The purpose of a portal on malnutrition is to highlight the irony of the
Indian nation-state. For the past 62 years the Republic Day has been a
sham, a façade, an attempt to distract harassed citizens into believing
that they as a collective, as a nation, have made great economic progress
by show-casing the military might and the ‘cultural diversity’ through
trite and clichéd art performances.  While the ‘sovereign’ state has been
show-cased, what has fallen by the way-side are the ideals of the
Constitution which envisaged not just a sovereign republic but also a
‘Socialist and Democratic’ republic with the ideals of economic, political
and social justice as the preamble says.

The Prime Minister of India mentioned the fact that over 50% children in
India suffering malnourishment is a ‘national shame’. What would he say of
80% women who are anemic, about 1,00,000 women dying every year in
child-birth and about 10,00,000 infants dying in birth? While the food
grains rot in the go-downs of Food Corporation of India (FCI), millions of
children and women, mostly drawn from the vulnerable communities go hungry.
What do you and I say to this?

The Karnataka State, the integral constituent of the Indian Union, bound to
obey and implement the constitutional mandate has failed its most
vulnerable citizens by depriving them of the basic right to a life of
dignity.  It’s a national shame that with much hesitation and only when the
Honorable High Court of Karnataka intervened that the state government was
forced to accept that 72,000 children are severely malnourished and almost
10 lakh children are moderately malnourished. This number is discounting
what is happening to women from Dalit, tribal and agricultural laborers,
domestic workers community; discounting the issues of sexual minority; the
people with disability and people living with HIV/AIDS and the like.

It is trying its best to abdicate its responsibility by refusing to provide
even the most basic entitlements to its citizens. It is on this count that
the Government of Karnataka will find its name in the hall of shame for not
only unacceptable levels of malnutrition in the state but also for its
embarrassing attempts at trying to escape blame by distorting facts and
figures. Karnataka is a fitting case study of what happens when unbridled
liberalization meets corrupt, colluding interests.

*The Hunger Watch Portal -  www.republicofhunger.org*

The portal *www.republicofhunger.org* will convey the scale and depth of
the problem. It will serve as a watchdog and examine the claims of the
state, disputing them when necessary. Activists of various networks
anchoring the campaign will monitor government’s actions on the ground,
document the gaps and provide live feed to the portal in text and
audio/video form. By this it will facilitate production of new material
through regular reports from the field, analyses of data and policies,
compilation of case studies, all of which will contribute to actions and
events to move the campaign forward in Karnataka.

It will also provide basic information and resources on malnutrition,
challenge popular misconceptions about it, raise critical questions and
examine its existence in the democratic context. It will record the ongoing
discourses and debates among experts and in the media on this issue. The
portal will provide links to existing useful information on the web. It
will involve civil society through activism, participation in events,
fundraising and so on.

 This portal has been set up in the hope of furthering public discussions
on the politics of malnutrition and initiating actions against state
apathy. This initiative comes in the wake of the recent child deaths due to
malnutrition in Raichur and the ongoing Public Interest Litigation on this
issue in the Honorable High Court of Karnataka. Subsequently several
people’s movements and rights-based organizations have demanded critical
changes in policy and programs. As expected the government has gone on the
offensive refusing to acknowledge any failing on its part.  The portal also
aims to provide live stories from people in Karnataka through the activists
of Jana Arogya Andolana Karnataka, who are actively monitoring the hunger &
malnutrition scene.

The shame of the high levels of malnutrition in Karnataka, far higher than
our southern neighbors, is a clarion call to us all to arise from our daily
routines and put justice and food security at the centre of our
citizenship. The portal will be a reference point to policy makers,
journalists, lawyers, activists as well as any concerned person on the
issues of ‘hunger’ and malnutrition.

Dr .Gopal Dabade      Chairperson ,JAAK

Vijaya kumar. S (9535368657) ,  SWG member , JAAK

Sudha. N (9945837870) St Wk Gp member ,JAAK

*The Secretariat, **
*

**Jana Arogya Andolana -Karnataka JAA-K)
* E-mail:jaaksecretariat at gmail.com
Website: www.phmovement.org, www.phm-india.org, www.sochara.org*

*"Health is a social, economic and political issue and above all a
fundamental human right. Inequality, poverty, exploitation, violence and
injustice are at the root of ill-health and the deathsof poor and
marginalised people. Health for all means that powerful interests have to
be challenged, that globalisation has to be opposed, and that political and
economic priorities have to be drastically changed." (PHM,  Preamble of
People’s Charter for Health  2000)*
<http://www.sochara.org>
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