Fwd: Minutes of the meeting

Dear Friends,

RTF State Secretariat attended a meeting on 14th May, 2013 organized by Anuradha Di and CASA jointly  at 5 Russell Street. 

It is decided that,  A Regional Level Meet has been proposed to organize on 8^th June 2013 at Kolkata for the Planning & Consultation on the future plan of action to be taken by respective states in the East Zone.

I am attaching the Minutes here. 

Please inform me your participation in this Regional meeting that can help me organize your food and lodging. 

With regards 

SARADINDU

State Convener

Right to Food and Work Campaign-West Bengal 

Meeting Minutes

Right to Food Movement: Role of CBOS and Voluntary Organizations on National Food Security Bill 2013 in the State of West Bengal

Venue:

CASA

5 Russell Street, Kolkata, West Bengal, India 700 071

Phones: +91-33-22268206, +91-33-22498187

Fax: +91-33-22265590 Mobile: +91-9433190122

E-mail: casawestbengal@gmail.com & casaeast@gmail.com

Website: www.casa-india.org

Facebook - www.facebook.com/casawestbengal

Date:

14th May 2013

Participants

• Mr. Saradindu Biswas, RTF, West Bengal

• Fr. Jothi Sj, RTF, West Bengal

• Mr. Ataur Saleem Hussain, PJJM, West Bengal

• Ms. Jharna Acharya, PJJM, West Bengal

• Mr. Ashok Nayak, Action Aid, West Bengal

• Mrs. Anuradha Talwar, State Advisor to the Supreme Court Appointed Commissioner on Right to Food, West Bengal

• Mr. Debojyoti Chakrabortty, CASA West Bengal

• Mr. Anand Sengupta, CASA Kolkata

• Mrs. Sanghamitra Dasgupta, CASA Kolkata

• Ms. Nandita Goswami, CASA Kolkata



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Agenda

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• Update of the Delhi "Dharna" on Food Security Bill 2013

• Present status of the Food Bill post parliament session

• Role of Civil Society Organization

• Specific role Of Voluntary Organizations in addressing the Food Bill

• Policy Analysis

• Proposed Actions to be taken in the next 3 months

• Source of Financial support for the Activities to be initiated

• Status of the Vigilance Committee at the micro level

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Preamble

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After the recent parliament session and much awaited submission & discussion on National Food Security Bill, Right to Food, India and its state level bodies needs to focus at their respective states and also at regional level. CASA along with other network members had specially requested Right to Food West Bengal Chapter to organize for a planning meet & update on status of Food Security Bill. The meeting was called at CASA West Bengal State Secretariat Office at 5, Russell Street on 14th of May 2013 at 3.00 p.m.

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Meeting Minutes of 14th May 2013

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• Update of the Dharna 18th-22nd March 2013 at Jantar Mantar, Delhi through a symbolic packet of wheat (166 gram) was given to the MPs as a mode of protest during Dharna.

• 5th May 2013 a  meeting was organized at Delhi (see annexure 1) on campaign strategy and course of action on the National food security Bill was shared with the small group and on the future action of the protest

•  It was decided to meet 42 MPs in the state of West Bengal just after Panchayat Election in small groups

• Sharing of the Note on status update related to Food Security Bill for effective mobilization of the mass

• Special Note on the inclusion along with Universalization of the Bill

• Closed Industry

• Closed Tea Garden

• Land Erosion at Malda

• Chit Mahal  areas

• A Regional Level Meet has been proposed to organize on 8th June 2013 at Kolkata for the Planning & Consultation on the future plan of action to be taken by respective states in the East Zone

• Representatives from the States of Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Chattishgarh & Assam will participate in the meet

• Partial contribution will be made by the other networking partners along with CASA West Bengal State Secretariat

• CASA West Bengal State Secretariat will take the responsibility to organize and coordinate the programme on 8th June 2013

• CASA West Bengal State Secretariat will formulate the budget and share the same with Right to Food West Bengal Chapter.

• West Bengal Right to food Chapter and other Networking Partners will nominate the names of the participants representing the campaign

• Mrs. Talwar will follow it up with State Food Commissioner to publish the list of District to PDS Shop level "nominated Vigilance Committee Members" which was handed over to State Food Commissioner during February 2013.

• There is a need of Translated and revised version of Food Security Bill (in Bengali) for circulation. Action Aid, CASA, Paschimbanga Khet Majur Samiti will jointly work on the same.

• Due to the onset of West Bengal Three tier Panchayat election Regional Level involving mass gathering at various pockets in the State of West Bengal will be suspended till the election end. The programme will be conducted during July 2013 before the Monsoon Session "Badal Adhibeson".

• Paschim Banga Khet Majur Samiti will be more involved during Panchayat Election for establishing selecting a "People's Representative" as a candidate.

• Strengthening of Gram Samsad for more effective functioning at the Micro level to have more transparency and ownership at the People's hand

• Regular meet at least meeting  in every 2 months at the Gram Samsad level

• Financial independency and stability at the Samsad

• Right to Recall and Right To Reject

• Formation of "Nagrik Committee"

• The meeting ended stating the need of a pre planning meeting before the Regional meet and the related communication will be updated through mail as a follow up process.

Report Compiled by –

CASA West Bengal State Secretariat

Annexure 1

Minutes of Right to Food Campaign meeting on 5 May 2013

Participants: Anuradha Talwar, Aditya Shrivastava, Vimla, Sejal Dand, Avinash, Dheeraj, Ayush, Ashok Khandelwal, Biraj Patnaik, Jean Drèze, Ankita, Dipa Sinha, Kavita Srivastava

Agenda

To plan the Campaign's strategy and course of action on the National Food Security Bill.

Decisions taken

1. To be done in the next week

• Participation in tomorrow's conference: A conference is being organised tomorrow on the disruptions in the Parliament and the lack of debate on crucial Bills. On behalf of the Right to Food Campaign, Kavita will speak at the press conference tomorrow, being organised on the issue of disruptions in the Parliament and lack of debate on crucial Bills. The Campaign will also issue a press note in the conference. Some also felt that the Hindi press should be targeted specially, maybe through another press conference.

• Meeting party leaders: Members of the Campaign who will be in Delhi will meet party leaders in the Parliament to convey the Campaign's main demands from the Bill.

2. To be done in the next few months

• National level convention in Delhi: A national level convention should take place in Delhi in end-June.

• Regional conventions: Before the convention in Delhi, regional level consultations should take place. Anuradha will take the responsibility for the Eastern Region consultation in Kolkata and Sejal will take the responsibility for the Western Region consultation in Ahmedabad. One consultation also needs to take place in the Southern Region.

• Public action in the next Parliament session: Many people also thought that there should be some public action in the next Parliament session (in case the Bill doesn't get passed in this session, which seems most likely). Suggestions for this action included bringing people who do not have ration cards, inviting MPs to present their party's positions on the Bill, action in front of godowns and exposing existing cash transfer scheme in lieu for food. However, it was also discussed that most members of the Campaign are feeling fatigued and may not want to come for the various events which were being discussed.

• State Campaigns to meet leaders from their states: It was also suggested that state campaigns should meet leaders from their states.