States have failed to comply with SC order on drought, say activists

New Delhi: It has been more than a month that the Supreme Court gave a series of orders to provide relief to the drought affected but state governments are yet to comply.

So far not a single state has universalized the public distribution system (PDS) in drought hit areas. The court on 13 May ordered that no household in a drought hit districts be denied subsidised rations for want of a ration card.

Also, implementation of the top court’s directive that mid day meals be served to school children during summer vacations was either non-existent in most states or patchy where it was taken up. These were among the revelations during a review on Thursday by a host of civil society organisations tracking the ground level implementation of the Supreme Court orders.

“The Supreme Court clearly said that the buck stops with the centre but it has consistently shirked its responsibilities,” said Yogendra Yadav of the Swaraj Abhiyan, the organisation which petitioned the top court.

“The court directed governments to follow existing procedures on restructuring of crop loans but banks are not issuing fresh loans (for planting of Kharif crops). Instead, they are sending recovery notices to farmers.”

Following deficit rains in 2014 and 2015, as many as 12 states declared themselves drought hit. During the hearing of the case, the centre told the court that an estimated 330 million people or a quarter of India’s population is affected.

On throwing open the PDS for all households, the Centre has asked states to lift additional foodgrains at minimum support prices, instead of the central issue prices of ₹ 2-3 per kg. For instance, on 3 June the centre wrote to the Rajasthan government that it will allocate 189,700 tonnes of wheat to the state to meet its additional requirement for drought relief but the state has to procure the grains at minimum support prices of ₹ 15 per kg (compared to ₹ 2 per kg of wheat under the National Food Security Act or NFSA). Mint has reviewed a copy of the letter.

“Instead of implementing the order with a sense of urgency, the centre is asking states to lift foodgrains at a higher price and states are not interested,” said Harsh Mander, commissioner appointed by the Supreme Court in the Right to Food case.

If the food security act was implemented properly it would have protected between 75-88% of rural households but in several states beneficiary lists are full of defects and leaves out the needy, he added.

In states like Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, extension of mid-day meals during vacations have been uneven and school teachers have protested additional duties without payment, said Dipa Sinha from the Right to Food campaign.

She added that in spite of two continuous drought, states like Bihar and Jharkhand chose not to implement the court orders and as the summer vacation is going to get over (by end June) children has already missed out on the meals.

The court on 11 and 13 May passed a series of judgements which also includes releasing adequate funds for the Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) so there are no wage delays. Further, it asked the centre to compensate workers whose wages have been delayed by more than the stipulated 15 days.

Despite prodding by the court, the centre has a pending payment of ₹ 5,500 crore in labour wages and materials dues to states, said Nikhil Dey of the Soochna Evum Rozgar Abhiyaan (Movement for Right to Information and Employment).

The centre gave an undertaking to the court that the scheme to provide an additional 50 days of employment in drought hit districts (in addition to the 100 days guaranteed for a household per year) will be extended in 2016-17. However, only Karnataka has received the clearance from centre, Dey said, adding, “for the government, the drought ended with the last financial year (2015-16) in March.”

On compliance on other orders, the Centre has so far unveiled a draft National Disaster Management Plan but is yet to revise the manual on drought management.

The centre will have to submit an action taken report to the court by 25 July. The Supreme Court will hear the case again on 1 August.