Tag: Jan Manch

Delhi Polls: Jan Manch Urges Parties to Make Food, Social Security Electoral Issues

The conclave, attended by leaders from the Congress, AAP and Swaraj India, raised issues surrounding the quota system, ration cards and the NRC.

New Delhi: A people’s conclave in Delhi on Tuesday urged all political parties to make food and social security their top priorities issues in the run-up to the state assembly elections. Delhi is scheduled to vote to elect its seventh assembly on February 8.

At the conclave or ‘jan manch‘, organised by the Delhi Rozi Roti Adhikar Abhiyan, leaders from the Congress, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Swaraj India were present but not from the BJP. While AAP was represented by Ajoy Kumar, the Congress was represented by Aman Panwar and Arbind Singh and Swaraj India’s Navnit Tiwari attended the conclave on behalf of his party.

These leaders gave assurances to take all the demands raised at the meet forward and to include specific points that could be implemented in the manifestos of their respective parties.

The meet, attended by residents of slum settlements, members of the transgender community, homeless persons, construction workers, children, persons with disabilities, rag pickers and daily wage earners, also issued a clarion call saying “Ration, pension nahi, toh vote nahi (No vote if there is no ration, pension)”.

One of the participants at the Jan Manch speaks about food and social security related issues. Photo: Delhi Rozi Roti Adhikar Abhiyan

A number of people also noted how and why daily issues pertaining to food and social security impacted them the most. The testimonies provided an insight into the struggles many undergo on a daily basis.

During the conclave, some of the participants spoke about how the quota system, adopted by the government for the issuance of ration cards, was leading to a denial of these cards to many families. Three women – Sangeeta, Mithlesh and Neelam – from Kusumpur Pahadi highlighted how their applications were filed in 2018 and yet their status remained ‘pending’ because of the limit.

Also read: February 8: Another Exciting Electoral Battle Awaits Delhi

Jan Manch in Delhi. Photo: Delhi Rozi Roti Adhikar Abhiyan

In some cases, the testimonies revealed that poor people have not been issued ration cards even after four years of having applied for it. Two such examples were that of Poonam from Janta Mazdoor Colony and Ramwati from Mangolpuri.

From the organisers, Anjali Bharadwaj and Amrita Johri shed light on how in Delhi, lack of food security and social security continues to be a reality for millions of people. “Thousands of people have been left out of the ambit of the National Food Security Act, 2013 due to inadequate coverage, inadequate resources and budgets, insistence on Aadhaar and lack of provisions to address food insecurity of the most marginalised including homeless and transgenders,” they said.

Right to Food activist Dipa Sinha and National Federation of Indian Women general secretary Annie Raja also reflected on issues related to food security and women during the meet.

The conclave also highlighted how people were being left out of the food security net since Aadhaar had been made mandatory. Several people shared their experiences in this regard.

One of them was Mohammad Sadiq of Sonia Vihar who held forth on how there were 10 members in his household and yet only the names of four figured on the ration card. Due to this they only get 20 kg of grain as opposed to their entitlement of 50 kg.

Some residents also noted the absence of an effective grievance redressal framework to address such problems.

While the deaths of three minor girls due to starvation in Mandavali, East Delhi in July 2018 had served as a warning to the authorities, the meet highlighted how the lessons have still not been learnt.

A resident of Mangolpuri, Pooja, claimed that there was a starvation death in her area recently. She said that the daughter of the tenant living above her jhuggi (slum) was ill and the family had no food to feed her for three days which ultimately led to her death.

Also read: How Real Are AAP’s Chances in the Delhi Assembly Elections?

The meet was also attended by homeless persons who lived close to Jama Masjid or in the trans-Yamuna areas. One of them, Taranum said that since they had no identity documents, they were unable to apply for a ration card and didn’t even get employment they were told that they were a security risk since they were undocumented. Many of them also raised a demand for setting up more community kitchens for the poor and the homeless.

Issues pertaining to women working in the unorganised sector and members of the transgender community were also raised during the meet.

The meet also saw several speakers urge political parties to not allow the Centre to implement the National Register for Citizens and the National Population Register. They insisted that this move would exclude the poor, women, Muslims, Dalits and most marginalised since many of them were not in possession of the necessary documents.

Centre’s Access to Information on Electoral Bonds’ Donors Is Unfair: Opposition

Congress MP Rajeev Gowda said that apprehensions about donor anonymity could have prevented people from donating to other parties.

New Delhi: The prospect of the Bharatiya Janata Party using classified information on donors of electoral bonds to its advantage was raised by a number of opposition leaders at a ‘jan manch’ (people’s conclave) on the electoral bond scheme organised by various people’s movements and groups here on Wednesday.

Congress MP Rajeev Gowda led the charge by stating that when Arun Jaitley, as finance minister, announced the electoral bond scheme, he claimed that it would usher in transparency in political funding. But, Gowda said, information obtained through RTIs has revealed that the scheme was pushed through by the Centre despite objections being raised against it by the Election Commission, the Reserve Bank of India and the law ministry.

Donors are anonymous for public, not government

Gowda said that the BJP gained much from the scheme because of the way information on donors was treated. “While it was said that donors would remain anonymous, information accessed by RTI activists had shown that the State Bank of India knew the details of purchasers and as each bond has a unique serial number, the government could effectively get details about who purchased the bonds and track them.”

This apprehension, he said, could have prevented people from donating to other parties and led to the BJP  getting over 90% of the electoral bonds in the past few years. “This means that only the funding being given to the ruling party is anonymous as the opposition and people don’t know the source of funds and therefore it is not surprising that the BJP has been the biggest beneficiary of the scheme – cornering over 90% of the known donations.”

Also read: Electoral Bonds: Here’s What the Numbers Say

The Congress MP said his party has been categorical in its demand that the electoral bonds scheme be scrapped and the names of all donors should be placed in the public domain.

Gowda said in light of this, the importance of the RTI Act needs to be underscored since it was only through queries under it that details of the electoral bonds were obtained. The Congress, he said, would oppose the regressive RTI rules that the Centre had brought about following amendments to the Act.

‘Electoral bond scheme encourages crony capitalism’

Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Sitaram Yechury too demanded that the electoral bonds scheme be scrapped. Terming it “anti-people”, Yechury delved into how he had filed a petition in the Supreme Court too in this regard.

As for his party, Yechury said that the CPI(M) supported peoples’ struggles and would also oppose the regressive RTI amendments. He accused the BJP government at the Centre of selling the country’s resources and encouraging crony capitalism by bringing in a scheme like the one for selling electoral bonds.

Communist Party of India general secretary D. Raja too accused the BJP of not being concerned about real issues concerning ordinary citizens and instead focussing on issues that divide the country on who is and who is not a citizen.

Visuals at the Jan Manch on December 11, 2019. Photo: AnjaliB_/Twitter

He insisted that the electoral bonds scheme was aimed at skewing funding in favour of a particular political party and that a major challenge ahead lay in countering such money power in politics.

Also read: How Finance Ministry Decided RBI’s Dissent on Electoral Bonds Meant ‘Indirect’ Approval

For free and fair elections, he said it was necessary to provide a level playing field to all the political parties through equitable resources and funding.

‘Centre is against transparency’

Raja also accused the Centre of trying to wield excessive power over institutions. He said the government amended the RTI Act to control the functioning of information commissions by bringing the salaries and tenures of commissioners under it despite objections from opposition parties and RTI activists. “This government is against transparency as it does not want people to question it,” he charged.

Referring to the numerous attacks on RTI users and whistleblowers across the country, Raja demanded that the Whistleblowers Protection Act be operationalised at the earliest.

At the jan manch, a two-minute silence was also observed in the memory of Abhimanyu Panda, an RTI user who was shot dead in Kandhamal, Odisha on December 10. It was pointed out at the gathering that more than 80 such RTI users had been killed in the past few years and the government still had not operationalised the Whistleblower Protection Act that was passed in 2014.

Also read: ‘RTI Bill Shrouded in Secrecy, How Will it Enhance Transparency?’ Ask Former CICs

‘Parliament, RBI misled on scheme’

During the meeting, Anjali Bhardwaj and Venkatesh Nayak of NCPRI shared details of the information obtained under the RTI Act regarding the electoral bonds scheme which showed how the government had misled Parliament and RBI.

Another activist, Nikhil Dey raised concerns that the Data Protection Bill, which was introduced in Parliament on Wednesday could end up diluting the RTI Act.

Opposition Parties Unite to Oppose Amendments to RTI Act

In agreement that the Modi government wants to control salaries and tenures of information commissioners through these changes, at least six parties declared their intent to oppose the amendments when they are moved.

New Delhi: Leaders of a large number of opposition parties today came together to denounce the proposed amendments to the RTI Act that have been moved by the Narendra Modi government and to demand the immediate operationalisation of anti-corruption laws.

Speaking at a people’s convention or ‘jan manch’ organised by the National Campaign for People’s Right to Information, senior leaders of the Congress, Communist Party of India (Marxist), CPI, Rashtriya Janata Dal and Trinamool Congress declared that they would oppose any amendments to the RTI Act, 2005.

At the Jan Manch, a resolution was also passed to demand that the RTI Act not be diluted through amendments which seek to place in the hands of the Centre the powers of determining the tenure and salaries of all the information commissioners, including the chiefs, in both the Central Information Commission and the State Information Commissions. The resolution had also demanded immediate operationalisation of the Whistleblowers Protection Act and the Lokpal law, introduction of the Grievance Redressal Bill and opposed the lack of transparency in electoral funding due to introduction of electoral bonds.

Speaking at the meet, Rajeev Gowda of the Congress said his party would oppose any amendment to the RTI Act. He also accused the BJP government at the Centre of destroying every institution and legislation of transparency and accountability. Gowda said the Congress would also support the demand for implementation and passage of the other anti-corruption laws.

General secretary of CPI(M) Sitaram Yechury said the RTI Act came about after a long and hard struggle of the people. He said his party would support the demand to not dilute the RTI Act and assured that it would work both within and outside parliament to ensure that the RTI Act was not amended.

Another Communist leader, D. Raja of the CPI said his party was very clear in its position and would not allow any dilution of the RTI Act. His colleague and party national secretary Atul Kumar Anjaan said the BJP government wanted to weaken the RTI Act as it is a tool in the hands of the ordinary citizens for fighting corruption. “Who are the people who are opposed to this RTI Act? They are those who are involved in the loot of public money,” he said.

Anjaan said any tinkering with the RTI Act would be worse than rape as it would directly impact those who are poor and socially marginalised. He also charged that the Modi government has not got a Lokpal appointed in its four year rule thus far. “Now,” he quipped, “they are talking about it when its term is about to come to an end and the elections are only a few months away.”

Manoj Kumar Jha of the RJD said the government was trying to destroy the RTI Act as they have no answers to people’s questions. Trinamool leader Dinesh Trivedi too said his party would oppose the amendments to the RTI Act.

Later, Aam Aadmi Party leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh said that his party would block all attempts to get the amendments to the RTI Act introduced in parliament. He said it was clear that by controlling the purse-strings of the information commissioner, the Modi government wanted to curb their independence and freedom of deliver orders fearlessly.

The leaders of all these opposition parties were in unison that the failure of the Modi government in enacting or implementing the anti-corruption laws showed its real intent and face.

Senior advocate Prashant Bhushan, who was part of the Lokpal movement, said the government was also trying to undermine the independence of the judiciary and that it was crucial that people campaign against all these attempts to dilute these important institutions.

Anjali Bhardwaj and Nikhil Dey of NCPRI declared that a follow up to today’s protests, which were also held in Gujarat and Rajasthan, similar demonstrations would be held all over the country to oppose the amendments to the RTI Act.

The gathering was also attended and addressed among others by former chief information commissioner Wajahat Habibullah, Harsh Mander of Centre for Equity Studies and former major general Anil Verma of Association for Democratic Rights.