Food security activists have demanded action for the rampant violation of citizen’s rights in the mineral-rich West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand.

A delegation of Khadya Suraksha Jan Adhikar Manch (food security people’s rights forum) of West Singhbhum district met the deputy commissioner Ananya Mittal on August 8 and expressed their concern on the continuous violation of citizen’s rights despite repeated petitions/complaints with the concerned district administrative officials.

“Our forum members have been lodging complaints on violation of social rights of residents with officials at block and district level but no action seems to have been taken as the violation continues. This made us approach the deputy commissioner who assured us of taking necessary action on the complaints,” said Sandeep Pradhan, a member of the forum and a native of the rebel-hit Sonua block of West Singhbhum district.

The letter submitted by the forum members to the deputy commissioner states that applications for pending dues of MGNREGA wages and unemployment allowance from several blocks (Sonua, Tantnagar, Manjhari, Khuntpani etc.) have been given several times to the block and sub-development commissioners. But beneficiaries are yet to get it despite several months of the complaint. We demand that due compensation should be given as per MGNREGA rules to the beneficiaries,” the letter states.

It cited an internal survey conducted by the members in West Singhbhum and found that only 55 per cent Anganwadi centres open regularly and 55 per cent centres have regular presence of sevika. Children are getting regular education only in 17 per cent centres. In many centres, only khichdi mixed with turmeric, rice and a little pulse is given.

“Despite informing the district officials about this, the situation has not improved. In many remote villages where children are deprived of Anganwadi services, applications for Anganwadis are pending for months. This is a shameful situation for a district with widespread malnutrition,” the letter adds.

Incidentally, Anganwadi is a sort of rural child care centre as part of the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme of the Centre aiming to combat child hunger and malnutrition.

The letter also apprises the deputy commissioner about contractual workers in most of the schemes such as building construction, drinking water schemes and schemes under the district mineral foundation trust (DMFT) are not being paid the minimum wage rate. “Complaints have also been made several times on such issues but the situation has not improved,” the letter states.

The letter also shared the problems being faced in the ongoing children’s birth certificate campaign.

“Affidavit is being sought from the court 30 days after the date of birth, which is very difficult and costly for the people of remote villages. Birth certificates are being called mandatory for children of Class 1-V due to which many children are on the verge of being deprived of education. We demand that weekly block-level camps should be organized in which magistrates would be appointed who would make affidavits free of cost,” the letter suggests.

Along with this, the delegation demanded to make the District Mineral Fund (DMF) as per public demand and transparent.

“More than Rs 2,300 crore has been deposited in the district from the District Mineral Fund, of which more than half has been spent. So far, there are many serious problems in the use of this fund. Most of the schemes are material-specific and contractor based, in which there is often news about the exploitation of labourers and there is no accountability and transparency in implementation, most of the schemes are selected without a formal Gram Sabha,” the letter informs.