-NGOs, activists point to government mismanagement SANTOSH KIRO An activist addresses NGO members at the symposium on Monday. Picture by Manik Bose Ranchi, July 21: Repeated reminders to the Jharkhand government to safeguard the common man's right to food have fallen on deaf ears in the state, some activists believe. Public problems and solutions were brought forth today in a symposium held by a group of activists, all working in the development field, especially for the right to food. The meeting was jointly organised by Pairavi, a New Delhi-based organisation, and CARE. At the talk it was evident that participants had little faith in the state's public distribution system (PDS) that had become a "hot bed' of corruption and should be either "abolished' or be made corruption free. "Ideally, according to a report issued by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), a PDS dealer should make a profit of Rs 358 in a month, if he runs the system without malpractice,' said Ramesh Sharan, an economics teacher of Ranchi University. He stressed that the low-profit margin often tempted dealers to adopt "unfair means' to make a bigger profit. To compensate him for his loss or minimal profit, Sharan suggested, the state should increase the profit margin of PDS dealers to a "respectable amount'. Sharan added that at present the government distributes food and material through the PDS system to 25 lakh families, though the actual number of families living below the poverty line is 29 lakh in the state. Members expressed concern over the rising price of essential commodities, especially food grain. "The government gives an impression that the price rise of essential commodities is somehow related to global inflation and price rise of petroleum, when in reality the phenomenon is related to mismanagement,' said Ajay Kumar Jha, the director of Pairavi. Jha said since the sixties, the production of food grain in the country had tripled and the population doubled. "Thus, people should ideally have enough to eat,' he argued. The mid-day meal in the state also came under scanner. "In the past two sessions not a single question was raised in the Assembly on the right to food. This shows a lack of seriousness on the part of the government about the matter,' said Gurjit Singh, the secretary of Bharat Gyan Vigyan Kendra. Interestingly, the National Human Rights Commission has decided to focus on the right to food in Jharkhand and Bihar this year. Sunila Basant, a retired IAS officer, appointed as the "special rapporteur' of the rights commission of Jharkhand-Bihar also focussed on this issue during her tour of the state a couple of weeks ago.