Human rights groups discuss issues affecting the poor

Several human rights groups today came togther and held a public hearing in the national capital around the issues that affect the poor and marginalised.
Representatives of the Pension Parishad, the Right to Food Campaign, the Rashtriya Mazdoor Adhikar Morcha for MNREGA, the Jan Swasthya Abhiyan and the National Alliance for People's Movement focused on the changes being made in the labour laws in favour of the industry, changing land use and the merciless acquisition of land which is going to have a deep impact on people's livelihoods, making them socially and economically more vulnerable.
Representatives of Pension Parishad highlighted the discrepancies in present pension scheme and demanded that a mechanism for grievance redressal should be put in place and that pension amount should be indexed as per inflation.

"There is no mechanism for grievance redressal. Pension should be universal. Pension should be Rs 2000 per month or 50 per cent of minimum wage (on retirement). Pension amount should be indexed as per inflation.
"Most of the states provide pension on quarterly basis. Pension should be given on 1st of every month. There is no effective selection mechanism. We urge that all citizens above 55 years of age should get pension. Further, social security like health care facilities and ration should also be provided to all elderly along with old age pension," said Nikhil Dey, Activist, Pension Parishad.
The Right to Food Campaign urged the government to stop all open releases of GM crops, including field trials.

"We demand that the government make amends to NFSA 2013 by taking steps to immediately expand and implement the Act - in letter and spirit," said Kavita Srivastava, Activist, Right to Food Campaign.