Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, June 10 2010:
Though the Government has been taking up various measures to reach out essential commodities to the people through Public Distribution System (PDS), in some hill areas of Manipur, people have not even heard of PDS not to speak of availing its benefit.
All these years, more than 2000 villagers living in 12 villages under Saikul block of Senapati district, located around 25 kms to the east of Imphal, have evolved a lifestyle of their own without any Government assistance.
Dominated mostly by Raphei community, people in these 12 villages have not received any essential commodities under the PDS nor have any idea about this system at all.
However, after they are made aware of it in a two-day long consultation programme which began from yesterday at the community hall of Phowibi village, the villagers have expressed unhappiness over the manner of depriving their rights by the authorities concerned all these years.
The two-day long consultation programme on PDS is being organised by REACH-M and is being sponsored by Indo-Global Social Services Society.
Interacting with The Sangai Express, village chief of Haokhongching SL Kaicha, who has understood the functioning of the PDS after participated in the programme, said that the manner of suppressing the rightful shares of the villagers by the local MLA and other Government officials is not acceptable any more and from now onward he would take recourse to legal assistance for the rights of his villagers.
Secretary of Selimphai Village Authority S Halcha informed that besides NREGS, the villagers have never known anything about the other developmental schemes of the Government and no one including the Government officials and the workers of the local MLA also try to make them understand about these schemes.
The first day of the consultation programme was attended by human rights activist Wahengbam Joy-kumar and assistant director of Human Rights Law Network Premlata as resource persons.
Joykumar spoke on 'rights to food' while Premlata on PDS.
On the second day, the two resource persons made presentation on Right to Information.
Fifty villagers including women coming from the 12 villages are participating in the programme.