Rice fortification: Why no health warning for thalassemia, sickle cell patients?, asks SC

In response to a Public Interest Litigation filed by citizens challenging the government's iron fortified rice program, the Supreme Court has directed the Union government to respond to concerns raised which focus on the government’s noncompliance with their own warnings that caution patients of Thalassemia and Sickle Cell Disease to not to consume iron or to use it only under strict medical supervision. Although citizens had written to several government departments as well as some state food commissioners, they received no response.
Clause 7 (4) of the Food Safety and Standards (Fortification of Foods) Regulations, 2018 says:
“People with Thalassemia may take under medical supervision and persons with Sickle Cell Anaemia are advised not to consume iron fortified food products”.
The Government of India has been supplying iron-fortified rice in public safety net programs like PDS, mid-day meals, and anganwadis reaching crores of Indians.
As per the Food safety and Standards Authority of India’s (FSSAI) warning outlined in clause 7(4) of the Food Safety Act, and based on global scientific evidence, patients of haemoglobinopathies like Thalassemia and SCD are contraindicated to eat iron. Consuming iron could lead to adverse outcomes like organ failure for people with such conditions.
However, when the Alliance for Holistic and Sustainable Agriculture (ASHA) and the Right to Food Campaign conducted fact finding visits in two states, they found that iron rice was being distributed indiscriminately without any screenings or medical supervision and patients of haemoglobinopathies had no idea that the rice was harmful to them. The state governments had not been given any instructions by the center about this warning either.
Given that the rice was being distributed in either loose form or cooked form in some schemes like the mid-day meals, there were no written or verbal warnings provided which were only poorly visible on gunny bags. Moreover, no alternative iron-free rice was being provided to such patients, it was found.
The beneficiaries of state food schemes eating synthetic iron fortified rice are mostly poor citizens who rely on state subsidized food and for whom iron fortified rice has become mandatory since they cannot afford to buy other (non-fortified) rice in the open market, the fact finding report said.
The scaling up of this programme came before a pilot scheme in 15 states was completed, or evaluated independently and rigorously. The evaluation of these pilots was due in late 2022 per an RTI response by the government, but no evaluation is available till date, it added?
The PIL petitioners have demanded that the government comply with clause 7(4) of the Food Safety Act and provide warnings that reach consumers directly. They also demand that non fortified rice is provided for patients with such contraindications.

Comments

60 crore in Mahakumbh? It's all hype with an eye on UP polls, asserts keen BJP supporter in Amit Shah's constituency

As the Mahakumbh drew to a close, during my daily walk, I met a veteran BJP supporter—a neighbor with whom we would often share dinner in a group. An amicable person, the first thing he asked me, as he was about to take the lift to his flat, was, "How many people do you think must have participated in the holy dip?" He then stopped by to talk—which we did for a full half-hour, cutting into my walk time.

Morari Bapu echoes misleading figures to support the BJP's anti-conversion agenda

A senior Gujarat activist phoned me today to inform me that the well-known storyteller on Lord Ram, Morari Bapu, has made an "unsubstantiated" and "preposterous" statement in Songadh town, located in the tribal-dominated Tapi district. He claimed that while the Gujarat government wants the Bhagavad Gita to be taught in schools, the "problem is" that 75% of government teachers "are Christians who do not let this happen" and are “involved in religious conversions.”

Breaking news? Top Hindu builder ties up with Muslim investor for a huge minority housing society in Ahmedabad

There is a flutter in Ahmedabad's Vejalpur area, derogatorily referred to as the "border" because, on its eastern side, there is a sprawling minority area called Juhapura, where around five lakh Muslims live. The segregation is so stark that virtually no Muslim lives in Vejalpur, populated by around four lakh Hindus, and no Hindu lives in Juhapura.

An untold story? Still elusive: Gujarati language studies on social history of Gujarat's caste and class evolution

This is a follow-up to my earlier blog , where I mentioned that veteran scholar Prof. Ghanshyam Shah has just completed a book for publication on a topic no academic seems to have dealt with—caste and class relations in Gujarat’s social history. He forwarded me a chapter of the book, published as an "Economic & Political Weekly" article last year, which deals with the 2015 Patidar agitation in the context of how this now-powerful caste originated in the Middle Ages and how it has evolved in the post-independence era.

Justifying social divisions? 'Dogs too have caste system like we humans, it's natural'

I have never had any pets, nor am I very comfortable with them. Frankly, I don't know how to play with a pet dog. I just sit quietly whenever I visit someone and see their pet dog trying to lick my feet. While I am told not to worry, I still choose to be a little careful, avoiding touching the pet.

Caste, class, and Patidar agitation: Veteran academic 'unearths' Gujarat’s social history

Recently, I was talking with a veteran Gujarat-based academic who is the author of several books, including "Social Movements in India: A Review of Literature", "Untouchability in Rural India", "Public Health and Urban Development: The Study of Surat Plague", and "Dalit Identity and Politics", apart from many erudite articles and papers in research and popular journals.

New York-based digital company traces Modi's meteoric rise to global Hindutva ecosystem over several decades

A recent document, released by the Polis Project Inc.—a New York-based digital magazine and hybrid research and journalism organization—even as seeking to highlight the alleged rise of authoritarianism in India, has sought to trace Prime Minister Narendra Modi's meteoric rise since 2014 to the ever-expanding global Hindutva ecosystem over the last several decades.

Socialist utopia challenging feudal and Brahminical systems: Kanwal Bharti on Sant Raidas’ vision of Begumpura

In a controversial claim, well-known Dalit writer and columnist Kanwal Bharti has asserted that a clever Brahminical move appears to be behind the Guru Granth Sahib changing the name of the 15th-16th century mystic poet-saint of the Bhakti movement, Sant Raidas, to Sant Ravidas.

A conman, a demolition man: How 'prominent' scribes are defending Pritish Nandy

How to defend Pritish Nandy? That’s the big question some of his so-called fans seem to ponder, especially amidst sharp criticism of his alleged insensitivity during his journalistic career. One such incident involved the theft and publication of the birth certificate of Masaba Gupta, daughter of actor Neena Gupta, in the Illustrated Weekly of India, which Nandy was editing at the time. He reportedly did this to uncover the identity of Masaba’s father.

Search This Blog