People’s Struggle for Food Security

The people in a rural part of Bhojpur won a struggle for ration cards when hundreds of poor, workers, landless and economically weaker sections gathered from the early morning of 7 August 2020 at Gadahani in Agiaon block against the officials-leaders-dealers nexus and loot and black-marketeering of rations. They came out on the streets carrying red flags and empty jars, raising slogans like, “MLA Sir, where are you? We are on the streets for our rations”, “Nitish-Modi, where are our ration cards during your 15 years in power?”, “The government has snatched away our livelihoods through the Lockdown, and our rations are also looted”, and “Wield lathis and shoot bullets, but we will not budge till we get our rations”. Demanding answers from the government, the people marched through Gadahani Bazaar and came on to the Ara-Sasaram State Highway.

After 3 hours the SDM, BDO, CO and an Excise Inspector came to the spot and held talks. All the demands were justified and loot of rations during this pandemic is a heinous crime. The SDM had to assure that rations for the month of July would be distributed from 9 am on 8 August 2020 under the supervision of the ADSO, BDO and CO. He said that rations for the previous 2 months which had not been given would also be disbursed and that the ration card forms will be made available through the BDO on 8 August and asked the people to fill the forms, with the guarantee that the ration cards would be issued within one week. He also gave the assurance that the correct amounts of ration would be given at the correct price, dealers would open the shops according to rules, good quality rations would be made available, and all complaints regarding rations would be addressed. He also assured the people that separate toilets for men and women would be constructed at Gadahani Bazaar and a Block road would also be constructed. Small victories make a big difference.