Oxfam India celebrates the launch of GROW campaign with its over 1300 community members
Hyderabad, June 2: The Hyderabad launch of Oxfam’s global campaign on Food Justice GROW was launched yesterday midst of more than 1300 community members who include farmers, weavers, NREGA workers, Activists, civil society members and general public from across the state. Sri.Manikya Vara Prasad, Minister of Rural Development, Government of Andhra Pradesh inaugurated the launch by the lighting the lamp and also the GROW logo. The key note speaker for the event Dr. Rama Melkote, Advisor to the Supreme court of the Right to Food case and guest speaker K. Sajaya, Activist, Documentary film maker and founder of Citizen Care Collective were also present in the event. Mr. Shaik Anwar, Regional Manager. Oxfam India, South India introduced and dedicated GROW campaign to the public.
Sri. Manikya Vara Prasad, inaugurated the GROW photo exhibition and was pleased and appreciated Oxfam’s vision to see everybody has enough to eat. During his speech he valued Oxfam’s GROW campaign and pledged his unconditional support for the campaign and to Oxfam India. He said “It is the responsibility of the civil society players like Oxfam India to put pressure on the government to bring in new policies for people’s welfare and also stressed that the civil society, activists and people share equal responsibility as the government in the implementation of the policies.” He also added that the government is keen to have the Right to Food Bill is placed very soon and this was possible because of the efforts of many activists, civil society bodies such as Oxfam India.
The key note speaker of the event Dr. Rama Melkote, Advisor to the Supreme Court on Right to Food case urged the government to provide Food justice to millions stuck in hunger. She also pointed out the various loopholes in the implementation of the various govt schemes and she has affirmed that the schemes are not reaching the community members and she is confident of her observations as she has witnessed in many parts of the state.
The guest speaker K. Sajaya described the plight of the many community members across the state. She reiterated that the hunger deaths are a reality and urged the government to recognize them. Both the speakers have appreciated Oxfam’s initiative to address the issues of food and hunger through its global campaign - GROW.
Ms. Nirmala, a community member from Oxfam India’s Partner Chetna Color Weaves (CCW) have brought forth the hunger deaths of the many handloom weavers and asked the Minister to support the dying handloom industry which is feeding 4.5 lakh weavers. Rangappa from Vedika,a collective of small holder agriculture farmers and Sridevi, a MACS member also shared their respective experiences working with Oxfam India and urged the government for support.
The launch started with hustle and bustle of the community arriving at the venue of the launch and also set a high tone to the launch with colorful, heart thumping music and dance. The community members from Laya, Earth 360, Chetna Color Weaves and Center for Sustainable Agriculture (CSA) have exhibited the ethnic food items, and the colorful weaves of the Oxfam India’s supported handloom weavers. CSA has demonstrated terrace gardening techniques which is catching like wild fire in the city growing vegetables in the apartments and residential flat.