New Delhi: With New Delhi under a weekend lockdown and restrictions imposed on activities and movement due to the rise in COVID-19 cases, food rights campaigners in Delhi have urged the Arvind Kejriwal government to ensure rations and cooked food supply to those worst affected by the new rules.The Delhi Rozi Roti Adhikar Abhiyan in a letter to Kejriwal on Friday, April 16, urged the government to ensure food security for all to cope with economic distress caused due to restrictions imposed to combat COVID-19.It said the Delhi government has enforced several restrictions on activities and movement which are adversely impacting livelihoods of people. It is, therefore, imperative that the government ensure food security for all persons in need.The letter pointed out that daily night curfew has been imposed since April 6 and on April 10, the government also directed the closing of schools, colleges, coaching institutes, along with a prohibition on social, cultural, and religious gatherings and limits on capacities of transport facilities and restaurants, while staggering timings in private offices. Further, it said, additional restrictions were announced on April 15 under which the government ordered closing of all malls, gyms, spas, auditoriums and halls, along with curbs on functioning of cinema halls and weekly markets till April 30 and imposed a weekend curfew prohibiting all movement and activities other than essential services.Also read: COVID-19 Lockdown: Delhi Government Ramps Up Cooked Food Supply to Poor PeopleThe food rights group noted that all these restrictions, while important to control the spread of COVID-19, are adversely impacting economic activity in Delhi. “As the country witnessed last year, the worst hit by the economic crisis are the poor and marginalised, especially casual labourers and daily wagers who work as domestic help, sanitation workers in private employment, labourers who sit at labour chowks seeking daily employment, construction workers, informal factory workers, street hawkers and vendors,” the Abhiyan pointed out.The group, which includes social activists Anjali Bhardwaj, Annie Raja, Dipa Sinha and Amrita Johri, said its volunteers discovered during their interactions with people residing in low income settlements and those visiting bus terminals and train stations, that the restrictions have impacted their livelihood.‘Industrial workers, daily wagers in severe distress’“In the industrial zone of Bawana and Narela, there is intense distress among daily labourers working in factories as they have been told by the employers that no wages will be provided in case of any lockdown/stoppage of work. Already, the imposition of night curfew has curbed earnings of people working in night shifts,” the Abhiyan said.Similarly, it said, people working as domestic helps have been reporting loss of income due to pressure of employers to work exclusively in one house.‘For migrant workers, situation worse’The Abhiyan said at points where labourers gather to be approached by prospective employers, the daily wagers have not been able to find any work for the last several days. “Distressed migrants seeking to return to their hometowns can be seen at inter-state bus and train terminals, anxious about their ability to sustain themselves in Delhi,” it said, in a throwback on how this problem had manifested soon after the declaration of nationwide lockdown on March last year.The Abhyiyan further said this time the migrant labourers were worse off than last year. “The biggest worry people are expressing is that this time they have no savings to fall back on for even basic needs like food, rent, etc. as whatever little they had saved, was exhausted in coping with the crisis last year.”There it said, to help them cope with the economic shock the restrictions are going to create, it was essential that the government put in place some basic social security measures in terms of rations and cooked food distribution through relief centres so people do not go hungry.‘Universalise PDS, provide rations to all’Demanding that the Delhi government ensure that rations be made available to all in need, the Abhiyan reminded that last year the Delhi high court had on a petition filed by it ordered that all persons in need of food security be provided rations irrespective of whether they possess a ration card or not.Also Read: ‘Hunger Can Kill Us Before the Virus’: Migrant Workers on the March During LockdownIt said since only 37% of the population of Delhi possesses ration cards, a large percentage of the poor and marginalised including migrant workers have been left out of the food security net. Therefore it urged the Delhi government to “universalise the public distribution system by providing ration to all persons in need of food security, irrespective of whether they possess a ration card.”The Abhiyan said if, for the purpose of ration distribution, temporary documentation is required to be generated, the government can issue COVID-19 ration cards to people. “To prevent exclusion of the poorest and most marginalised, it must be ensured that the procedure for availing rations should be easy to access, available in both online and offline modes and there should be no insistence on furnishing of any particular identity proof,” it added.Suggesting that “the government should allow self-certification for emergency food security”, the Abhiyan added that “to prevent delays, the database of the 60 lakh people who applied for e-coupons for rations last year during the lockdown can be immediately verified and used by the government to provide rations to those in need.”‘Provide free cooked meals for poor; ensure mid-day meals’Another demand, which the Abhiyan raised, pertained to the provision of free cooked meals for the poor. It urged the government to provide free hot cooked meals through homeless shelters and dedicated relief centres.The food rights group also demanded that all provisions for food security under the National Food Security Act – covering the mid-day meal scheme, Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) and hot cooked meals for pregnant and lactating women through anganwadis – should be continued without any disruption during this crisis.These measures, it said, would help address the issue of food insecurity and hunger among the poor and marginalised in Delhi.