Minister in-charge Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Comingone Ymbon on Monday launched the ‘Food Security’ Campaign to sensitize citizens of the state in understanding the features entailed to ensure that the poorest of the poor have access to food grains by reaching out to the key stakeholders, community-based institutions, general public and various partners.
Addressing the media, Ymbon said that this year, the department is strategising its efforts to provide better services to the public and meeting the Sustainable Development Goal 2 with a global theme ‘Zero Hunger’.
He said the department is exploring the use of social, mainstream and community-based media to communicate the verticals of the Department and apply hyper-local approach to reason with the public on pertinent matters linked to the provisions by the National Food Security Act (NFSA) 2013.
“The objectives of the campaign is to create general awareness about food security being a right of the citizens and calls upon the public at ground zero community level to work together towards ‘Zero Hunger’ to meet the needs of the public at the bottom of the poverty pyramid,” he said.
The minister also informed that the One Nation One Ration Card scheme (ONORC) will also be taken up as one of the salient features of the National Food Security Act. The campaign also aims to streamline Registration and services by encouraging the public to seed their Aadhaar card and registered mobile number with their ration card.
“The process will enable the ration card holding family to obtain maximum benefits from the department,” he said.
He added that besides, the campaign will widely inform the public on the Redressal System, the toll free helpline 1967, the use of the Electronic Point of Sale (ePoS) and other mandates of the Department.
The campaign will also highlight the benefits of the benefits from the following divisions working towards achieving its objectives against the verticals – Antyodaya Anna Yojna (AAY) under NFSA 2013, Priority Households under NFSA 2013, One Nation One Ration Card (ONORC) and Aadhaar Seeding
It also provides numerous citizen services as to how to apply for Ration Card, how to raise a Consumer Complaint by dialing 1947, Know your ePoS Transaction and many more.
The ‘Food Security’ campaign plan includes outdoor, print, electronic, social media and public engagement, the campaign wishes to draw maximum input with maximum engagement and participation from the public.
The plan also aspires to see a more transparent and public focused system focusing on sustainable service to the people as a result of this initiative. The campaign seeks to see results by mobilising public willingness and collaborative effort by various stakeholders representing the public.
The department is working closely with community-based organisations and leaders at the grassroot level to disseminate right information and engage with the public, so better public services can be rendered.
Through this campaign, the Department is inviting the public for more participation, especially through the use of media, arts and songs to engage meaningfully with the consumers within the state.
The dissemination plan includes working with working with community leaders, press releases, pamphlets, posters, hoardings, social media including facebook, Instagram and Twitter, skits and roadshows.
The department is also releasing a song and music video both in Khasi and Garo to call upon the beneficiaries and impress upon each citizen the importance of collaborative efforts to ensure that each and every member of the public is assured food grains.