Shillong, Dec 21: A Food Security Roadshow kicked off on Thursday to sensitise people during the festive season.
The Food Security Road Show by the Department of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs, Government of Meghalaya started at Motphran, to reach out to the public and sensitise the citizens of the state in understanding the features of the National Food Security Act.
With the tag line “Feast, Festivity, Fortified Rice’, the timing of the roadshows is intended to converge the spirit of good cheer around the festive season, the community feasts underway and highlighting the nutritional value of fortified rice.
Food especially in the form of rice being the staple for the community feasts of the season, is the uniting force behind the get together of families and friends In such a celebratory mode, the department is working towards making rice available to each and every citizen of the state leaving no one behind.
The roadshows that include songs, choreographies and speeches were well-received by the public who asked questions and interacted with the department’s representatives. The programmes are packed with messages on food security being the citizen’s right and calls upon the public at ground zero community level to work together towards ‘Zero Hunger’ to meet the need of the public at the bottom of the poverty pyramid. Starting with two Shillong locations, namely, Motphran and Nongmynsong, in the coming weeks the roadshows will travel pan Meghalaya to drive home the points connected with NFSA.
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. Besides, the campaign will widely inform the public on the Redressal System, the tollfree helpline 1967, the use of the Electronic Point of Sale (ePoS) and other mandates of the Department.
The roadshows are part of the Food Security Campaign 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.
This year the Department, led by Minister-in-charge, Comingone Ymbon, from the front is strategising its efforts to provide better services to the public and meeting the Sustainable Development Goal 2 with a global theme ‘Zero Hunger’.
The department is exploring the use of social, mainstream and community-based media to communicate the initiatives 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 campaign will also highlight the benefits from the following divisions working towards achieving its objectives.
Antyodaya Anna Yojna (AAY) under NFSA 2013
Priority Households under NFSA 2013
One Nation One Ration Card (ONORC)
Aadhaar Seeding
It also provides numerous Citizen Services as below: –
How to apply for Ration Card
How to raise a Consumer Complaint by dialing 1947
Know your ePoS Transaction
And many more
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 community leaders, issuing press releases, distributing pamphlets, posters, hoardings, social media including facebook, Instagram and Twitter, skits and roadshows.
The Department has recently released 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.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Tollfree No.: 1967/ 1800-345-3670
Whatsapp No.: 9402327737
Website: www.megfcsca.gov.in
