CHAPTER-2

RIGHT TO FOOD AS FUNDAMENTAL HUMAN RIGHT

 28

Food is our most basic need, the very stuff of life. Like air and water,
food is a prime necessity of human life. Without food nothing happens: no
economic endeavour, no science or engineering, no music or literature not
even procreation. According to an ancient Indian Upanishad, "All that is bom
of anna [food]. Whatever exists on earth is born of anna, lives on anna, and in
the end merges into anna. Anna indeed is the first bom amongst all beings." 67
Food is necessary for all living spices. That is why the Taittreya Upanishad
calls on humans to feed all beings in their zone of influence. Without
adequate food, people cannot lead healthy, active lives. They are not
employable. They cannot care for their children. The right to food cuts across
the entire spectrum of human rights. It is for this reason that the present study
gains significance and emphasizes upon the right to food and its
corresponding obligations in the national and international context.

2.1 The Human Right to Food: An Overview

The right to food is a human right, clearly established in international
human rights and humanitarian law, which recognizes that food is essential
for life and for human development. The right to food is closely linked to the
concept of food security. It includes an element of accountability where states
can be held to account if they violate the obligations to respect, protect and
fulfill the right to food. However, very little has been understood about the
right to food and few states have enacted national legislation. The
fundamental aim of the newly appointed UN Special Rapporteur on the Right
to Food is therefore to broaden understanding of the right to food and
promote implementation at the national level. The right to food is most firmly
established in the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. There
are also a number of other relevant international and regional instruments
that address the right to food. It is important for parliamentarians to know

67 Stolen Harvest: the Hijacking of the Global Food Supply by Vandana Shiva (Quoted
from Taittreya Upanishad, Gorakhpur: Gita Press, P.124) P-5.
 29

firstly, how each of these instruments addressees the right to food and
secondly, whether their parliamentarians can help by bringing their
governments to become party to these international instruments. Once their
states are party, then Parliamentarians can promote implementation of
legislation at the national level to have a real impact on hunger in their own
countries.68

(a) International Humanitarian Law

Article 14 of the Fourth Geneya Convention reads, "Starvation of
civilians as a method of combat is prohibited. It is therefore prohibited to
attack, destroy, remove or render useless, for that purpose, objects
indispensable to the survival of the civilian population, such as foodstuffs,
agricultural areas for the production of foodstuffs, crops livestock, drinking
water installations and supplies and irrigation works"683. International
humanitarian law contains many provisions that relate to food and is
extremely important to protect the right to food in countries which are
experiencing armed conflict, and against those who attempt to use starvation
as a political weapon. The core of international humanitarian law is contained
in the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and the two Additional Protocols of
1977. This includes provisions on the prohibition of starvation of civilians as a
method of combat, the prohibition against attacking or destroying objects
essential to the survival of the population (e.g. foodstuffs, agricultural areas,
drinking water supplies), the prohibition of forced population displacement
(which affects access to land and food) and the rules on relief and
humanitarian assistance, whereby relief must not be adoption of national
legislation. Parliamentarians could promote, and later monitor, the effective

68 Right to Food Campaign- A Training Manual published by Indian Social Institute,

(quoted from the topic 'International Instruments') P-22.
68a Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Times of War, of
August 12,1949.
 30

implementation of the legal framework. They will be an effective force in the

fight for the elimination of hunger.

(b) The Justifiability of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

Essentially, justifiable rights are rights that can be enforced in the
courts. This means that a judicial remedy for violations of these rights can be
sought. However, like other economic, social and cultural rights, the
justifiability of the right to food has often been questioned. Although most
countries include civil and political rights in their Constitutions and other
more detailed national legislation, for fewer include broad-ranging economic,
social and cultural rights in Constitutions or in national legislation. Even if
these rights are included in Constitutions, they are often considered as
"directives" or "guidelines" for governments, rather than as enforceable in
courts. This is now changing, as these rights have been made justifiable in
several countries (e.g. the case of South Africa) and jurisprudence in these
areas is growing, as economic, social and cultural rights have become
increasingly recognized and the 'interdependence and indivisibility' of these
rights with civil and political rights is reaffirmed.

2.2 The Right to Food and International Instruments

The right to food is a part of the founding human rights texts of the
post world war-II era, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948
(UDHR), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 1976
(ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights 197669 (ICESCR). Other intentional legal instruments that incorporate
the right to food include human rights treaties on the rights of women,70

® India ratified theICCPCR and the ICESCR in 1979’

70 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women 1979.
 31

children/1 refugees, 72disabled persons73 and instruments relating to the

conduct of states during armed conflict74

The most basic provisions on the right to food is in Article 25(1) of the
UDHR, which states:

"Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health
and well-being of himself and of his family, including food."

Article 11(2) of the ICESCR75 deals with the right to food more
comprehensively than any other the treaty. The Covenant elaborates the key
economic and social rights that are based on an adequate standard of living,
which includes the right to food. The Right to Food under Article 11(2) of
ICESCR as follows: .

The States Parties to the present Covenant, recognizing the

fundamental right of everyone to be free from hunger, shall take
individually and through international" cooperation, the measures,
including specific programmes, which are needed:

a) To improve methods of production, conversation and distribution of

food by making; full use of technical and scientific knowledge, bv
disseminating knowledge of the principles of nutrition and by
developing or reforming agrarian systems in such a way as to achieve
the most efficient development and utilization of natural resources;

71 Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989.

72 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees 1951.
73 Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2006.
74 Convention of 1949 relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War; Article
54 of the Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating
to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (Protocol-I) and Articles 69
and 70 of the Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions, of 12 August 1949, and
relating to the Protection of Victims of Non-International Armed Conflicts (Protocol-II).
75 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) 1976 which
has been ratified by 144 States.
 32

There is a distinction between the right to be free from hunger and the
right to adequate food. The right to freedom from hunger is a fundamental
right. This means that the state has an obligation to ensure, at the very least,
that people do not starve. This right is intrinsically linked to the right to life.
In addition, states should also do everything possible to promote full
employment of the right to adequate food for everyone within their territory.
In other words, people should have physical and economic access at all times
to food that is adequate in quantity and quality for a healthy and active life.
For food to be considered adequate it must also be culturally acceptable and it
must be produced in a manner that is environmentally and socially
sustainable. Finally, its provision should not interfere with the enjoyment of
other human rights - for example, the acquisition of sufficient food for an
adequate diet should not be so costly as it threaten the satisfaction of other
socio-economic and civil rights. The civil, cultural, economic, political and
social rights proclaimed in the Universal Declaration are considered
interdependent, interrelated, indivisible and equally important. To be able to
enjoy the right to food fully, people need access to health care and education,
respect for their cultural values, the right to own property and the right to
organize themselves economically and politically.76

A. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights77 focused on civil
and political rights than the economic and social rights outlined above.
However, this covenant is still important for the right to food, given the link
with the right to life, which is enshrined in Article 6. It holds that every
human being has the inherent right to life, which shall be protected by law
and no one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life.

76 Supra note 68, (on the topic 'Political Economy of Food Security in India) P-7.
77 This Covenant ratified by 145 States.
 33

B. Universal Declaration on the Eradication of Hunger and

Malnutrition
The First World Food Conference which was held in Rome in
November 197478 adopted 22 resolutions and the Universal Declaration of the
Eradication of Hunger and Malnutrition. Paragraph 1 of the Declaration lays
down following three important prepositions (i)"every man, woman and
child has the inalienable right to be free from hunger and malnutrition in
order to develop fully and maintain their physical and mental faculties/ (ii)
That Society today already possesses sufficient resources, organizational
ability and technology and hence the competence to achieve this objective, (iii)
That, the eradication of hunger is a common objective of all the countries of
the international community, especially of the developed countries and others
in a position to help. The Declaration goes on to say that it is a fundamental
responsibility of Governments "to work together for higher food production
and a more equitable and efficient distribution of food between countries and
within countries". Moreover, priority should be given to attacking "chronic
malnutrition and deficiency diseases among the vulnerable and lower income
groups". In sum, "As it is the common responsibility of the entire
international community to ensure the availability at all times of adequate
world supplies of basic food stuffs by way of appropriate reserves, including
emergency reserves, all countries should cooperate in the establishment of an
effective system of world food security...."783 It is a paradox that peasants
who produce food to feed the world are the ones suffering most from hunger
and malnutrition. Subsistence and sustainable agricultural system, which for
centuries have been the basis of their livelihood, are being obliterated by the
concentration of land ownership in a few hands and its corporatisation as
well as the encroachment of agribusiness on smallholder farms. These

78 In November 1974, Rome, Italy was host to the World Food Conference, at which
ministers representing 144 governments voted unanimously for a comprehensive attack
on World hunger.
78a Supra note 68.
 34

activities dilute the culture and way of life of peasants with the ultimate aim
of profit for the few.

The globalization process, perpetuated by the G8 countries 79and

institutionalised by the World Trade Organisation (WTO), international
financial institutions, like the International Monetary Fund (IMF)80and
multilateral development banks, particularly the World Bank and Asian
Development Bank (ADB),81 has benefited merely a few transnational
corporations (TNCs).82 They have gained a monopoly of our food, genetic
resources and agriculture and have imposed the dumping of subsidised,
unhealthy food and agricultural products and inputs, including chemical
pesticides and fertilizers in our countries.

This has created massive indebtedness, increased landlessness and

displacement leading to rural out-migration, eroded our food sovereignty,
worsened land and environmental degradation, including the destruction of
biodiversity and the biopiracy of indigenous knowledge.

The world Bank- IMF model of market-oriented land reform subverts

national governments to implement genuine agrarian reform by imposing
debt bondage. It does not aim to distribute land to the landless but rather in
creases the concentration of land with the landed elite. The ADB, through its

79 The Group of Eight (G8, and formerly the G6 or Group of Six) is a forum, created by
France in 1975, for the governments of six major economies: France, Germany, Italy,
Tapan, the United Kingdom, and the United States'. In 1976, Canada joined the group
(thus creating the G7). In 1997, the group added Russia, thus becoming the G8. In
addition, the European Union is represented within the G8, but cannot host or chair.
80 The international Monetary' Fund (IMF) is an organization of 187 countries, working to
foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international
trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty
around the world.
81 ADB: A multilateral finance institution that promotes economic and social progress in
the Asia-Pacific region.
82 Transactional corporation: those corporations which operate in more than one country
or nation at a time-have become some of the most powerful economic and political
entities in the world today.
 35

privatization program, is even attempting to transfer peasants' rights and

access to water as a public resource to private corporations and large-scale
producers.

Since the 1980's the Right to Food has continuously improved its
standing in international law. In 1983 the Economic and. Social Council of the
United Nations commissioned a Report on the Right to Adequate Food as a
Human Right, the first study eyer undertaken in the United Nations human
rights system on a specific right of the International Covenant on Economic,
Social . and Cultural Rights. In the same year, Food and Agricultural
Organisation (FAO)83 Conference adopted three key guidelines concerning
the concept of world food security: improving access to food, particularly for
the poor; ensuring adequate food availability; and enhancing the stability of
food supplies. In the following year, the World Food Security Compact
affirmed that food security was indeed the common responsibility of
mankind, requiring a moral commitment and international cooperation.

In 1984 the International Law Association formed a Right to Food

Committee and the Netherlands Human Rights Institute in Utrecht held an
international conference on the right to food.

In 1986 a conference of International Legal Experts formulated the

Limburg Principles which gave guidance to the further interpretation of the
ICESCR. In 1987 the United Nations Human Rights Commission approved
the report on the right to adequate food as a human right.84 The right to
adequate food means that every man, woman and child alone and in
community with others must have physical and economic access at all times
to adequate food using a resource base, human dignity. Fighting the monster

83 On 16th October, 1945, the Food and Agriculture Organisation was born in Quebec City,
Canada.
84 Report on "The right to adequate food as a human right7, submitted by Mr. Asbjorn
Eide, Special Rapporteur, ECOSOC E/CN, 4/ Sb.2/1987/23, 7 July, 1987.
 36

of "world hunger" only by increasing food production and no addressing root

causes of hunger (i.e. poverty), would not alleviate the conditions that create
poverty in the first place.

The Non-governmental human rights community itself was largely

focused on civil and political rights. One of the first signs of change was the
founding of FIAN85 that is Food First Information and Action Network, in
1986 as an international human rights organization working for the human
right to food. In the 1990s economic, social and cultural rights made
important inroads in international Civil society and in the human rights
community itself. The human rights community (both inside and outside the
United Nations) has shown a growing interest in Economic Social and
Cultural Rights (ESCR).86

Further, the human right to food and nutrition has been reaffirmed at
the international level in many different settings. In 1992, FAO demonstrated
its commitment to defending mankind's right to food by two important
initiatives. In March, the Declaration of Barcelona sought to mobilize
international organizations,, government authorities, non-governmental
organizations and each and every individual in the pursuit of the right to
food: In December, FAO joined with the World Health Organisation (WHO)
to convene the International Conference on Nutrition (ICN). The delegates
pledged to make all efforts to eliminate before the turn of the century; famine
and famine related deaths; starvation and nutritional deficiency disease; and
iodine and vitamin A deficiencies. They further pledged to reduce

85 FLAN-that is Food first Information and Action Network is an international human

rights organization that has advocated for the realization of the right to food for more
than 20 years.
86 Human Rights and Basic Needs: Theory and Practices edited by M.P. Singh, Helmut
Goerlich, Michael von Hauff (quoted from the topic Implementing the Human Right to
Food in India; From Legislative Framework to Framework Law by Rolf Kunnemann) P-
172-173.
 37

substantially, inter alia, widespread chronic huger and under nutrition,

especially among children, women and the aged.

In October 1995, on the occasion of FAO's 50th anniversary, the

Members of the Organisation adopted the Quebec Declaration.87 There they
noted with satisfaction the progress made globally in the fight against hunger
in the post-war period. They renewed their dedication of the principles which
stated the following:

"By the year 2030, the planet will have to nourish 3000 million more
people. Simply to maintain present levels of food availability will
require rapid and sustainable production gains to increase supplies by
more than 75 percent without destroying the natural resources on
which we all depend. The foods situation has reached a point, where
world leaders should join in expressing the political will to eradicate
hunger and reach a consensus on what needs to be done to achieve this
objective."

C. Rome Declaration 1996

Beginning in the late 1990s, work on food rights at the global level
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The 1996 Rome Declaration on World Food Security is an important

instrument particularly with respect to the emphasis placed on clarifying the
right to food in the agreed Plan of Action. The relevant section of the World
Food Summit Plan of Action is as follows:

To clarify the content of the right to adequate food and the

fundamental right of everyone to be free from hunger, as states in the
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and other

87 FAO, 50th Anniversary Symposium, Quebec, 1995.

 38

relevant international and regional instruments and to give particular

attention to implementation and Ml and progressive realization of this right
as a means of achieving food security for all.

Make every effort to implement the provisions of Article 11 of the

International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and relevant
provision of other international and regional instruments.

Objective 7.4 of plan of Action called upon the United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Right, in consultation with relevant treaty bodies,
and in collaboration with relevant specialized agencies and programmes of
the United Nations systems and appropriate intergovernmental mechanisms,
to better define the rights related to food in Article 11 of the Covenant
(ICESCR) 1966 and to propose ways to implement and realize these rights. As
a result, a series of expert consultations, conferences and studies followed and
steadily clarified the meaning of the human right to food.

On the basis of the Rome Declaration and Plan of Action, FIAN, in

cooperation with the Jacques Maritain Institute and the World Alliance for
Nutrition and Human Rights, produced a Draft Code of conduct on the Right
to Adequate Food in 1997, which was supported by 800 NGOs and welcomed
by the High Commissioner on Human Rights.88

Recent International legal instruments also emphasise accountability

and enforceability. In 1999, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights (CESCR), the United Nations (UN) body supervising implementation
of the ICESCR has elaborated on these aspects of the right to adequate food in
General Comment No.12 ('GC12')89

88 The Office of High Commissioner organized three fruitful expert consultations (Geneva
1997, Rome 1998, Bonn 2001).
89 General Comments are expert interpretations of human rights instruments- treaties or
covenants-issued by the UN body supervising the implementation of that particular
instrument:
 39

GC 12 observes, "Fundamentally the roots of the problem of hunger

and malnutrition are not lack of food but lack of access to available food, inter
alia because of poverty, by large segments of the World's population."90 The
reference here is to the fundamental distinction between availability and
access. Paragraph 6 of the General Comment presents the core definition:

The right to adequate food is realized when every man, women and
child, alone or in community with others, has physical and economic
access at all times to adequate food or means for its procurement.

GC 12 explains that adequacy means that account must be taken of

what is appropriate under given circumstances. Food security implies food
being accessible for both present and future generations. Sustainability relates
to long-term availability and accessibility. 91 Thus, as explained in paragraph
8, the core content of the right to adequate food implies, the availability of
food in a quantity and quality sufficient to satisfy the dietary needs of
individuals, free from adverse substances and acceptable within a given
culture.

GC 12 also addresses the issues of implementation at the national level,

framework legislation, monitoring, remedies and accountability, and
international obligations. The primary responsibility of National Government
is to facilitate, which means assuring that there are enabling conditions that
allow people to provide for themselves. However, where people not able to
feed themselves adequately, governments have some obligation to provide
for them. While international law does not specify the character or level of
assistance that is required, it is clear that, at the very least, people must not be
allowed to go hungry. Article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights recognizes "the fundamental right of every one to

90 Paragraph 5 of GC 12.
» Paragraph 7 of GC 12.
 40

be free from hunger". Paragraph 6 of the General Comment 12 explains.

"States have a core obligation to take the necessary action to mitigate and
alleviate hunger as provided far in paragraph 2 of Article 11, even in times of
natural or other disasters." Paragraph 14 adds, "Every State is obliged to
ensure for every one under its jurisdiction access to the minimum essential
food which is sufficient, nutritionally adequate and safe, to ensure their
freedom from hunger". Paragraph 17 says, "Violations of the Covenant occur
when a State fails to ensure the satisfaction of, at the very least, the minimum,
essential level required to be free from hunger." There is no ambiguity here.

In 2000 the Commission on Human Rights decided to raise the profile

of the right to food by appointing a Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food-
Mr. Jean Ziegler of Switzerland. One of the topics propogated by Mr. Ziegler
in his 2001 interim report was the issue of justifiability the enforceability of
the right to food in court.92 He has further clarified that how this right is
justifiable and how it should be enforced in different situations.

D. World Food Summit-2002

In the context of the right to food, another landmark incident was the
World food Summit. Five year later of 1996 World Food Summit, in 2002 it
called for an international alliance to accelerate action to reduce World
hunger. It also unanimously adopted a declaration calling on the international
community to fulfill an earlier pledge to cut the number of hungry people to
about 400 million by 2015. That pledge was made at the original World Food
Summit in 1996, the largest ever global gathering of leaders to address hunger
and food security and progress towards it remained disappointingly slow. At
the World Food Summit, held, in Rome, Italy, (from June 10-13), 2002 the
United States stood alone among 182 nations in opposing the right to food. In
fact the Bush administration used a mix of arm-twisting and other pressure

92 ECOSOC, General, E/CN.4/2002/58

 41

tactics to push other countries to support a much narrower world-hunger

agenda focused on a greater role for the private sector including advancing
the interests of biotechnology firms. The Bush administration also supported
more trade liberalization, obedience to dictates of the World Trade
Organisation, and additional so called HIPC. (Highly Indebted Poor
Countries) structural adjustment, which includes budget slashing,
privatization and market opening for the world's poorest countries.

All these positions are highly unpopular in the developing world, as

they tend to reinforce the current rules of the global economy, which, from
tiie perspective of many, privilege the rights and interest of transnational
corporations over basic human needs.,

FAO presented the Anti-Hunger Programme during the Summit. FAO

pointed out that money saved by cutting Subsidies Could pay for part of the
programme, which calls for US$24 billion in additional public investment by
developed and developing countries. These funds would be used for on- farm
improvements such as irrigation, better seeds, conservation of the natural-
resource base for food production, improvements in research and extension,
upgrading of rural infrastructure, improved market access and special
provision for people in particular need.

The Summit was a total failure in addressing the hunger issue, it did
become a launching pad for the biotechnology industry. The hunger for food
was neglected. The hunger for profit was fully attended to. It used to put the
stamp of approval on genetically engineered seeds and crops which have
been at the centre of controversy over the past decade.93

The latest major international development concerning the right to

food took place in FAO in November when its council unanimously adopted
the Voluntary Guidelines on the Progressive Realization of the Right to

93 Supra note 40, P-25-26

 42 ,

Adequate Food in the context of National Food Security.94 This was an

important event for several reasons. It was the first time that human rights
had been discussed in substance within FAO. It was also the first time that
countries negotiated on what should be done to implement and realize a
recognized economic, social and cultural right. FAO welcomed the Voluntary,
Guidelines as a tool for the achievement of hunger reduction target of the first
Millennium Development Goal and eventual achievement of food security in
the world.

The voluntary guidelines were developed to fight hunger and

malnutrition using a right-based approach. The need for better realization of
the right to food is evident given the persistent high prevalence of under
nourishment and hunger. FAO estimates that 852 million people were under
nourished worldwide in 2000-2002: 815 million in developing countries, 28
million in countries with economics in transition, and 9 million in
industrialized countries.95

Despite progress in some countries, global hunger is on the rise. Unless

eradicating hunger is urgently made a central priority of all governments, the
Millennium Development Goal to halve hunger will not be met. This is
absurd when according to FAO, the planet could produce enough food to
provide 2,100 kcals pr person per day to 12 billion people that is almost twice
the existing world population.96 The Commission on Human Rights must
reiterate that the right to food is a human right. Hunger and famine are not
inevitable-they are a violation of human rights. The united Nations
Millennium Development Project's Task Force on Hunger has shown that 80
per cent of the world's hungry live in rural areas.97Most of them cannot
produce enough to feed themselves usually because they do not have
sufficient access to productive such land, water and seeds.

94 http://www.Fao.Org/Docrep/Meeting/009/Y9825e/Y9825.c00.htm.
95 FAO, 2004, State of Food Insecurity in the world (SOFI) 2004, Rome.
96 FAO State of Food Insecurity in the world-2002
97 Millennium Project Task Force on Hunger, Halving Hunger by 2015: A Framework for
Action. Interim Report, Millennium Project, New York, 1 February, 2004.
 43

In Africa, the situation is terrifying. During 2005, famine and food

crises hit Niger, the Sudan, Somalia, Chad, Zimbabwe, Mauritania and
Ethiopia, which all suffered from critical food emergencies as the rains failed
and locust swarms destroyed crops, exacerbating the political and economic
causes of hunger.98 In the face of so much urgent need, it is clear that the
permanent Global Emergency Fund, proposed by the United Nations must be
fully implemented and supported by all the United Nations Member States to
allow a rapid, effective response to food emergencies.

The Special Rapporteur is outraged to report"that global hunger is still

on the rise, according to the latest report of the Food and Agriculture
Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) on the State of Food Insecurity in
the World 2006. Despite the commitments made by Governments in 1996 and
at the Millennium Summit in 2000, a little progress has been made in reducing
hunger worldwide. Whereas in 1996 the number of people suffering from
under-nourishment was estimated at some 800 million people, FAO's latest
estimate suggests that there are now 854 million who do not have enough to
eat every day. Every year, more than 6 million children die from hunger-
related illness before this fifth birthday.

Yet there is also much hope. The Right to Food Guidelines were
adopted by the FAO Council and the elaboration of the Optional Protocol to
the ICESCR is progressing, as are global, regional and national commitments
to fight hunger.

During the World Forum on Food Sovereignty, held in March, 2007 in

Nyeleni, Mail, more than 500 representatives from more than 80 countries
adopted the Declaration, in which they defined food sovereignty as:

98 Executive Overview of food Security Threats in Sub-Saharan Africa, luly 2005, Fews,
net.
99 Promotion and Protection of All Human Rights, Civil, Political, Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights, including the rights to development-Report of the Special Rapparteur
on the right to food,Jean Ziegler, on January, 2008.
 44

The right of people to healthy and culturally appropriate food

produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and
their right to define their own food and agriculture systems. It puts
those who produce, distribute and consume food at the heart of food
systems and policies rather than the demands of markets and
corporations (—). Food Sovereignty promotes transparent trade that
guarantees just income to all peoples and the rights of consumers to
control their food and nutrition.

In June 2008, after more than seven years of consultation of the Human
Rights Council's Advisory Committee, with its members organization, La Via
Campesina adopted the declaration of the Rights of Peasants-Men and
Women100 and presented it as a response to the world food crises before the
Human Rights Council and the General Assembly in 2009.101

It its resolution of 20 March, 2009, the Human Rights Council

requested the Advisory Committee:
"to undertake a study on discrimination in the context of the right to
food, including, identification of good practices of anti-discriminatory
polices and strategies, and to report on it to tire thirteenth session of the
Human Rights Council"102

It is clear from above discussion that to improve the realization of the

right to food more attention needs to be given to agrarian reform that benefits
small scale land holders and promotes security of tenure and access to land,
including for women. There is also an urgent need to ensure that
governmental policies are sufficiently well formulated in order to address the
needs of the most vulnerable people living in rural areas.

100 Available in Spanish, English and French on the website www.viacampesina.org.

Document adopted by the Via Campesina International Coordinating Committee in
Seoul, March, 2009.
101 See La Via Campesina's statement to the General Assembly of 6 April 2009 at
www.viacampesina.org.
102 Human Rights Council, the Right to Food, A/HRC/IO/L.25,20 March, 2009.
 45

World average availability of food (measured as dietary energy

supply) increased by over tenth in the two decades between 1970 and 1990. In
the developing world as a whole it is increased by almost a fifth. Two decades
ago, one in three persons in the developing countries totaling about 920
million people-had inadequate access to food whereas now it has been
reduced to one in five-about 840 million or one fifth of their total populations.

M INCREASING FOOD SUPPLIES

Per caput food supplies for direct human
consumption, 1961-2010
Key ■ '
fif Sub-Saharan Africa
■ Near East and North Africa
B East Asia
■ South Asia
M Latin America and Caribbean
fit Developed countries
■ Former centrally planned economies’
1® Others
■f World Average of the pre-reform years 1988-90
Assumed to be re-established by 2010

2.3 Meaning of Right to Food

In a narrower sense the right to food means the claim to fire the bowl
for filing the empty stomach of a hungry and starving individual but in its
broader sense right to food refers to the right to adequate food and its
 46

broader sense right to food refers to the right to adequate food and its
adequacy in term of quantity, quality and cultural acceptability as well as
suitability in particular climatic conditions and seasonal permit. Access to
adequate food must be considered in the light of quality of food contents like
nutrients, calories and proteins. Medically it is approved that malnutrition
may be caused not necessarily due to lack of food quantity but from the lack
of food quality, short fall of macro and micro nutrients, vitamins, iodine etc.
Therefore, the right to food means freedom from hunger including freedom
from under nourishment. Hence right to adequate food should be linked with
other entitlements in broader aspects like entitlement to good nutrition, clean
water, health care, elementary education and knowledge about nutrition and
food habit in addition to entitlement to food only.

Therefore, the general concept of adequate food should be detailed

with the following:

The types of food staff are to be available in national, local market and
ultimately within the reach of every household; that it should be compatible
with the prevailing and acceptable food and dietary culture; that overall
nutritional needs in terms of energy and quality should be available with the
supplied/ available food type; that the food should be safe from toxic
elements and contamination.

To ensure all such entitlements complex legal mechanism and

implementation of regulations are needed. The greater awareness among the
people and basic knowledge about nutrition with self regulation of food
intake is must on the part of people. So the right to adequate food imposes
certain obligations on States which are though already recognized by the
International Community yet to be protected and enforced by the rules of
right in their national level effort to fulfill their commitment to ensure that the
 47

fundamental right of everyone to be free from hunger and the right to

adequate food is safeguarded.103

2.4 Implications of food being a Right:

The call of the UDHR is not simply for food, but for an adequate
standard of living. The right to food is one amongst several rights, including
the right to shelter, education and health, that need to be fulfilled in order to
achieve this, and must be viewed as part of a cluster of mutually reinforcing
socio-economic rights.

Further, this cluster of socio-economic rights must be understood as

tied to and reliant upon the range of civil political rights. The right to food
entails an entitlement on the part of the citizen, an obligation on the part of
the state, and the ability to sue the state when it fails to meet its obligations.

States Parties to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and

Cultural Rights (ICESCR) are required to adopt, inter alia, the legislative
measures necessary to realize the right to an adequate standard of living,
including the right to adequate food.104 Several countries already have
provisions on the right to food in their national constitutions, but there is still
a worldwide lack of experience in designing and using national legislation to
implement those provisions. Of course, problems and causes of hunger of lack
of access to adequate food vary greatly from country to country, so different
solutions will be needed in each.

Under ICESCR Article 2, steps are to be taken by each State party, "to
the maximum of its available resources, with a view to achieving
progressively the full realization of the rights recognized in the present
Covenant by all appropriate means, including particularly the adoption of

103 infra note 130 P-101-102

104 Article 2 of the ICESCR
 48

legislative measures." As mentioned above, this commitment was renewed by

the world's leaders in 1996 in the context of commitment 7.4 of the World
Food Summit Plan of Action, in which government announced that they
would make effort to implement the provisions of ICESCR Article 11. In the
plan of Action, Government pledged their political will and common and
national commitment to achieving food security for all105 and to an ongoing
effort to eradicate hunger in all countries, with an immediate view to
reducing the number of undernourished people to half its present (1996) level
no later than 2015.106

To achieve such lofty goals, the primary responsibility for ensuring the
full enjoyment of the right to adequate food lies with the national authorities
of each state.

2.5 The right to food in Different State Legislation

Twenty countries in world have Constitutions which, more or less
explicitly and in more or less detail, refer to the right to food or a related
norm. No state, however, has yet passed consistent domestic laws, ensuring
effective protection of the right to food for its population, and especially the
most vulnerable groups, such as women, children and ethnic minorities.107
There is still a worldwide lack of experience in translating international law
into national legislation, procedures, policy and infrastructure. Government
which have become party to the international instruments, particularly the
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights are required
to adopt legislative and other measures to realize the right to food. The states
parties to the Covenant commit themselves to take appropriate steps to

105 Food Security is defined in the introduction to the WFS Plan of Action as existing when
all people at all times have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and
nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and
healthy life.
106 Rome Declaration on World Food Security, paragraph 2.
107 Supra note 40, P-26
 49

ensure the realization of this right. It is here that the role of parliamentarians
can be key, as they can call for international law to be translated into national
legislation, once their countries are parties to the international instruments.

In recent years, a number of countries have begun drafting legislation

designed to realize the right to food. Draft bills on the right to food are
making their way through the legislative process in South Africa, Nicaragua,
Mexico, Peru and Uganda.108 In 2005, Guatemala became the first country in
Latin America to pass a law incorporating the right to food. Brazil has
followed, passing the Federal Law on Food and Nutritional Security in 2006.
In India, Civil Society has successfully petitioned the Supreme Court to
enforce the government's commitments under various food and nutrition
schemes. The government is now in the early stages of drafting a law
protecting the right to food.109

2.6 Right to Food: The Indian Response

The bane of poverty is not unknown to India. In spite of our rich past,
we find the examples of utter poverty even in Mahabharat period when the
son of Guru Dronacharya did not get milk to drink and his mother, therefore,.
used to give him water mixed with flour. Poor Aswathama thought that to be
the real milk only till he ultimately tasted the real milk. In short, the concept
of poverty and more particularly, the concept of non-availability of nutritious
food is not new to India. It is described in the history that Maharana Pratap in
his hard days after the battle of Haldighat had to live on fodder. In our Indian
System, our sages and saints who used to live in jungles had only fruits and
roots to eat. No wonder then that the said poverty has crept into the lives of
the crores of Indians and half of our population lives below the poverty line.
Mahatma Gandhi had said that there is enough food for everybody's need,
but not for everybody's greed. The words have been proved to be true. We

108 FAO report 2009

109 Supra note 37, P-10
 50

have overcome the food problem inasmuch as in each of the last three
decades, India has produced surplus food. In spite of this, what is seen is that
sometimes food does not reach the hungry mouths.110

In colonial India the British Government codified measures to counter

hunger in legally binding Famine Codes, but unaccountable to its subjects,
dispensed with these measures when they were inconvenient. In the
devastating Bengal Famine of 1943, the Governor of Bengal wrote to the
Viceroy of India explaining that a famine had not been declared to avoid the
relief measures mandated by the Famine Codes. In democracies with a free
press and free elections, the media exposes extreme hunger, and governments
fear retribution at the ballot box if they ignore it. The British could choose
when to be bound by the Famine Code, but in independent India, this was not
an option. However inefficiently, Indian democracy did move to prevent the
famines that had been a regular feature of pre-independence India. Thus, we
could say that basic democratic institutions are necessary to secure the
fundamental core of the right to food-preventing extreme hunger.*111*

2.7 Right to Food under Indian Constitution

The Indian Constitution has incorporated a wide-range of economic
and social rights. But there is no as such provisions of food security and right
to food in the Indian Constitution. Though most of the states are already
committed under international law to implement the right to food. A strong
political push is needed to make the right approach to hunger and
malnutrition problems. But the concept of welfare state reigned supreme in
the mind of the framers of the Constitution.

no "Food and Nutritional Security for the Poor: Role of Legislature, Executive and
Judiciary" by Mr. V.S. Sripurkar, J, published in Human Rights Year-Book 2007, P-27.
111 Supra note 37, P-9.
 51

A. Fundamental Right and Food Security

The Fundamental Right guarantees the right to life, and the right to
food is at the heart of the right to life. The state has a related duty to ensure
that no one goes hungry. Even Article 21 lays down that no person shall be
deprived of life or personal liberty, except according to the procedure
established by law. If the right to livelihood is not treated as part of the
constitutional right to life, the easiest way of depriving a person of his right to
life would be deprive him of his means of livelihood and as such that which
alone makes it possible to live, must be deemed to be an integral component
of the right to life. The state may not, by affirmative action, be compellable to
provide adequate means of livelihood or work to the citizens, but any person
who is deprived of his right to livelihood except according to just and fair
procedure established by law, can challenge the deprivation as offending the
right to life conferred by Article 21. In reality, this Article has given a positive
effect by judicial interpretation. The right is a fundamental right, enforceable
against the State and judicial decisions have imposed on the state.

In recent years, the battle against hunger has been placed at the centre
of the development discourse in India. This has come about mainly due to the
efforts of the Right of Food Campaign and as a direct result of a writ petition
filed in. the Supreme Court of India. The petition was filed by the People's.
Union for Civil Liberties in April, 2001 to seek legal enforcement of the right
to food. This case, popularly known as 'the Right to Food Case' has since
become a rallying point for trade unions, activists, gross-root organisations
and NGOs to make the right to food a justiciable right.

The Indian judiciary, especially the Supreme Court has on many

occasions reaffirmed that the "right to life enshrined in Article 21 means
something more than animal instinct and includes the right to live with
dignity; it would include all aspects which make life meaningful, complete
 52

and living"112 Other statutory constitutional institutions like the National

Human Rights Commission (NHRC) have also stated: "There is a
fundamental right to be free from hunger."

B. Directive Principles of State Policy and Right to Food

The economic welfare approach has been incorporated in Part -IV as
the Directive Principles of State Policy in the Constitution of India. The bulk
of the Directive Principles, however, aim at the establishment of a welfare
state based on socialistic principles. Article 38 provides that the State shall
strive to promote the welfare of the people by securing and protecting a social
order in which justice, social, economic and political wisdom shall inform all
the institutions of national life. Clause (2) (inserted by the Constitution (44th
Amendment) Act, 1978) says, the State shall, in particular, strive to minimize
the inequalities in income, and endeavour to eliminate inequalities in status,
facilities and opportunities, not only amongst individuals but also groups of
people residing in different areas or engaged in different vocations. Article 39
calls upon the State to direct its policy towards securing that the citizens, men
and women, equally have the right to an adequate means of livelihood
Similarly, Article 47 provides that the State shall regard the raising of the level
of nutrition and the standard of living of its people and the improvement of
public health as among its primary duties. The framers of the Constitution
were conscious of the fact that political democracy alone is not enough, hence
they were endeavouring to promote the concept of a welfare state by laying
down these fundamental principles of social and economic order which,
fearing the wrath of the public, the legislators and the executives could not
easily ignore. It is an ironical situation that apart from constitutional
provisions for food, hunger and starvation deaths are very common in the

112 Maneka Gandhi. V. Union of India AIR 1978 SC 597.

 53

contrary. Access to food, being at the core of existence and an inalienable

human right.113

Though the socio -economic rights enshrined under the DPSP

provisions are made non-enforceable, these are fundamental in the
governance of the country. There is no antithesis between the Fundamental
Rights and Directive Principles and one supplements the other as has been
interpreted by the Apex Court in Kesavananda Bharati. V. State of Kerala.114
These are the parameters to evaluate the true spirit of welfares view of a
democratic government and reflect of its rule of law envisioning. Though the
economic capacity of the State113 is a hurdle to cross for the fullest realization
of its goal, that is not a complete shield for defending of the State's inaction or
lack political will especially in case of transforming right to adequate food
and adequate standard of living from DPSPs to the mentioned right category
under Part III of the Constitution. Article 32 of the Constitution is the very
heart and sole of its and it is a room for redressal of so many socio-economy
injustice happen so far and an effective tool to enforce many thing due to
move from the basket of non justifiable to justifiable rights. Therefore, it is
hoped that Article 21 read together with Articles 39(a), 41 and 47 can place the
issue, of food security in the right perspective to make it justifiable in the:
Court of Law. Now it is time to prove the Indian Constitution is the largest
constitution having incorporated the noble features of different
Constitutions and to guarantee and incorporate right to food security to its
citizen. In recognition of this primary responsibility, a number
of countries have enshrined the right to adequate food, or at

113 Supra note 68, (quoted from the topic 'Right to Food in the Constitution of India) P-17.
114 AIR 1973 SC at 1461 at 1641.
115 Article 45 of the Constitution of India.
 54

least the responsibility of the state in this area, in their national

constitutions.116

C Food Legislation: Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes

Apart from Constitutional provisions of economic interests of the
weaker sections, starvation death and hunger are the common phenomena
among Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Since the Green Revolution,
die agriculture production has increased manifold. There is a bumper stock of *
food grains in the country, nevertheless the starvation death is perpetual
phenomena. The starvation deaths in a number of locations in the country like
Baran in Rajasthan, Dhule and Thane in Maharashtra, Kalahandi and
Keonjhar in Orissa are the most highlighted. But the majority of victims by the
starvation are the tribal people. The victims in Madhya Pradesh and
Rajasthan (Guna District of M.P. that borders the Baran district of Rajasthan)
are the Sahariya tribe, but most of the victims of this tribe are the children,
who are working in illegal stone quarries. According to the 1981 census, 90
percent of all Sahariyas in M.P. are employed in agriculture, either as
cultivators or labourers. Drought mans large-scale unemployment to them
and finally they work in stone quarries. Not too long ago, the hunting -
gathering Sahariyas survived on minor forest produce and a kind of shifting
agriculture. When forests started dwindling fast around the time India gained
independence and in subsequent years, the Sahariyas started tilling lands of
other people-mostly Jats, Gujjars and Sikh framers of the area. Untuned to the
exploitative cruelties of the non-forest world, they were easily made to lapse
into a life of bonded labour. Though freed after the passage of the Bonded
Labour Act. Right to the life enshrined in Article 21 means something more
than mere survival akin to animal existence, but the right to live with human

116 The constitutions of the Congo (Art.34) Ecuador (Art.19), Haiti (Art.22), Nicaragua
(Art.63), South Africa (Art. 27), Uganda (Art. 14) and Ukraine (Art. 48) recognize
explicitly the right to adequate food as set out in ICESCR. The constitutions of
Bangladesh (Art.15), Ethiopia (Art.90), Guatemala (Art.99), India (Art. 47), the Islamic
Republic of Iran (Arts. 3 & 43), Malawi (Art,13), Nigeria (Art.16), Pakistan (Art.38),
Seychelles (Preamble) and Sri Lanka (Art 27), set the achievement of these goals as
responsibilities of the state, while the constitutions of Brazil (Art.227), Guatemala
(Art.51), Paraguay (Art. 53), Peru (Art. 6), and South Africa (Art. 28), recognize the right
of children to adequate food and nutrition.
 55

dignity with minimum sustenance status of the tribals in the scheduled area.
It would itself be an opportunity to the tribals to improve their social and
economic status and a source of their economic endowment and
empowerment and would give them dignity of person, social and economic
status and an opportunity to improve their excellence.117 The Article 46 clearly
provides right to food to the SCs and ST people. Which reads, "The State shall
promote with special care, the education and economic interest of the weaker
sections of the people and in particular, of the Schedule Castes and Scheduled
Tribes and to protect them from social injustice and all forms of exploitation,"
Similarly Article 47 imposes a duty on the State to raise the level of nutrition
and the standard of living of its people and the improvement of public health.
However, these Directive Principles undoubtedly embody the main objectives
of a socialist pattern of society. But neither the experts on Constitutional nor
the legislators are bothered to take initiative for legislation on the provisions
of the above mentioned articles. The right to food is not only the question of
survival, though it is the prime requirement. .

The Supreme Court ordered the government to ensure that food

reaches the people in response to a Public Interest Litigation filed by the
Peoples Union for Civil Liberties on the ground that the right to life
guaranteed by Art., 2I11S of the Constitution includes the right to food which
is being violated by the deliberate dismantling of the Public Distribution
System.

However, it is a crime against the Indian citizen if there is even one

starvation death when there are 60 million tonnes of cereals in the warehouse
of the Food Corporation of India and the State Governments. The Centre is
prepared to sell cereals to exporters at the same subsidized prices, it changes

117 Hyderabad Abrasives and Minerals Ltd. Vs. State of A.P, AIR 1997 SCs 3297.
118 Article 21 reads as, No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except
according to the procedure established by law.
 56

to consumers below the poverty line but it is not willing to aid States to those
most in need. Today, all elements of India's food security policy are being
dismantled under the pressure of World Bank119 and WTO. Starvation is the
inevitable results of policies promoting sudden withdrawal of the role of the
state and reckless dependence on markets to bring food to die proof who have
no purchasing power. Thus, famine and starvation have returned to India for
the first time since the Great Bengal Famine of 1942 which was created by
British imperial free-trade policies. Nobel Laureate, Amartya Sen, showed
that it was not lack of food but the lack of food entitlements and food rights
which caused starvation deaths.120

D. Parliament of India: Legislative Powers

Chapter II of Part V of the Indian Constitution deals with the
Parliament of India. The parliament of India has extensive powers. It has the
power to make laws on matters, which are given in the Union List and the
Concurrent List. Article 249 provides that Parliament can legislate on any
matter given in the State List if the Council of States passes a resolution by a
two -thirds majority declaring that such matter or matters are of national
importance and interest. On the other side, the very basic aim of the
Constitution is to make India a successful welfare State. Without right to food
legislation, the aim of the Constitution cannot be achieved.

E. Panchayati Raj and Right to Food

The village panchayat is the grassroot of our democratic system. Since
the implementation of 73rd amendment provision of the Constitution, the

119 An issue paper prepared for the 1993 World Bank Conference on Overcoming Global
Hunger (World Bank, 1994) stressed the need to focus on priority and policy actions to
reduce hunger now, even if all other aspects of poverty are not resolved. Such a
concentration on hunger reduction, long before long-term solutions to poverty are
achieved; would "shift the balance of concern toward equity, entitlement and
intervention solutions".
120 Dreze, J. & Sen, A. 1989, Hunger and public action, Oxford, UK, Clarendon Press,
Oxford University Press, P-373.
 57

development initiatives are expected to come from the people. Where people
are the initiators and government is the facilitator. To make the government
as facilitator from the role of a provider, people have to take initiative and
accept new responsibilities. Their participation in the development activities
will bring accountability on the part of the government. People have to assess
their requirement and chalk out schemes and programmes according to their
own needs. There should be people's programmes and government has to
participate in the programmes by facilitating the people to carry out their
programmes on their own. Therefore, the new system envisages a new task of
building the capacity of the leaders and the people.

In the fifty-two years of governance, the centralized planning has

achieved tremendous results in macroeconomics'of this country and yet the
rural realities have not been changed drastically towards achieving
development. In order to provide basic facilities, to make use of the facilities
to growth and to bring economic activities planning exercise has to be done at
the micro level. Now this concept gained currency and planning exercise has
to be initiated at different levels starting from Gram Panchayat,

It is imperative in decentralization of power that people should take

more resoonsibiiities and discharge the same effectively and efficiently to
JL w ' ■ * *

deliver the services with quality to the people. To perform the new
responsibilities, capacity of the people have to be increased. Till date, people
have developed an attitude that the government would provide everything
and people have to receive the same. Now the role has been reversed. People
have to manage their affairs on their own. Therefore, the new system
envisages a new task of building the capacity of the leaders and the people. In
a market driven economy for every act people require skill and efficiency.
Another important aspect is that for right to food a Village Planning Forum
(VPF), which should be a body of members of the Village Panchayat and
 58

representatives of the Village, and the VPF will be the mechanism to plan and
to bring about coordination in village programmes between the Village
Panchayat and the local communities.121

F. Centre-State Relation and Food Security

The entries 33 and 34 in the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution
(Concurrent List) give the central Government power to control trade and
commerce in and distribution of foodstuffs and enforcing price control. An
elaborate set of control orders have been promulgated both by the central and
state governments in the case of the latter with prior approval of the central
government under the enabling provisions of the Essential Commodities Act,
1955, for the regulation of trade and commerce in and distribution of food
grains and for price, control. Moreover, on behalf of the above-mentioned
constitutional provision of the Central and State Governments have enacted
and enforced different control orders and food laws for better distribution of
available foodgrains. The main objectives of these control orders and food
laws have been :-

a) to check the undesirable activities of the traders, like hoarding and

smuggling of food grains,
b) To check the spiraling of prices of food grains, primarily of rice and
wheat, and
c) to assure the supplies of available food grains to the consumers,
particularly the low-income vulnerable sections of the community at
fair prices.

G. Coordination between the Centre and State Government

It would be necessary to take an integrated and unified view of the
food economy of the country. While the food policy is laid down by the

121 Supra note 68, P-18

 59

central government, it is implemented through the State Governments. The

entire mechanism of procurement122 operated through the system of Control
Orders is regulated by the Central Government. However, the role of the State
Governments who enforce those orders is crucial. The procurement effort of
the Food Corporation of India is supplemented to a very great extent by the
State agencies, including the cooperative institutions. By and large the state
agencies procure and hold the food grains on behalf of the Food Corporation
of India for which they are paid necessary charges. There is thus a very
intimate collaboration between the central agency and the state agencies so far
as the procurement and storage of food grains are concerned.

There are three motivations for procurement from the point of the view
of the government. The first is to provide for food security so that there are
stocks that can be used in times of a crisis^ The second is to provide for the
PDS so that the poor have access to cheap food grains either directly or
through specific government schemes and the third is to stabilize prices. This
is done by selectively releasing stocks into the market through the Open
Market Schemes to augment supplies and lower prices. Government
procurement is for a fair average quality of the product and is an open ended
scheme. There are accordingly prudential norms that are set far the stocks that
are held by the Food Corporation of India for the government. Presently
procurement is mainly in rice and wheat and to a very minimal extent in
coarse cereals. This encourages farmers to grow more of rice and wheat and
deliver to the government which is represented by the Food Corporation of
India (FCI).^

122 Minimum Support price, procurement and distribution are three extremely critical
government policies that are indispensable.
123 Yojana, October 2010, on the topic "Food Security", (quoted from "Revamping Food
Procurement and pricing Policies' by Madan Sabnavis) P-11.
 60

The procurement operations have to be planned jointly by the center

and the States.124 When so recommended by the Central Government to
Reserve Bank, credit for procuring food grains for the public distribution
system is made available at a consessional rate of interest The element of
subsidy from the Central exchequer in the implementation of this policy is a
vital factor integrating the centre and the states in the management of the
economy. Purchase storage maintenance and movement of stock involve very
substantial costs, which the states find it difficult to meet for their resources.
So far these subsidies are being met almost totally by the Central
Government. Control of the Central Government in the management of food
economy, therefore, is very substantial.

H. Food Security and Democracy

Democratic control of the food system is the ultimate test of
democracy. Rapid changes in policies and legislation linked to trade
liberalization have threatened food security. People's food security needs to
be built, both locally and nationally. Land, water and biodiversity (including
seeds and livestock), which are the vital resources that make food security
possible, should stay under the democratic control of peasants and farmers.
Changes in land reform legislation and the removal of land ceiling laws,
under the trade liberalization and Structural Adjustment programmes (SAPs),
are creating a free markets in land and will have the inevitable consequences
of alienating land on a large scale from millions of small and marginal
peasants. Security of land is a central tenant of democracy in an agricultural
society, where the majority of the people derive their livelihood from the
land. There is an urgent need that rights to natural resources should be
democratized to the local bodies such as panchayats, cooperatives and local
community organizations. Democratic panchayat bodies should be legally

124 Procurement programmes are pragmatic but have to be adopted to the changing
requirements.
 61

empowered to have jurisdiction over all functions listed in the 11th Schedule
of the Constitution of India, in order to protect people's rights to: food, land,
water, Common Property Resources (CPRs), biodiversity, livelihoods and
employment.

2.8 Supreme Court and the Right to Food

While the Indian Supreme Court has reiterated in several of its
decisions that the Right to Life guaranteed in Article 21 of the Constitution in
its true meaning includes the basic right to food clothing and shelter. It is
indeed surprising that the justifiability of the specific right to food as an
integral right under Art. 21 had never been articulated or enforced until
2001.125

Prior to the Right to Food petition filed by PUCL in 2001, the only other
case concerning specifically the right of food, went up to the Supreme Court
in 1986 was the case of Kishen Pattanayak V. State of Orissa. In this petition,
the petitioner wrote a letter to the Supreme Court bringing to the Court's
notice the extreme poverty of the people of Kalahandi in Orissa where
hundreds were dying due to starvation and where several people were forced
to sell their children. In the letter it was prayed that the State Government
should be directed to take immediate steps in order to ameliorate this
miserable condition of the people of Kalahandi. This was the first case
specifically taken up the issue of starvation and lack of food.

In this Judgment, the Supreme Court took a very pro-Government

approach and gave directions to take macro level measures to address the
starvation problem such as implementing irrigation projects in the State so as
to reduce the drought in the region, measures to ensure fair selling price of

125 Kishen Patnaik V. State of Orissa, AIR 1989 SC 677.

 62

paddy and appointing of a Natural Calamities Committee. None of these

measures actually directly affected the immediate needs of the petitioner, i.e.,
to prevent people from dying of hunger. More importantly, the Supreme
Court did not recognize the specific right to food within this context of
starvation.

In Chameli Singh Vs. State of U.P.126 It was held that right to life
guaranteed in any civilized society implies the right to food, water, decent
environment, education, medical care and shelter.

The method in which the constitutional social rights or the DPSPs have
been enforced or made justifiable by the Supreme Court has been through an
expansion of the existing fundamental rights, particularly the right to life
guaranteed in Article 21127 Right from the late 1979s starting from the Maneka
Gandhi's case128 the Supreme Court started expanding the guarantee of the
right to life in Article 21 to include within it and recognize a whole garnet of
social rights.129 Article 21 has been emerging since Maneka Gandhi case as the
source of many substantive rights and in course of him it has come to be
regarded as the heart of fundament rights, having enough positive content in
lt.13u

Other problems are: In spite of the increase in food subsidy, the overall
impact on the poor is still wanting. There has been significant diversion of
commodities under the Public Distribution System to the open market. There
are also problems in delivery, quality and co-ordination. However efforts are

126 (1996) 2 SCC 549

127 Article 21 reads as, "No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except
according to procedure established by law".
128 Maneka Gandhi Vs. Union of India, AIR 1978 SC 597
129 Frarieies Coralie Mullin. V. Union Territory of Delhi, 1981(1) SCC 608
130 Indian Human Rights Law Review Vol-1, June, 2010 (quoted from Right against Hunger
and Development Discourse in India, by Dr. Ranjit Sil) P.105-106.
 63

underway to rectify some of the these problems. The Supreme Court orders in
response to the PUCL writ petition and the Campaign on Right to Food have
had a positive impact.131

The right to food has been interpreted in more clear terms in.Shantisar
Builders V. Narayanans Khimalal Totame132 where in the Supreme Court
has assumed that the right to life under Article 21 would include the right to
food, clothing, decent environment and reasonable accommodation to live in.

In 2001 a Writ Petition 133 was filed by the Peoples Union for Civil
Liberties (PUCL) to the Supreme Court, demanding that the country's
available food stocks should be distributed without delay to prevent hunger
and starvation. The case popularly known as right to food case seeks legal
enforcement of the right to food. Since the filing of this case the Supreme
Court has been passing a number of interior orders directing the
Governments to identify the beneficiaries within their jurisdiction to assure
that they receive adequate food.134

Therefore, the Supreme Court's orders in this Right to Food case are of
extreme useful in strengthening the bargaining power of the poor and
marginalized segment of the society and for all those who are working for the
realization of the right of food. Having no access to adequate food is
considered as serious violation of basic human right. That is why the right to
food campaign is required to be expanded beyond the confines of the Court
room towards a broad spectrum of popular democratic movement.

131 Supra note 38.

AIR 1990 SC 630
133 Writ Petition (Civil) No. 196 of 2001
PUCL Vs. Union of India and Others
 64

2.9 Right to Food Campaign

A series of events since 2001 has catalyzed and given momentum to the
"Right to Food" campaign. In 2001, local groups in Rajasthan began putting
pressure on tihe State Government to use the Central stocks to deal with the
effects of the drought in the previous year. In May 2001, the People's Union
for Civil Liberties filed what could turn out to be a landmark public interest
petition in the Supreme Court, drawing attention to the accumulation of
stocks. In April 2002, a nationwide day of events was organized to demand
implementation of the mid-day meal scheme. In 2002, individual groups
highlighted the occurrence of starvation deaths in Orissa, Rajasthan and
Jharknand. These groups have also organized "public hearings" to put
pressure on local governments to respond to starvation deaths, corruption in
the public -distribution system (PDS) and the failure to implement welfare
schemes. The Right to Food campaign has been at least partly responsible for
getting the Centre to lower PDS prices in late 2001 and has been exerting
pressure to expand the Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY),135 the programme
which supplies subsidized grain to the destitute and which by all accounts
has been,, even for a government programme, reasonably successful in most
parts of the country. In the campaign, there are citizens' groups who share a
common interest in making the state fulfill its constitutional duties, are
involved. One leg of the Right to Food campaign is in the new tradition of
drawing attention to the Constitution to make the Central and State
Governments accountable for their action. There was the right to information
campaign, initially organized by the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan of
Rajasthan in the late 1990s, which resulted in legislative action ait the State and
Central Government levels to make the administration more transparent.
Then there was the right to education campaign, which led to the amendment
to the Constitution to make elementary education a fundamental right, And

135 AAY has been launched by the Hon'ble then Prime Minister of India on 25th December,
2000, to ensure food security for all.
 65

now we have the food campaign. While the People's Union for Civil Liberties
(PUCL) petition was based on a reading of Article 21 (the right to life), more
recently the activists have focused attention on Article 47 of the directive
principle.

Since 2001 the Supreme Court has issued a number of interim orders
that have brought the Central and State Governments into action. The orders
have directed the State Governments to complete identification of the
beneficiaries of welfare programmes to improve implementation of food
schemes and led to the appointment of commissioners to monitor progress in
executing the court's rulings. The most important order came in November
2001 when the court directed the State Government to implement a cooked
mid-day meal scheme for primary school children. This went further than the
existing Central Government scheme (on paper in many States) in which only
grain was supplied to the States. The follow-up by the State Governments has
not been entirely satisfactory. But there has been progress. Rajasthan has
complied with the court order, Karnataka and Chhattisgarh have introduced
the programme in some parts of the States and more recently Andhra Pradesh
has begun a cooked mid-day meal programme for children. Meanwhile, the
campaign continues to maintain pressure on the State Governments to
improve implementation.

After achieving a measure of success in focussing judicial, executive

and public attention on the food consumption issue, the campaign has, after
the recent public hearing in Delhi, drawn up a five-point "call for action";
social security for the destitute as a matter of right, revamping of the PDS,
recognition of the right to work, expansion of financial allocations for food
programmes and implementation of the Supreme Court's directions. As the
Right to Food campaign builds up momentum, it will inevitably have to deal
with three sets of issues, two of which have already cropped up in the five-
 66

points call for action. The first is that is it possible to operationalise the right
to food — even ’only1 for the destitute — without explicit recognition of the
right to work. If the right to work too moves centre stage then the question
becomes one of state funding and organisation of employment guarantee
programmes, to begin with for unskilled labour. It will become imperative to
pressure the state to substantially fund existing and new employment
programmes. The second and equally important issue is that the food stock
does permit expansion of the AAY and also channel grain to expanded work
programmes.

A permanent and substantial expansion of food and employment

programmes require the state to commit financial resources, not to mention
increased procurement to keep the programmes going once the present food
mountain run down. This is workable, if we accept, as we should/ that
meeting the right to food should be a top priority for the country. The third
issue is how far this public action programme can go without the support of
the political parties. Expanding the agenda and increasing its effectiveness
will require involvement of the political organisations. Unfortunately, the
political class has other agendas to pursue. Yet, looking at the way the Right
to Food campaign has grown in the past couple of years and considering the
success it has had, it could turn into a mass movement able to force state and
society to finally tackle the problem of hunger in India.

2.10 Procurement of food grains and food security

The government has adopted the following methods at different times,
singly or in combination, for procurement of food grains in the different states
of the country for food security:

• levy on millers and wholesale dealers in the case of rice;

• levy on wholesale traders in the case of wheat;
 67

• levy on producers;
• monopoly purchase/procurement;
• open market purchases;
• purchases through pre-emption in the regulated markets;
• procurement from producers through requisitioning; and
• price support operations.

Briefly, rice, which is a processed commodity, is procured from the

millers and the government prescribes a fixed percentage of the quantity-
milled daily. In Punjab and Haryana where paddy is grown totally as a cash
crop and volume of local consumption is negligible, the millers do not mind
handing over as much as 80 to 90 per cent of the rice milled by them to the
state agencies. In states like Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh where rice is
the staple food of the people, the state governments have by experience found
that the lower the levy, the more would be the availability in the open market
at a fairly reasonable price. In these states, therefore, the levy has ranged in
the past between 10 and 20 per cent. As larger and larger surpluses have
emerged in states like Andhra Pradesh, this percentage went up as high as 50
per cent. In 1980; Orissa has adopted a novel System in which the rice millers
are given the license on a condition that during the entire season they will
deliver the stipulated quantity of rice as the levy. In Bihar more or less the
same method is followed, under which levy is compounded for the whole
season with every rice miller and wholesale dealer. These two states have
perhaps found that owing to the day-to-day fluctuations in the arrivals as
well as prices of paddy in the market, the millers must have the flexibility to
adjust their business as they consider best while the state's demand in terms
of levy should be assured during the season as a whole.

The mode of procurement through levy on producers is a category in

itself and lot of debate has taken place on the efficacy as well as wisdom of
 68

this system. Nevertheless it is a sure and tested method of procurement. The

scheme generally is that small holdings -say up to 2 hectares are exempted
from the levy. For the remaining, a graded scale of levy is worked out, the
quantity being little higher for irrigated areas and lower for the rain-fed areas
and related to the size of the holdings. This system was adopted in a number
of states during the scarcities of the sixties and the seventies and with a fair
amount of success. But the farmers consider it a-tyrannical method of
procurement because in normal times, and more so in times of scarcities, the
open market price generally rules higher than the procurement price and
when the producers are forced to part with their produce-howsoever small
the quantity may be at a lower price, they think that they are being cheated of
their labour.

An analysis of operational holdings according to size, reveals that

nearly 70 per cent of the total number of operational holdings are less than or
2 hectares in size. But area-wise they account for only 20.8 per cent of the total
cultivated area. If, therefore, holdings up to 2 hectares are exempted from the
producers levy and a graded levy is imposed on the holdings above that limit,
the operation would touch only 30 per cent holdings accounting for nearly 79
per cent of the cultivated area. As regards quantitative impact, broadly
speaking, the levy works out to 12 to 15 per cent of the total produce. It is a
question of judgment whether it is tyrannical to force the producers to part
with this much of their produce at the official support price. Justification for
resorting to this form of procurement which is often characterized as a
tyrannical and exacting is that the state invests huge fluids in irrigation works
and other promotional and developmental activities in relation to agriculture
and thus has a moral right to demand a minimum fraction of the production
for the national buffer which serves a very basic and fundamental public
purpose.
 V

69

The Central Government, on its part, has set up a national agency,

known as the Food Corporation of India, under the Food Corporations Act,
.1964. Under this Act, the FCI, or for that matter a corporation set up in a state,
is charged with the following responsibilities: to undertake purchase, storage,
movement transport, distribution and sale of food grains and other
foodstuffs; and with the previous approval of the central government (a)
promote by such means as it thinks fit the production of food grains and other
foodstuffs; (b) set up, or assist in tire setting up of rice mills, flour food grains
and other foodstuffs; and (c) discharge such other function as may be
prescribed or as are supplemental, incidental or consequential to any of the
functions conferred on it under this Act.

The FCI has its subordinate offices in the states, down to the district. It
has its own godowns and silos and has set up a number of processing plants.
Some states have also set up their own corporations, which also perform such
functions as price support purchases and procurement. Finally, the
cooperatives play a very important part in carrying out the policy directives
of the government.

Over the years a convention has developed that procurement of rice is

done on the states account while that of wheat and coarse grains is done on
the central account. The rice stocks are procured by the states and quantities
surplus to their requirements are surrendered to the central pool, which is at
the absolute disposal of the central government. As and when the states find
stocks surplus to their requirements, as happened during the second half of
the seventies when successful bumper crops were harvested, more quantities
are surrendered to the central pool. But for monitoring the implementation of
the buffer stocking policy the totality of stock position on central and states'
account has to be taken into consideration.
 70

2.11 The Public Distribution System

The government has made two important interventions for food
security: One, the Public Distribution System (PDS) and two, the system of
price incentives to farmers, to grow more food and sell them for feeding into
the PDS. The PDS in India has a network of over 4,00,000 fair price shops
(FPS) and serve about 160 million families and is probably the largest
distribution system of its kind in the world. In the micro terminology, the PDS
in India is intended to translate the macro-level self-sufficiency in food grains
to micro-level food security by ensuring access to food and other essential
commodities to poor families.

The PDS is also a way of transferring resources and providing the

economically weaker sections of society with a minimum level of
consumption, to ensure a decline in the impairment of human capital. Again.
Revamped Public Distribution System (RPDS) 136 was started in 1992 in
areas where the poor are concentrated, covering 1,775 Blocks. For the RPDS,
food grains were released at a price lower than the price at which food grains
are released by the Government of India to the state government for the
normal PDS. But in July-August 1996 the target of the PDS was changed to
'poor in all areas' from 'all in poor areas'. The new target of the PDS is the
population below the poverty line in all areas. To back the PDS, The
government procures food grains, notably rice and wheat, and has built up a
large stock of food grains. This procurement of rice and wheat is backed by
the price, policy of a procurement price and a minimum support price. The
prices are designed to promote farming and encourage surplus farmers to
continue to grow more food in response to price incentives. The PDS,

136 A Revamped Public Distribution System was launched in June, 1992 with a view to
strengthen the PDS and improve its reach in the far-flung, hilly, remote and inaccessible
areas.
 71

however, has been widely criticized for its failure to reach the poor
effectively, its urban bias and lack of transparency and accountability.

However, it is a crime against the Indian citizen if there is even one

starvation death when there are 60 million tones of cereals in the warehouses
of the Food Corporation of India and the State Governments. The Centre is
prepared to sell cereals to exporters at the same subsidized prices, it charges
the consumers below the poverty line but it is not willing to aid States to those
most in need. Since independence of the country there is no as such direct
legislative initiative by the government to provide food security to every
citizen and save them from starvation. Though, achieving food security
through a "macro" strategic approach involves active development of the
agricultural and rural economy to link and stimulate rapid economic growth,
poverty alleviation, and stability. In turn, each of these three elements is a
primary input into food security at the macro and micro levels. However, the
national food security and the overall regulation of the food economy of the
country is the paramount duty of the central government.

The Public Distribution System presuppose the existence of a food

distribution system which can reach every part of the country in the most
adverse of circumstances and allocate a part of national production according
to requirement rather than consideration of the cost of delivery. This was the
main-role played by the PDS historically. In the Targeted Public Distribution
Scheme (TPDS)137 an effort was also made to target benefits to the poor.
However, the principle of allocating subsidized grain across States on the
basis of their poverty ratios has led to imbalances between the resulting
allocations and what is necessary to meet the difference between cereals
production and requirement. Also, the stabilizing role played by the universal

137 The Government launched the TPDS in June, 1997 with focus on below poverty line
population.
 72

PDS has weakened.138 Given these problems in TPDS functioning, it is

recommend that:

A system of universal PDS be reintroduced with uniform Central Issue

Prices (CIP), one each for rice and wheat respectively, for all consumers in all
parts of the country. In this:
(1) There should be a single price for rice, and no distinction between
varieties;
(2) The uniform CIPs should be the FCTs all India average acquisition cost
at Minimum Support Price (MSP) of the relevant grain. In exceptional
circumstances of low market prices, this pricing formula may be
relaxed to ensure that CIPs remain sufficiently low to facilitate
continued off take; and
(3) At these uniform prices, the Centre should allocate grain to States
based on population and a monthly per capita quota which is to be
specified from time to time. Actual lifting will be less than allocation,,
and past lifting should be the basis for decisions regarding grain
movement. This recommendation should restore inter-State grain
allocations to the pre-TPDS situation and bring back some of the non­
poor but with more discipline on the subsidy, which in universal PDS
should be normally limited only to distribution costs. However, in
order to retain the main thrust of TPDS, we recommend that:

• An additional subsidy meant for poor consumers or persons in

relatively backward regions should be given in cash to States:

• The setting up of an independent Central watchdog body,

comprising officials, experts and others, to monitor the use of

138 Supra note 68, P-13-14.

 73

these cash grants as well as grants under the food for welfare
schemes to ensure that they reach the poor.

In addition, to improve the effectiveness PDS at the retail level, it is

recommended that restrictions on eligibility to be a licensed Fair Price Shop
(FPS) dealer, and on the functioning of such shops, should be relaxed
significantly by:

(i) Making NGOs and village-level private grain retailers eligible to

undertake licensed PDS distribution, and encouraging women in this
activity.

(ii) Removing all restrictions regarding the range of commodities, which

can be sold in a FPS.

(iii) Allowing registered associations of licensed FPS dealers to purchase

the grain allocated to their members directly from the FCI.

(iv) In border areas of Jammu and Kashmir, the North east, Kutch of
Gujarat and Rajasthan, The Ministry of Defence may be requested to
involve the Army Supply Corps to make PDS supplies available to
civilians.

2.12 Food for Welfare: Some Recommendations

India's existing food security system has succeeded relatively well in
preventing gross failures of food supply in almost every region, but it has not
done enough for the poor and the vulnerable. Certain schemes such as Food
for Work and the Antyodaya Anna Yojana have been expanded recently as part
of the effort to reduce stocks. In the longer run it should be possible, with
resources currently being spent on holding stocks, to eliminate hunger, make
 74

a significant dent on the current appalling levels of malnutrition among

India's children, and augment the future quality of our human resources.

On the eve of the 50th anniversary of India's independence on August

14-15,1997, the then President Shri K R Narayanan listed our adherence to a
democratic system of governance and our launching a green revolution in
agriculture as the two most important achievements of the first 50 years of
what Jawaharlal Nehru christened as, "India's tryst with destiny". At a
Consultation held at the M S Swaminathan Research Foundation in Chennai
at the beginning of the new century, it was proposed that two major goals for
the 60th anniversary commemoration should be a hunger-free India on the
lines proposed by Mahatma Gandhi in 1946 at Naokhali, and accelerated
progress in human resource development through a knowledge revolution in
rural India. Biased on a series of consultations, two Missions - 2007 were
launched through multi-stakeholder consortia, one for eliminating chronic
under- and mal -nutrition and the .other for rural knowledge connectivity.

Unfortunately, the progress made since 1997 in the elimination of child,

maternal and adult malnutrition as well as in improving our rank in the UN
Human Development Index has been poor in relation to our capacity to
achieve them.139 It will therefore be worthwhile to review briefly how to *

ensure right to food.

2.13 How to ensure right to food?

Steps required to be taken for ensuring the progressive realisation of
Right to Food (RTF) include: Reforms in procurement and buffer stock;
involvement of the private sector; decentralised procurement, diversification
of crops; income policy for farmers; deciding optimum buffer stock level;
reforms in PDS; and effective implementation of nutrition and employment

---------------------—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --
■ f

139 Yojana, July 2008, on the topic "Food First" (quoted from "Freedom from Hunger and
Rural knowledge Revolution" by M.S. Swaminathan) P-5.
 75

programmes etc. The High Level Committee on long term grain policy has
made recommendations about the food policy140 The Right to Food campaign
proposal advocates the expansion of the employment guarantee throughout
the country and a social security system. Since employment is linked to
purchasing power and, therefore, to food security, right to employment is
crucial for realising the Right to Food.

The study about this right shows that the root cause of the world
hunger is poverty apart from other causes. So it is indeed very essential that
to eliminate hunger poverty should be addressed at the first place because
even if the availability of food grain is sufficient then also due to lack of
purchasing power poor people cannot access to food.

The major problem relates to economic access to food. Self-sufficiency

has increased at the national level but not at the household level. Though
incidences of poverty have declined to some extent, significant regional
disparity is visible. There have been changes in the patterns of food
consumption as well. Though there has been a decline in malnurition, nearly
half of the rural children still suffer from malnutrition. Provision of safe
drinking water has also not been satisfactory, particularly in rural areas.
■ I

Another area of problem relating to hunger in India as studied is,

'export of foodgrains.1 Although production of foodgrain is sufficient but they
are being exported resulting in the shortage of food grains in the country
itself. Earlier Government imported foodgrains but now due to green
revolution where there is self-sufficiency then also lack of availability is there
due to export. So exports should be minimised.

140 The Republic of Hunger by Usha Patnaik Public Lecture on the occasion of the 50th
birthday of Safdar Hasmi, organized by SAHMATS (Sardar Hashmi Memorial Trust) on
10* April, 2004.
 76

The problems encountered in implementing RTF include (i) resource

constraints, (ii) problems of governance and lack of political will; (iii) lack of
appropriate indicators and benchmarks for monitoring; (v) difference in
nature of challenges in rural and urban areas.

Although the main responsibility of realising RTF lies with the

Government, it is submitted that the co-ordination of Government with NGOs
(Non-Governmental Organisation) and other members of the civil society are
important. However, NGOs also need to work on the principles of
transparency and accountability. Moreover the Government should bring
reform in PDS (Public Distribution System) for effective realisation of this
right and open more fair price shops.

Justifiability is essential for the implementation of the right to food to

enable people to seek a remedy and accountability if their right to food is
violated. Today the right to food is indeed justifiable and can be adjudicated
by a Court of law but notwithstanding these encouraging developments at the
national and international levels, a great deal remains to be done to ensure the
judiciability of the right to food141

2.14 Legislating tile rvigiu tu ruuu

A new law on the right to food can cement the gains made by
litigation, but it should not be restricted to that. It is an opportunity to draw
upon domestic practice and jurisprudence, international law, and legislation
in other jurisdiction to comprehensively codify the right to food. A law on the
right to food can give a precise definition of the scope and content of this
human right, codify the obligations of different levels of government, and
establish institutional mechanisms for setting targets, measuring whether
targets are met, monitoring progress and cross-sectional coordination. It can
lay down principles to guide administrative and judicial interpretation of the

141 Supra note 38.

 77

right to food. A law that defines the State's obligations correspondingly

clarifies what constitutes a violation, which helps citizens to react when a
violation, occurs. Perhaps most importantly new law is an opportunity to
provide accessible administrative and legal remedies for individuals whose
right to food is violated. In a country with 200 million food insecure people -
in the world (IFPRI 2009:9) this is urgently needed.142

The Right to Food Act is a complex legislation that will have an impact
on a wide section of the population with diverse needs, and therefore
different interventions are required. It is an obligation to respect, protect and
fulfil right to food of every citizen of India. Hence, the National Food
Security (NFS) Bill is taking shape. Addressing a joint session of Parliament
on June 4, 2009 , the President of India Mrs. Pratibha Patil announced that
India would soon pass a National Food Security Act143 The bill, which seeks
to universalise the right to food by 2014, is being seen as the United
Progressive Alliance's next welfare blockbuster after the job guarantee
scheme.144 The National Advisory Council has recommended that the Act
should provide every family in the 200 most disadvantaged districts of the
country with 35 Kg of rice or wheat at Ks.3 per kg.145 Politically the main
challenge is to ensure that the Act is not trivialized, Whatever the reasons
behind the Congress' willingness to give priority to its food security promises,
it provides an excellent opportunity to put in place a comprehensive Kigi.it to
Food Act that would help to deal with the country's dismal record on
nutrition and health. This is the pathway to achieving sustainable food and
nutrition security and thereby the first among the UN Millennium
Development Goals, namely the eradication of hunger and poverty.

142 Supra note 37.

143 Supra note 130, P-97.
144 Reported in The Telegraph 14th January, 2011, (quoted from "PM, Sonia teams at odds
on food bill) P-6
145 Yojana, October 2010, on the topic "Food Security" (quoted from "Food Security: The
Challenges Ahead by Parveen Kumar) P-31.