Food is a fundamental necessity. Without adequate food, people cannot lead normal lives. They cannot be healthy; cannot lead active lives; they are not employable; they cannot care for their children or educate them. The right to adequate food cuts across the entire spectrum of human rights. Hunger dulls intellects, thwarts productivity and keeps entire societies from realising their potential.

Global perspective on right to food

Access to adequate food has been identified as an individual right and a collective responsibility by the United Nations. The UN has specified "the fundamental right of everyone to be free from hunger".

The right to food is a human right, a binding obligation under international law. Right to food, as defined in the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, is "the right of every man, woman and child, alone and in community with others, to have physical and economic access at all times to adequate food or means for its procurement in ways consistent with human dignity."

The right to be free from hunger implies an obligation on the part of the State to ensure, at the very least, that people do not starve. In addition, the State should do everything possible to see that people should have physical and economic access at all times to food adequate for a healthy and active life.

In 1996, leaders from 185 countries got together at the World Food Summit and reaffirmed the Rome Declaration on World Food Security and "the right of everyone to have access to safe and nutritious food, consistent with the right to adequate food and the fundamental right of everyone to be free from hunger." They also pledged to halve the number of the world's hungry people by 2015.

The 1996 World Food Summit was called to combat widespread under-nutrition, and yet again in 2002 to assess the progress of the commitments. However, the reality was that hunger continued to increase, and as of 2004, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) reported that hunger in the world had increased to "852 million gravely undernourished children, women and men, compared to 842 million last year." Many of these gravely undernourished people suffer from what the FAO terms "extreme hunger", where their daily ration of calories is much below the minimum necessary for survival.

Indian perspective

In India, the Right to Food Campaign has taken the shape of an informal network of organisations and individuals committed to the realisation of the right to food in India.

It took off following a petition filed in the Supreme Court by the People’s Union of Civil Liberties, Rajasthan, in the face of hunger and starvation in the state, following widespread drought. The petition demanded that the gigantic food stocks in the country be opened up to feed the hungry and starving.

Following the filing of the petition in April 2001, the Supreme Court passed a number of interim orders, pending a final order ( click here to read summary of interim orders ). But it was felt that merely passing orders was not enough; a concerted campaign was necessary.

To ensure that everyone is free from hunger and under-nutrition, we need equitable and sustainable food systems, entitlements relating to livelihood security, land reform and social security. Only the State can guarantee these entitlements, but if the State itself does not see it as a priority, it has to be made to see it as priority. This is what the Right to Food Campaign has set out to do.

The best way to protect the right to food, the campaign believes, would be to introduce an all-India "employment guarantee" programme, supplemented with social security arrangements for those who are unable to work.

The Right to Food Campaign also works to ensure:

• effective implementation of all nutrition-related schemes
• introduction of cooked mid-day meals in all primary schools
• reform and expansion of the public distribution system
• realisation of the right to work, especially in drought-affected areas.

A wide range of activities has been initiated to pursue these issues: public hearings, rallies, dharnas, padayatras, action-oriented research, media advocacy, and lobbying of Members of Parliament.

On April 9, 2002 the campaign organised a nation-wide Day of Action on Mid-day Meals. This event was instrumental in persuading several state governments to initiate cooked mid-day meals in primary schools.

Similarly, sustained advocacy by members of the Right to Food campaign played a major role in the introduction of a large-scale programme of food-based social security for destitute households, announced by the Prime Minister on August 15, 2002. Plans are afoot for similar campaign activities focusing on the right to work.

The scope of the Right to Food Campaign is potentially wide-ranging, although some specific issues have received special attention. These are:

• Mid-day meals
• Social security for the destitute and
• Right to work.

For more information on the Indian Right to Food campaign, visit www.righttofoodindia.org.