The second National Family Health survey states that 47% of all Indian children are

undernourished, 52% of adult women anemic and 36% have a body index of less
than 18.5. Only 2 other countries, Bangladesh and Nepal, have a higher proportion of
undernourished children than India. Also there has been steady increase in urban
poverty leading to overcrowding of slums, problems of malnutrition and increase in
deaths due to starvation. In this context Right to Food became the need of the hour.
The Right to Food Campaign (RFC) states that “everyone has a fundamental right to
be free from hunger and malnutrition “. It is looked from the rights perspective as
the benefits due to growth of economy have little or no effects on the weaker
sections of the society. The poor and the disadvantaged had no access to food grains
even when the country boasted of surplus. Barriers like corruption, apathy and many
forms of social discrimination made it difficult for intended beneficiaries to gain
access to programs meant for them. Current governmental schemes like Public
Distribution System (PDS) were flawed and dysfunctional.There were problems with
the criteria used for selection of people who fall under BPL which resulted in huge
exclusion and Inclusion errors exist which led to leakage and wastage of food grains.

RTF emphasizes on providing adequate & timely food to eliminate malnutrition & hunger
and creates other entitlements that guarantee better access to food, nutrition and
reduction of poverty. Its major features are:

 Availability of food in sufficient quantity and quality to meet people’s needs

 Easy Accessibility of food both in economic and physical terms.
Economic accessibility implies that the cost associated with the acquisition of food
must be low so as to meet the needs of the socially vulnerable and the weaker
sections of the society.
 Utilization of diet with adequate energy and nutrients.
 Sustainability – long time availability of food must be ensured
• This needed intervention at different levels. The major interventions are in PDS,
Rights of the Vulnerable and Socially Excluded, Nutrition schemes for children. There is a
shift from targeted PDS to Universal PDS as Targeted PDS is costly and leads to lot of
corruptions and leakages. For Children’s Right to Food ICDS centers were formed and
Antodaya cards were issued to Vulnerable and Socially Excluded to protect their rights.
References:

 Right to food in India by S. Mahendra Dev (Centre for economic and Social studies)
 Food Policy and Social Movements: Reflections on the Right to food campaign in
India by Vivek Srinivasan and Sudha Narayanan