Diets, Nutrition, and Poverty - The Oxford Topic of Food, Politics, and Society - page 347

greater effectiveness of TPDS or NREG is ruled out. Further, the effects of NREG wages
on nutrient intake in many cases (e.g., protein, calories, niacin) are larger than those of
non-NREG income. An implication of these findings is, however, worth emphasizing.
Cash transfers touted to avoid administrative costs and corruption involved in NREG
and TPDS are likely to be much less effective if the objective is to enable large segments
of the rural population to break out of NPT.49
Does a Right to Food Matter?
Prior to the 2009 general elections, the Indian National Congress promised 25 kg of
foodgrains per month, at Rs 3 per kg, to every poor family in India (Khera, 2010). The
proposed National Food Security Bill (NFSB) seeks to deliver on this promise.
There are strong advocates of a Right to Food (RTF) Act, given pervasive hunger and
child malnutrition. Besides, there are legal compulsions. Article 21 (the fundamental
“right to life”) of the Indian Constitution encompasses the right to food, whereas Article
47 of the Directive Principles directs the state to “regard the raising of the level of nutri-
tion and the standard of living of its people . . . as among its primary duties.” Finally,
the Supreme Court has issued several orders on fulfilment of food entitlements (Khera,
2010).
We offer a perspective on the RTF that differs from the vast literature that has emerged
around it in recent years.50
The RTF, as an enforceable claim to a minimum quantity of food of a certain qual-
ity, carries with it correlated duties, particularly of the state.51 These include the duty
to avoid loss of the means of subsistence, and to provide for the subsistence of those
unable to provide for their own (Shue, 1980). Much, of course, will depend on the spe-
cific form of the right to food, the corresponding duties/obligations, and the implemen-
tation mechanisms. In practical terms, RTF translates into food entitlements, that is,
enforceable claims on the delivery of food. These entitlements could be based on trade,
production and employment.
Since RTF does not involve state provision of food except under special circumstances
of failures of duties to avoid and protect against emergencies, in an important sense it
could be viewed as a right to policies (or, as “a right to a right”) that enables individu-
als to produce or acquire minimum food requirements (Osmani, 1999). This may yield
useful insights into whether nonfulfilment of the right to food is due to insufficiency of
public resources or due to policies followed or both.
Recent debates on the National Food Security Bill (NFSB/NFSA) have concentrated
on a rigid interpretation of the RTF as being confined mostly to state provision of food.52
A selective summary of that debate is given below to identify analytical and policy issues
addressed by this chapter.53
The National Advisory Council (NAC) proposed subsidized food grains to 75%
of the total population of the country covering 90% of the rural and 50% of the urban