What is the Human Right to Food?
The right to food guarantees freedom from hunger and access to safe and nutritious food. Several key human rights principles are fundamental to guaranteeing the right to food:
Availability: Food should be available in a quantity and quality sufficient to satisfy the dietary needs of individuals, free from adverse substances, and acceptable within a given culture.
Accessibility: Food should be physically and economically accessible in ways that do not interfere with the enjoyment of other human rights.
Sustainability: Food should be secure, or accessible, for both present and future generations.
Non-Discrimination: Any discrimination in access to food, as well as to means and entitlements for its procurement, on the grounds of race, colour, sex, language, age, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status constitutes a violation of the right to food.
A two day Seminar cum training programme was organised in the Kosi region by the Kosi unit of Bihar Dalit Vikas Samiti in Saharsa District.
The seminar highlights the foremost issue ‘Hunger’ how it is to be addressed. The BDVS (Bihar Dalit Vikas Samiti), in partnership with the Indian Social Institute, New Delhi is working on is spreading awareness on Right to Food through seminar-based interventions named as Lok Manch. It is a three year project and was stated in April 2016.
Some 150 Dalit families were represented at the seminar. The Public Distribution system, [locally known as ‘ration shop’ is an integral part of the government system, aimed at making food available at subsidized rates for the common man, especially the rural poor. The objective of the programme is to make the rural population aware that the PDS is not ‘government largesse’ or ‘a special benefit’, but that food at affordable rates is a basic right that has to be fulfilled by the Government of India and the state.
Their target is to cover 160 villages and reach out to 320 community leaders. These community leaders help in spreading the information. The programme seeks to set up a monitoring system in these 160 villages to ensure that the local PDS unit functions properly and that the essential commodities are made available to those having the PDS cards.