Considering the current global scenario, the COVID-19 pandemic has uprooted several lives and households especially in India. The living conditions of the poor are feeble; way beyond one has ever expected. One of the major aspects of human life which continues to be problematic is FOOD.

An official record states that “Around 9 million people die every year of hunger and hunger-related diseases. This is more than from AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined”[1]

The above stats makes it clear that “hunger” is a major issue and it must be realized that ‘food’ is not a product which can be made available through charity. It is the basic right of every human being. The right to food is recognized by the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights under article 25 (1) which reads as under:

“Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.”[2]

The problem of ill access to food is not to be considered only during the times of emergency. It has to be resolved through continuous efforts by the States through policies channelized in that direction.

THE RIGHT TO FOOD

What are the elements of ‘right to food’? The right to adequate food is realized when every man, woman and child, alone or in community with others, have physical and economic access at all times to adequate food or means for its procurement.[3] Economic access means that adequate food should be affordable to every individual without making any adjustments on other basic needs such as house rent, medicines or education. Food should be available to all not only on the store racks but also through natural resources i.e. by cultivating crops, fishing or hunting. Physical access is also an important element of ‘right to food’. It denotes that it should be accessible to all including the people living in remote areas, victims of natural disaster or war and even the prisoners.

Mere availability and access of food whether physical or economic is not sufficient; food should also be adequate in the sense that it should be high in nutritional value, safe for consumption and appropriate according to individual’s age, gender, occupation and living conditions.

One might think, is denial of right of food due to the lack of food in the world? It is not so. According to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, sufficient food is produced to feed the entire population. So, what is the cause of hunger around the world despite of the technological advances? The main cause of hunger and hunger related diseases is lack of access or the inability to afford the food which is produced. The stakeholders of the agricultural industry stock up the food grains in order to gain profit which drives the prices out of the scope of poor people.

Human rights are interlinked and indivisible. This implies that other human rights such as right to education, life, health, etc. will be affected if right to food is violated, and vice versa. Nutritional food acts as fuel to learning abilities. Therefore, to enjoy the right to education it is essential to have access to food. Lack of food and proper nutrition leads to starvation, malnutrition which thereby increases the risk of death. Hence, it impairs the enjoyment of right to health and right to life.

PROTECTING THE RIGHT TO FOOD

Who will protect our right to food? It is the State’s obligation to protect, respect and fulfil our right to food. State should take measures so that food is accessible to all and make policies or programmes so that everyone’s right to food are protected. State should take action against third parties to ensure fair market prices and take measures to implement higher standards of food quality and safety.

Implementation of rights is needed as much as the right itself. United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization has outlined some guidelines which States can follow to bring about a change in the food system. States should oversee all the facets of the food system, from production to consumption; identify steps and resources to meet food requirements during the times of crisis, form legislations for better food systems and include ‘right to food’ in the constitution or as a part of the fundamental rights. States should create food banks and open up opportunities for small farmers to make the villages self-sufficient and start school feeding programs so that children can enjoy many rights at the same time- education, health, food, etc. Once the right to food is implemented, it should be monitored and the impact of measures taken should be assessed. In order to monitor the implementation, States should set short-term and long-term goals; gather information, analyse it and interpret it. Meanwhile, corruption and discrimination are some of the obstacles which might come in the way in bringing about a change in the food systems.

RIGHT TO FOOD IN INDIA

In India, ‘right to food’ is covered under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution. Article 21 guarantees right to life and personal liberty and when it read with Articles 39(a) and 47 gives an effective realization to the right to food.  Article 39(a) is one of the Directive Principles which acts as guidelines for better administration of the country and directs that the citizens shall have the right to an adequate means of livelihood;[4] while, Article 47 points out the duty of the State to raise the level of nutrition and standard of living. Thus, it can be considered as a fundamental right.

Millions of tons of grains were stored by the Central Government of India in the times when people were starving to death. This practice was challenged in the case of People’s Union of Civil Liberties (PUCL) v. Union of India by filing a writ petition in the Supreme Court in 2001 ‘Whether the right to life under Article 21 include the right to food’- was one of the issues raised in this case. As a result of this case, the court issued directions to create schemes and give the needy its benefits by early 2002. In 2002 under the ‘Targeted Public Distribution Scheme’, families below the poverty line were identified and were distributed 25kgs of grains.

RIGHT TO FOOD DURING AND POST PANDEMIC

With the pandemic at its heights, food systems across the world have gone for a toss. The demand for food has increased and so has the prices due to import difficulties or logistical issues. The pandemic has affected the countries which were import-dependent for food. Due to large-scale lockdown, the supply of manpower in the agriculture industry is disrupted. The pandemic has worsened the hunger crisis all around the world.

In India, the current Prime Minister has taken a step to solve hunger issues during the lockdown due to pandemic by giving free food grains through Prime Minister Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) scheme whereby five kilograms of wheat or rice and one kilogram of pulses will be distributed to around 80 crore citizens of the country.

The changes that will occur post-pandemic is still unknown but some experts have predicted the change. Since people would avoid stepping out of their houses, delivery on the door-step will become very important. People will start buying online and will buy packaged and canned foods. On the other hand, the problem of hunger will increase as the accessibility will decrease. The United Nations Secretary-General warned that “this year, some 49 million extra people may fall into extreme poverty due to Covid-19 crisis.” [5]

CONCLUSION

“There are people in the world so hungry, that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread” –Mahatma Gandhi

Right to food is one of the most basic rights that one person should be able to enjoy. It is a right upon which all other fundamental rights rest. The governments of all the States around the world should ensure food for every individual so that the nation can develop. Hunger is an issue was and will be but it does not mean that it cannot be solved. Right to food should be made enforceable by law and States should take appropriate steps to eradicate hunger and problems related therewith.

REFERENCES:

1.      United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development : report of the Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Manfred Nowak. Refworld. Retrieved July 8, 2020, from https://www.refworld.org/docid/47c2c5452.html

2.      The Right to Adequate Food- United Nations (. , ), https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/FactSheet34en.pdf#:~:text=The%20right%20to%20food%20is%20a%20human%20right,and%20of%20his%20family%2C%20including%20food%2C…%E2%80%9D%20%28art.%2025%29

3.      What is the Right to Food? | Right to food, , https://www.righttofood.org/work-of-jean-ziegler-at-the-un/what-is-the-right-to-food/

4.      Post-Pandemic Impacts: How the Food System Will Adapt – IFT.org, , https://www.ift.org/news-and-publications/food-technology-magazine/issues/2020/may/features/post-pandemic-impacts-how-the-food-system-will-adapt

5.      A food crisis looms as coronavirus forces farms to stay idle and countries hoard supplies, , https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/30/coronavirus-food-crisis-looms-as-farms-idle-countries-hoard-supplies.html

6.      Enforcing Right To Food in India, , http://www.legalserviceindia.com/articles/en_food.htm

7.      Right to Food – a Fundamental Right, , https://nhrc.nic.in/press-release/right-food-fundamental-right#:~:text=Right%20to%20Food%20-%20a%20Fundamental%20Right%20.,to%20ensure%20the%20effective%20realization%20of%20this%20right.

8.      The Food Crisis is Not About a Shortage of Food | Common Dreams Views, , https://www.commondreams.org/views/2010/09/17/food-crisis-not-about-shortage-food.

9.      Refworld | General Comment No. 12: The Right to Adequate Food (Art. 11 of the Covenant) (. , ), https://www.refworld.org/docid/4538838c11.html.

10.   Hunger and destitution in a post-pandemic world (. , ), https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2020-06-18-hunger-and-destitution-in-a-post-pandemic-world/#gsc.tab=0.

11.  D D Basu- Introduction to the Constitution of India ( 2008).

12.   Universal Declaration of Human Rights | United Nations (. , ), https://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/index.html.

13.    https://www.theworldcounts.com/challenges/people-and-poverty/hunger-and-obesity/how-many-people-die-from-hunger-each-year.

14.  People’s Union For Civil Liberty Vs Union Of India – Right to Food, , https://blog.ipleaders.in/peoples-union-for-civil-liberty-vs-union-of-india/#:~:text=People%E2%80%99s%20Union%20For%20Civil%20Liberty%20Vs%20Union%20Of,city%20of%20Jaipur%20city%20were%20overflowing%20with%20grains.

15.  PM Narendra Modi announces free food grain scheme for citizens extended till November Read more at: https://yourstory.com/2020/06/pm-narendra-modi-free-food-grain-scheme-extended-coronavirus, , https://yourstory.com/2020/06/pm-narendra-modi-free-food-grain-scheme-extended-coronavirus.