We urge Government of India to safeguard food sovereignty and food security for all Indians while negotiating at the WTO Bali Ministerial – Protect farmer’s livelihoods and expanded PDS
The Right to Food campaign will also take this issue up with Indian Parliamentarians asking them to raise this in the Parliament as this affects the livelihoods of our farmers and our ability
to fight against hunger
Production, procurement, storage and distribution are all important
components of ensuring food security. Unfortunately, in the National Food
Security Act (NFSA) the Government took a minimalistic view by focussing only
on distribution despite the demands by many for a comprehensive law. Even the
minimal entitlements for food given under the NFSA are now under threat because
it is claimed that the public procurement to the extent of the foodgrain
requirements of the NFSA violate the WTO Agreement on Agriculture (AoA) that
India is a part of. Although the NFSA is being blamed, the allocation under the
NFSA is only about 3 million tonnes higher than the
current amount. This WTO Agreement can be used as an excuse to dismantle or
weaken the PDS and replace it with cash transfers.
