Institute of Development Studies

India stands on the threshold of potentially the largest step toward food justice the world has ever seen, as the National Food Security Bill works its way through parliament with a view to being passed during its current term period, covering about 70 per cent of households. This special IDS Bulletin, co-constructed with Oxfam India, brings together the views and opinions of some of India’s leading practitioner-thinkers to infuse debates such as; how to ensure the marginalised are not excluded from nutrition programmes and that their land and mineral rights are protected? How to improve farm productivity to empower women; to stimulate agriculture in the context of a changing climate; to ensure that India’s claims to climate justice in the international arena are not undermined by domestic injustices; how to claim the agrarian agenda and prioritise rain-fed agriculture? How to assess government commitments to reducing hunger; and to address food price inflation and volatility? How to make nutrition issues more newsworthy? This issue contributes to the discourse and energy around solving food injustice. Food justice is best claimed by activist civil society, leveraging the law courts and the court of public opinion. Policymaking and programme implementation must be guided by, and codify, food rights. Evidence must be called upon to help resolve dilemmas and guide action. Complacency must not be tolerated – even rights that have been claimed can be eroded – and ordinary people must be at the heart of the debate about what food justice means, how to attain it, and how to sustain it. TO BE PUBLISHED JULY 2012