Paper short abstract:

This article analyses the prospects of India’s new food security law improving the access to food amongst the poorest and most marginalised communities, using a mix of survey and interview data analysis, and extends the conclusions to other developing countries.

Paper long abstract:

Despite recent improvements, food insecurity remains a serious developmental challenge, particularly in developing countries. Continuing global population growth, changing consumption patterns, and deteriorating environmental conditions constitute further obstacles in this regard. In an effort to improve the situation, some countries have enshrined the right to food in their constitutions; however, legal recourse to ensure that one's right to food is guaranteed is generally unavailable, with the notable exception of India. In 2013, the Indian parliament passed the National Food Security Act (NFSA), which turns people's right to food into a domestically justiciable right. However, will this theoretically admirable change of paradigm within access to food translate into actual improvement in food security amongst India's poor and marginalised communities?

This paper explores this question using quantitative survey data gathered by the Young Lives initiative in the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and qualitative interview data gathered by the author in Uttar Pradesh. In view of the NFSA's changes to existing Indian welfare schemes, the paper first analyses the targeting and effects of these programmes on the food security of recipients using the survey data. Second, it examines the poor and marginalised people who were left out of the programmes and the likely underlying reasons, and ponders whether the NFSA can plausibly have an impact on these factors. In conclusion, the article discusses the contribution of the NFSA to improving food security in India and the extent to which these can be extended to other developing countries.