The right to food is a human right. It protects the right of all human beings to live in dignity, free from hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition. The right to food is not about charity, but about ensuring that all people have the capacity to feed themselves in dignity . The first formal recognition of the right took place in 1948 by the united nation in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) under article 25 which states that:
“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
States should likewise, to the most extreme of accessible assets, invest in the eradication of hunger. The FAO has however left the implementation of this right to the signatory countries in their respective economic and political context of which India is a part.
Article 21 of the Constitution of India provides for right to food under the broader ambit of right to life. In furtherance of this, Article 47 of the Constitution, inter alia, provides that the State shall regard raising the level of nutrition and the standard of living of its people and the improvement of public health as among its primary duties. India is also bound under the Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations to eradicate hunger and poverty.
In pursuance of these obligations various measures had been taken like the Public Distribution System (PDS), Antyodaya Anna Yojana, the Food for Work Programme, Mid‐Day Meal scheme for school children, and etc. that are in operation till date. A substantive measure was finally said to be taken when The National Food Security Act was passed by the Indian Parliament in August 2013 which sought to combine all such measures and expand them to a comprehensive package and to enshrine ‘right to food’ for all residents of the country as a legal