Making Food Security Domestically Justiciable: A Case Study of India

The Indian Parliament passed in 2013 the National Food Security Act (NFSA), which promises to provide grains free-of-charge to the food insecure. Thanks to this bill, people’s right to food is ‘legally justiciable’; i.e. people have the theoretical possibility to seek accountability and remedies if this right is violated. In this article, on the basis of data gathered from interviews an- documents I analyse how well this approach to food security governance appears to be working and whether a similar approach could be adopted in other developing countries. The preliminary conclusions that I have made on the basis of the data gathered are that while the NFSA has to date had little influence on the food security situation on the ground, its existence has spurred initiatives aimed at bolstering food security in several states and hence can be viewed as potentially useful means of promoting food security in developing countries.