Right to food and water is right to life and living. To quote Gandhiji "hunger is shame to humanity and a curse to mankind". Availability, Access and Absorption of food are vital for civilised living.
Availability is ensured by good agricultural practices. Agricultural production is art and science involving appropriate government policy, use of science and technology and efforts of farmers. Marketing and demand-supply economics have made food production a specialised occupation. Area under farming is getting reduced, irrigation water dwindling and farm labour and energy costly' food production is becoming a challenging avocation with a lot of challenges and opportunities as well. Green Revolution during 1962 onwards made India self sufficient in food production, but the purchasing power of people being low, subsidised food has to be made available. Minimum Support Prices have made producer-farmers sure about an income in a world of economic uncertainty. Even with a reasonable food buffer stock and subsidised food, about 260 million people in India go to bed without a meal.
A hungry stomach is a violent stomach leading to violence. Any talk on food security should take into consideration level of education, health care and population density.WTO should be consumer friendly and pro-poor.
Kuruppacharil V. Peter