The Right to Food in India: From “Parchment Victories” to Legal Enforcement Utilizing the Judicial System to Gain Social and Economic Rights
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2011
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Haverford College. Department of Political Science
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Thesis
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Award
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eng
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Abstract
The following essay examines how a right to food has arisen from People’s Union for Civil Liberties v. Union of India & Others, an ongoing public interest litigation trial (PIL) in India. Examining the relative success of the “right to food case” in India enables an understanding of the conditions under which the judiciary serves as a viable pathway through which the poor may gain their right to food. I find that the differential success of the current Indian RTF case is due to a highly organized, broad-based social movement initiated by the RTF Campaign. This movement capitalized on and organized around legal opportunities for social and economic rights that arose in the late 1990s in India. Through its varied tactics and its dynamic relationship with the Supreme Court, it has ensured a constant stream of court orders and their implementation at the regional level. I predict that the People’s Union for Civil Liberties v. Union of India & Others case has altered the judicial terrain and opened an even wider legal opportunity structure for the adjudication and realization of other social and economic rights in India. The case also signals the great influence that social movements may have on adjudication. Finally, the case points to new avenues for the “legalization of policy” and rights-based development.