ABSTRACT
The new politics emerging out of the food, fuel and financial crises that started in 2008 was born out of a sense of discontent with the ruling classes. This chapter explores the politics of provisions in the case of India. It traces popular mobilization and subsequent responses around food insecurity first in two states – West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh – and then explores their linkages to the national right to food campaign. The decades of the 1990s and 2000s saw the emergence of a number of networks, campaigns and social movements built around socio-economic rights. The Supreme Court played an active role in shaping government responsibility for hunger through decisions on the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) vs. Union of India and others, Civil Writ Petition 196/2001. The right to food campaign, which emerged out of Supreme Court case, was also one of principal agents of policy change in the period, including campaigning for National Food Security Act.
