Daily Star Publishes a news on Right to Food Conference.
A legal framework is needed along with the seventh five-year plan of the government and food policy to ensure poor people’s right to food, said speakers at a views-exchange meeting yesterday.
“The number of poor people has remained unchanged (around four crore) in the country in the last five to six years, though the poverty percentage has gone down,” said Mohshin Ali, secretary of Right to Food Bangladesh, who presented the keynote paper at the programme.
Right to Food Bangladesh, an umbrella network of organisations and persons, organised the meeting on “SDG and Seventh five year plan: right to food perspective” in the capital’s Cirdap auditorium.
He said half the poor people do not get food more than once a day.
Emphasising the need for the food right act, economist Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad, chairman of Right to Food Bangladesh, said an initiative to prepare a draft of the law is needed as it will not happen if the procedure is not started.
The food right act should not only mention increasing income of people, but it should also say how food can be accessible in remote areas, said Dr Naznin Ahmed, senior research fellow of Bangladesh Unnayan Gobeshona Prathisthan.
Naznin also emphasised monitoring the framework of the act for it to be successfully implemented.
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Ranzan Karmakar, executive director of Steps Towards Development, said to ensure the right to food, food distribution system and rights of farmers need to be ensured.
To ensure these things, a legal framework and its implementation is very necessary, he added.
Economist Prof MM Akash said there are four dimensions for right to food security which are — access, availability, use, and stability — and ensuring right to food security is possible through ensuring these four components.
“But we have to focus mainly on access and stability to ensure food security,” he added.
Staff Correspondent
Source: http://www.thedailystar.net/city/laws-must-ensure-poors-right-food-159937
Date: October 20, 2015
