Localising National Accountability Claims in Fragile Settings: The Right to Food Campaign in India
How a rights-based movement, with a strong national core and some state-level support expanded into areas that were experiencing militant insurgency
Abstract
How does a national movement go local in places with multiple armed actors, simultaneously retaining credibility at the grass roots, while making claims and negotiating with the state? This article explores how a rights-based movement, the Right to Food (RTF) in India, with a strong national core and some state-level support expanded into areas that were experiencing militant insurgency. We find that the RTF movement was able to coexist with the militant groups because the movement: (a) brought new framings and issues to existing groups that were already working with vulnerable populations; and (b) distinguished itself from the militant groups in terms of substantive issues and approach (avoiding issues of displacement and land rights), as it was willing to work with the state to tackle issues of hunger and food entitlements.
This work is part of the Action for Empowerment and Accountability (A4EA) programme
Citation
Joshi, A and Chowdhury, A. (2019) ‘Localising National Accountability Claims in Fragile Settings: The Right to Food Campaign in India’, in Joshi, A. (Ed) Accountability Amidst Fragility, Conflict, and Violence: Learning from Recent Cases, IDS Bulletin 50.3, Brighton: IDS
Link
Localising National Accountability Claims in Fragile Settings: The Right to Food Campaign in India