Description
The debates about ‘development’ and ‘rights’ have been around since the end of the Second World War. Initially, the discourse on development and rights was studied separately. It was in the latter half of the 20th century when rights (Human rights) started to be seen as a part of the development discourse. Earlier studied separately, both concepts seem to have merged in the 1970s with the emergence of the ‘right to development’, which emerged from the sustained efforts of third-world countries on the international stage, calling for the proper redistribution of resources. As a result, the ‘right to development’ was recognised internationally. However, since then, debates have emerged, and scholars have begun to question the incorporation of human rights into the development discourse. There was a division among the scholars, with one supporting this merger, claiming that this incorporation has re-politicised development practices and brought the question of accountability into the picture. Others find this incorporation merely rhetorical. This paper examines the debate on the incorporation of human rights into the development discourse using the example of the National Food Security Act (NFSA) 2013, an Act enacted to address food security challenges in India. This Act can be seen as a manifestation of the adoption of the rights-based approach in development policies. Using the debate posed above, this paper will analyse whether the right to food can politicise the discourse on development, or is it merely a rhetorical addition to the economic narrative of development?