Invitation for the National Webinar on“Indian Food Systems: Distributive Justice in Access to natural resources and food” 5th July, 2021

Hyderabad : 01/07/2021

Invitation for the National Webinar on

“Indian Food Systems: Distributive Justice in Access to natural resources and food”  5^th July, 2021

 

 

The United Nations is organising a Food Systems Summit in this year, 2021. Although this Summit intends to launch bold new actions to deliver progress on all 17 SDGs, the underlying agenda has been questioned by civil society. There have been criticisms of the UNFSS for its ties to big businesses and exclusion of small rural food producers. Corporate capture of this Summit was evidenced by the alliance between Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and CropLife International, the industry association of the world’s leading pesticide manufacturers. Companies, multinational NGOs, governments and financial companies are organising this Summit very enthusiastically, with the intention of bringing change that benefits them.

 

With the objective of organising a counter-summit to the UN Food Systems Summit (UNFSS), people’s movements and civil society organizations around the globe launched the Global People’s Summit (GPS) on Food Systems, on the occasion of World Environment Day, June 5, 2021. The People’s Summit is a call to struggle against corporatization of food systems, wherein a handful of corporations control land and productive resources and the way we produce our food, with harmful techno-fixes that have long been discredited. Global People’ Summit believes that at the heart of genuine food systems transformation is the right to food, people’s food sovereignty and agroecology—all of which the UNFSS leaves out.

 

In India, not much debate has happened on the UN Food Systems Summit and its counter summit, Global People's Summit. India in the past few years has been witnessing thrust in public policies towards corporatisation of agriculture. The 3 Indian agricultural laws brought out on June 5, 2020, have been flagged for their pro-corporate content and intent. Even though farmers have been protesting against these laws, in Delhi and various other places, Indian government has not heeded their advice in scrapping these laws. There are various other measures that are intended to increase corporatisation of Indian agriculture. Implications of such corporatisation of agriculture on food and nutrition access to communities in India need to be analysed. Food systems, the way they are built, do also impinge on access to land, water, food, nutrition and sustainability. Ownership of natural resources becomes a critical issue.

 

In this regard, a webinar is being organised to initiate debate on these issues and challenges, under the title, “Indian Food Systems: Distributional Justice in Access to natural resources and food”.

 

Time: Jul 5, 2021 04:00 to 6 PM  (IST)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86187943916

 

Moderated by: Sri. P. Chennaiah, APVVU & Asian Peasants Coalition

 

Speakers:

Dr. Vandana Shiva, Well-known Food Policy activist - Keynote speaker

Sarojini Rengam, Pesticide Action Network-PANAP, will speak on Global People’s Campaign on Food System Summit (GPS)

Dr. Narasimha Reddy Donthi, Public Policy Expert, will speak on the The Indian Food System – Issues and Challenges

 

This webinar is being organized by:

 

·         AP Vyavasaya Vruthidarula Union 

·         Pesticide Action Network India

·         PAN Asia Pacific (PANAP)

·         Asian Peasant Coalition (APC)

 

 

Chennaiah P.