Baylen Linnekin on India's Misguided Push for Food Security

Over the last decade, a "right to food" movement has built momentum in India, culminating in a food security bill now under consideration that would provide a legal entitlement to discounted food for all Indians. But the larger question, writes Baylen Linnekin, is whether any government can make good on a guaranteed right to food. If the Indian government's recent food-policy failures are any indication, Linnekin argues, establishing a right to food will be a grand subcontinental experiment in wasting food, money, and lives.