“Food Security Debates in India: Experiences from the Grassroots” was hosted by the UNESCO Chair for Peace and Intercultural Understanding – Malaviya Centre for Peace Research, Banaras Hindu University, and co-organised by the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA) and Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO). The conference launched the subproject on 'Food Security and Globalisation' under the IDSA-PRIO institutional cooperation and the 'India in the World' (INDWORLD) project. Food security has primarily been a topic of concern to agriculture and economics. This conference looked at the wider implications, considering the challenge of procuring food for distribution through India's public distribution system, the nexus between large production companies, bureaucrats and politicians, and the uprooting of farmers from their land. Food security is a crucial aspect of the politics of India, as well as how India deals with the world, especially from a trade perspective. The conference sought to bridge disciplinary boundaries to come to a deeper understanding of food security and insecurity through a myriad of perspectives, recognising that food security is a highly complex socio-political phenomenon, which is vital to us all.
