Indian government has recognised its citizens' right to food. Although the government already provides subsidised food staples and cooking fuel for its citizens, supplies often run short and it is hoped the new measure will increase food provisioning for the country's poorest.

By formally acknowledging the population's right to food with the introduction of new legislation, Indian leaders hope that they will be able to step up efforts to tackle hunger and malnutrition, which affects over two hundred million of India's 1.2 billion people.

The government hopes its new measure, currently passing through the houses of Indian legislature, will improve food distribution and see more money go towards welfare projects. Currently, subsidised food distribution shops allocate rice, cooking fuel, sugar and wheat to those most in need.

However, only fuel is abundantly available, since food prices have risen dramatically in recent months, affecting access even to subsidised food for India's poorest. The new National Food Security Bill represents an extra commitment by the government to improve its welfare programme.

However, critics have dismissed the policy as a populist measure and ultimately a hollow promise, which will be extremely difficult to implement. The National Food Security Bill carries an estimated cost of over $5.5 billion.

Jay Sutaria, founder of Bookh Refief Foundation, an Indian hunger-relief organisation, told the BBC, "A law in our country, unfortunately, is just an idea. Until it is executed completely and well and without corruption it's nothing. In fact, it can mean more problems, more inflation, more stress on the system which can result in worse times for the poor."

Nevertheless, Indian authorities claim over 60 per cent of the country's population will be covered by the law, which is more than double those protected by current welfare measures.

The UN, and its rapporteur on the Right to Food, Olivier De Schutter, have welcomed moves to curtail the worst effects of biofuel production and food commodity speculation on food security by world leaders in the past year. However, De Schutter has said growing food must remain a priority and has urged governments to champion agroecological production methods, which see benefits to the environment and wider society as an integral part of the food production process, putting an emphasis on long-term sustainability.

Commenting following the EU’s decision to cap its biofuel mandate at current levels, over fears the support could impinge on food production, De Schutter said The EU has "joined a growing consensus," and suggested the United States should follow suit.

At the height of the US drought in August this year, the head of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, Jose Graziano da Silva, called on the United States government to suspend its biofuel policy, which sees 40 percent of the country's maize go to biofuel production. His calls were echoed by a number of anti-poverty organisations.

Earlier this month, UN rapporteur De Schutter pointed to figures from Tufts University which show the United States' ethanol policies have increased the price of food in poorer, food importing countries by $9bn in the past five years. Writing in the Guardian he said, "While failing to go far enough, the EU executive has nonetheless realised it is imprudent to support, let alone mandate, extra biofuel production."

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