Indian bishops back food security bill

July 18, 2013

Following the deaths of 22 children who ate pesticide-laden food at a government-run school, an official of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India emphasized Catholic schools’ commitment to food safety.

Catholic and other Christian schools “place their attention to the food consumed by children, for quality and quantity,” said Father Charles Irudayam, executive secretary of the conference’s Commission for Justice, Peace and Development.

Father Irudayam also reiterated the bishops’ call for the passage of a food security bill. The measure, under discussion in parliament, would declare a right to food provide subsidized food to two-thirds of the nation’s population.

“The Catholic Church fully supports the law, which plans to provide food to the poor and the marginalized, in order to eradicate the problem of hunger in India,” he said.

He added, however, that “we now believe that the text of the law in parliament needs corrections and we hope the assembly will welcome our suggestions and those of civil society.”

 

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Further information:

• Children poisoned in a school in Bihar: the Church relaunches food safety (Fides)
• India's food security bill: an inadequate remedy? (The Guardian)
• Indian school lunch tragedy reveals problems with food safety (Christian Science Monitor)