Papers presented at the National Conference on "Panchayati Raj--the Key to Food Security and Nutrition" at New Delhi, India, on 2-3 July 1996.

Contributed discussion papers with reference to India.

Contributed articles.

Contributed articles discussed at national consultations during 2001.

Participatory Pathways: People’s Participation in Development Initiatives aims to create awareness about the issues that need to be tackled, provide a grassroots perspective of the promise and perils of participatory pathways and a glimpse of the role people's participation can play in building a better world. Covering topics like grassroots governance, gender and ethics, enabling frameworks, and participatory planning, this book draws attention to participation’s promise while emphasizing the need to take cognizance of the obstacles in the way.

Chapter - I Introduction, Chapter - II Food Security: Inter and Intranational Perspectives, Chapter - III Concepts, Theories and Food Security Aspects, Chapter - IV Profile of the Study Area, Chapter - V Food Security among Socially Excluded Communities in Rural Tamil Nadu, Chapter - VI Summary of Major Findings and Conclusion, References The right to food and freedom from hunger re-emerged during 1990s. The historical World Food Summit was held in Rome in 1996, in which 185 countries participated and signed the ‘Rome Declaration on World Food Security’ which reaffirmed the right of everyone to have access to safe and nutritious food. Consequently, the right to adequate food is recognized as a fundamental human right. The world communities, further pledged in 2000 to cut the number of the world’s hungry people to half between 1990 and 2015, as one of the Millennium Development Goals (United Nations, 2008). Food security is an important means to realize the right to food. It means the assured access to adequate food to all members of the household throughout the year. The Nobel Laureate, Amartya Sen (1981) has suggested a framework of food entitlement in order to understand the genesis of hunger and the access to food. According to him, own production, stored wealth, employment, kinship and government transfers are all possible sources of food entitlement. Food security as defined by Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO, 2005) “exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preference for an active and healthy life”. Household food security is the application of this concept to the family level, with individuals within the households as the focus of concern. India has been witnessing the phenomenon of erratic monsoon consistently. It has serious implications on the food sufficiency and food security of the country. Poor monsoons also affect the welfare of people in terms of availability of drinking water and employment opportunities. Studies on food security have not been carried out in Rural Tamil Nadu by academic and specialized research institutions.

Papers presented at the National Workshop on Decentralised Democracy and Planning, held at Newman College, Thodupuzha on Dec. 19, 2003.