EPISODE 15: The Right to Food: Food (In)security in India and Bangladesh

This week’s Shaking the Tree Radio heads overseas as Stefan Epp takes you to India and Bangladesh to explore some of the challenges to achieving food security. 

This show includes two documentaries taped by Stefan during his travel to India and Bangladesh in the winter of 2010.  In the first, he visits villages in northern India.  The right to food is a major political issue, and one around which civil society has been mobilizing through organizations such as the Right to Food Network.  This documentary explores the realities of a particularly vulnerable group in Indian society, the Dalits, and the challenges they face including discrimination from government officials and an exploitative land holding system. It examines the work of EFICOR, a non-governmental organization that engages in food security work, including enabling Dalit communities to organize to lobby their own government officials for the services and programs that are rightfully theirs as Indian citizens, but which they are often denied.

The second story highlights an initiative in northern Bangladesh being run by Mennonite Central Committee that has provided cows, goats and sheep to residents in a famine-prone region.  The result has been a transformation of the community, a reduction of hunger, and new opportunities for many people.  You can read more about this story by reading this article.

These stories were taped as part of a Canadian Foodgrains Bank learning tour.

Troy Stozek also brings you updated news and music to round out this week’s episode of Shaking the Tree Radio.

Read more about Stefan’s trip:

The Right to Food in India
A Question of Land Reform
Cows and Hope
Upper Caste Canadians