Festival of Peace
Visthar invites you to the festival of just peace, the fourth in a row, event for people of Bangalore. A carnival. A carnival with a difference. A carnival for the family. With food, exhibitions, films, handicrafts and more. The carnival will showcase our hope for food security and healthy food for all. The carnival will also herald a message of support for all those working towards the goal of food security, right to food and food sovereignty. More importantly it will be a message of solidarity with those who eke out a living in a survival economy. Simultaneously it will be a clarion call to the state to become accountable and to act now. Lest we all perish!
“In a country where half of all children are underweight, the idea that freedom from hunger and under-nutrition can be made a legal right is rather bold and far-reaching. It has a bearing not only on the Public Distribution System but also on a range of other interventions and entitlements, relating for instance to child nutrition, social security, health care, and even property rights. Framing an effective National Food Security Act requires a great deal of creative work, public debate, and political commitment.”
- Jean Dreze
Even as the government of India prepares to table the proposed National Food Security Act, we have glaring data to suggest that 46% of the children in India are malnourished. This at a time when the state declares that we have a food surplus and our economic growth is bursting off the charts. For those who do have access, food is becoming more and more hazardous with the blatant and unmonitored use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and under-tested genetic modifications. Less said the better of the urban, ‘new generation’ who have comfortably resorted to western convenient foods, even while people in the ‘west’ realizing its adverse impact are searching for fresh foods. Certainly, striving for peace and justice includes the right to food security and food sovereignty.
We will have 2000 visitors from various walks of life, who stay and participate in events. This would include film shows, poster and photo exhibitions, exhibition and sale of handicrafts, organic food and related products, creative events for children and a culmination of theatre, dance and music, focused on themes of right to food and food sovereignty.
We hope the Bangalore community will join with us to celebrate food in all of its diversity and to and join in solidarity with those working for food security and food sovereignty!
Directions: Head North on the Hennur Main Road. 5 kms after the intersection with Outer Ring Road, take a right hairpin turn when you reach the Biozeen Campus. Follow route markers for Visthar. [Sham – 9845442453]
