ASIA/INDIA - The Franciscans at the forefront for "food security"

Friday, 21 November 2014

New Delhi (Agenzia Fides) - The Franciscans in India are engaged in the fight against hunger and contribute to food security of the population at a national level. The concept of "food security", elaborated at the UN, implies that "every person has the amount of food needed every day".
As reported to Fides, the Franciscans of AFFI (the Association of Franciscan Families in India, home to religious and secular components) have joined a national consultation on poverty alleviation and extreme hunger in the country, held in early November in Bangalore. The conference highlighted that in many states in India, tribal, the poor in rural areas, slum dwellers, Dalits, migrants still live marginalized and are not granted the right to food.
The President of AFFI Fr. A.J. Mathew, OFM, said that "the society's growth is not in the rapid socio-economic improvement of the system that brings benefits to a few, but is in the total growth, where no one is excluded. This is the focus of the Gospel and also the prophetic sense of the Franciscan charism". On the basis of the concept of "inclusion" and "inclusive development", the Franciscans are preparing concrete action plans in several states, such as Orissa, Tamil Nadu, Bengal, Maharashtra, Kerala and Uttar Pradesh, focusing on the elderly who are abandoned, child malnutrition, women's welfare and rights of the indigenous tribes, especially in rural areas. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 21/11/2014)


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