An analysis of Brazil’s last three elections suggests that peopleÔÇêdo vote for parties for such initiatives, but only when these are backed by structural changes to ensure their continuity
During the nine-hour-long debate over the National Food Security Bill in Lok Sabha on August 26, K V Thomas, the minister in charge of consumer affairs, food and public distribution, used a phrase, “zero hunger”. It may have been an expression of his subconscious thought on Brazil’s much famed poverty eradication programme with the same name. And it is not without reason. More than the appeal of the programme in Brazil, the ruling party members are aware of its rich electoral dividends. Those who are tracking the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government’s social programmes, like the right to food and direct benefit transfer, know that it is a strategic adoption of the Brazilian model. Will UPA reap its dividends like its counterpart in Brazil did? The answer is both “yes” and “no”.
Luis Inacio Lula da Silva launched the Zero Hunger initiative when he became Brazil’s president in 2003. The programme is credited for the country’s unprecedented reduction of poverty in the last decade. In fact, in 2010, it met its millennium development goal on poverty reduction, five years before the deadline.