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Another woman dies of undernutrition and exhaustion in Jharkhand after denial of PDS rations for four months due to failure of Aadhaar-based biometric authentication
-Right to Food Campaign

On 23 January 2018, 30-year-old Lukhi Murmu of Dhawadangal village of Hiranpur block in Pakur (Jharkhand) succumbed to prolonged undernutrition and exhaustion. She lived with her 14-year old sister Phulin in extreme poverty. Their meals usually comprised solely of rice and they even had to sleep hungry at times. The sisters’ deprivation worsened over the last four months when they were unable to access their ration from the Public Distribution System (PDS) due to Aadhaar-based biometric authentication failure.

Lukhi Murmu’s household was issued an Antyodaya ration card under the National Food Security Act. In around June 2017, this ration card was converted into the “Priority” category without the family’s knowledge. This reduced her household’s monthly grain entitlement by 15 kg (the ration card also includes names of two of their other sisters). The household did not receive any PDS foodgrains since October 2017. Lukhi Murmu was too weak to go to the ration shop, which is about a kilometre away from their house. Phulin went to the ration shop a few times, including the day her sister died, but always returned empty handed as she was unable to authenticate herself in the ePOS machine. One of their other sisters also went to the ration shop once, but the dealer did not give her any rice too (only Lukhi Murmu and Phulin’s Aadhaar number is seeded with their ration card, and not the other two sisters’).

In his official report to the state Food Secretary, Pakur’s Deputy Commissioner ascribes illness as the cause of Lukhi Murmu’s death. However, the report does not mention the nature of illness. No post mortem was conducted after the death. According to Lukhi Murmu’s family, she did not suffer from any major illness. In January 2018, Lukhi Murmu was tested for tuberculosis and kala-azar, but was diagnosed negative for both these ailments.

The Deputy Commissioner’s report argues that Lukhi Murmu could not have died of hunger as she had some land, two cows and paddy in her house at the time of her death. Lukhi Murmu did possess these assets, but that does not preclude her death due to starvation. Government officials argue that the family could have sold its land, cattle or paddy for food. However, the deterioration in Lukhi Murmu’s condition was gradual and there was no way for her family to predict her death.   

As per the ration dealer’s testimony to the local administration, no one from Lukhi Murmu’s household came to the PDS shop in the last four months. However, to the Right to Food Campaign fact-finding team, the dealer admitted that Phulin came to collect her household’s rations but was turned away due to biometric authentication failure. Local officials claim to have given instructions to all the dealers in Pakur to also give PDS rations to households that are unable to authenticate themselves through Aadhaar. However, the dealer claimed to have not received any such instruction.

Following the hunger death of Santoshi Kumari in Simdega in September 2017, the Food Ministry issued a notification which states that even in case of failure of biometric authentication or lack of Aadhaar, ration dealers to give PDS rations to eligible households. The Food Ministry and UIDAI keep referring to this notification to claim that no one now denied of their entitlements due to Aadhaar. However, on the ground large-scale exclusion from public services continues due to Aadhaar. It may be recalled that last month a woman of Garhwa also died due to hunger and exhaustion as her household could not access its PDS ration to biometric authentication failures. The repeated denial of food entitlements in Jharkhand’s PDS also exposes the lack of seriousness in the state government towards addressing the issues in delivery of ration.
 

For further information, write at rtfcjharkhand@gmail.com or contact Siraj Dutta (9939819763), Ankita Aggarwal (9504091005) or Dheeraj Kumar (9199667984).