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Failed PDS starves Gaya's Maha Dalits by Shoumojit Banerjee


Hunger deaths present a sober reality check to Bihar government 

With the National Democratic Alliance government in Bihar playing cowboys and Indians with the Centre over the number of BPL (below the poverty line) families in the State, Gaya's hunger deaths proffer a sober reality check to the government consistently serenading its schemes for the Maha Dalit community.

Three years ago, 14 members of the Bhuiyyan community (a Maha Dalit sub-caste) from a village in Gaya's Mohanpur block died after eating the rotten meat of a dead goat. The reason for this desperate act was non-availability of grain in the village for long.

Fast-forward two years to the Dobhi block, where more than six starvation deaths were reported. All the victims belonged to the Bhuiyyan-Musahar sub-caste and their names did not figure on the BPL list.

Similarly at Tetua tola, populated with 150-odd Bhuiyyan-Musahar families, barely 69 villagers have their names on the BPL list. A mere 14 received some part of the benefits of the old-age pension scheme. Hardly any of the villagers was given the yellow Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) card that would entitle them to 25 kg of grain at subsidised rates.

Gaya's hunger deaths reached their climax last month with the death of Congress Manjhi of Manan Bigha, who had been ailing for the past three years. He was diagnosed with tuberculosis six months ago and he died on April 14 — too ill and too weak to work.

Authorities attributed his death to an illness and not to starvation. A Maha Dalit though, Manjhi also did not figure on the BPL list.

In each instance, the kith and kin of the victims were given a token one quintal of rice after their deaths. This, understandably, was to calm the frayed tempers.

“Till date, there have been more than 100 hunger deaths in Bihar, with 26 of them having occurred in Gaya alone. Every single one of them smacks of incredible bureaucratic-political torpor,” says Rupesh, state advisor to the Supreme Court Commissioner.

According to activists like him, very little has changed for the Bhuiyyans in the last 2,500 years.

At a Jan Sunwai (public hearing) organised this Wednesday by activists of the People's Union for Civil Liberties and Koshish, a right to food organisation, a thousand-odd Bhuiyyans took part, braving the scorching heat, for making their voice heard after a very long time.

Not one of them had consistently been given food grains on their BPL ‘red' cards since June 2009, while barely a dozen were ever issued with AAY cards. “Even in States with dismal human rights records, there has been at least some advancement. But here, there has been very little progress,” said Harsh Mander, special commissioner of the Supreme Court and jury member at the hearing.

Noting that “there is a systematic breakdown in Bihar's Public Distribution System,” he said: “It is vital for the district administration to get the anganwadi centres in working order if the Bhuiyyan-Musahar communities are to get any relief in the near future.”

Mr. Mander pointed out: “In case of hunger deaths, there is a long time period during which the victim has consistently survived on a low ration of foodgrains. When the autopsy is performed, there will remain bare traces of morsels.” The Human Rights Commission ruled that there was no need to submit a post-mortem report for hunger deaths.

“Unless there is a mechanism to control corruption at delivery, it will not make any difference to the government switching to cash transfers from the PDS,” says Father Jose of the PUCL's Bihar unit.