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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Hollowed out

Hollowed out

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published Published on Aug 4, 2018   modified Modified on Aug 4, 2018
-The Telegraph

Hunger kills. In India, it does so with alarming frequency. Three girls aged eight, four and two died in the national capital last week; the autopsy showed that their stomach and bowels were "absolutely empty". This was in spite of the fact that the oldest girl at least went to school and should have been receiving mid-day meals. The blame, as usual, was at first apportioned to exclusion. The family had reportedly migrated to Delhi from another state and, as a result, did not have ration cards. Such a conjecture is not without merit. The problems with the public distribution system in India are as numerous as they are diverse. Corruption in form of PDS dealers taking cuts - where beneficiaries are given less than they are entitled to - remains largely unchanged. Then there is the issue of inadequate storage facility and wastage - millions of tonnes of foodgrains go to waste in India each year and around 55 per cent of the food procured by the food corporation is lost to leakages. This is not to mention the centralized model of food security in India wherein the PDS prioritizes rice and wheat over local produce; this has all but wiped out indigenous food chains. Add to that the decimation of forests and the denial of community rights over forest products. The mandate to link the Aadhaar to ration cards - allegedly to eliminate false beneficiaries - has made an already bad situation much worse as starvation deaths in Jharkhand have shown.

But a defective PDS system is not the only reason behind hunger in India. There are other, equally important, issues like the refusal of authorities to acknowledge hunger as a deepening crisis. Deaths resulting from starvation are usually attributed to diseases or medical conditions - which are, ironically, manifestations of chronic hunger. The blame for the girls' deaths has been shifted to "poisoning". It is thus important for the National Food Security Act not only to introduce penal provisions that will make the bureaucracy more accountable but also establish a protocol that will identify the real cause behind deaths that result from starvation.

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The Telegraph, 30 July, 2018, https://www.telegraphindia.com/opinion/hollowed-out-248482


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