-The New Indian Express NEW DELHI: Amid controversial reports of hunger deaths in Jharkhand due to PDS beneficiaries being turned away, economist Jean Dreze says that even official records show that a significant proportion of people are being deprived of food rations every month. In an interview with New Sunday Express, the prime mover behind the NREGA welfare scheme said “this does not mean that Aadhaar is solely responsible for the failures...
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Feeding India -Uma Lele
-The Indian Express Discussions on IFPRI’s Hunger Index illustrate the complexity of India’s malnutrition problem. Solutions must focus on evidence, accountability. India’s ranking in the International Food Policy Research Institute’s (IFPRI’s) 2017 Global Hunger Index has invited much comment and criticism among India’s intellectual elite. India has slipped to 100 among 119 countries in the 2017 Global Hunger Index, down from 97 among the 118 countries in 2016. Fortunately, the Government of...
More »Declared dead and denied food, pension -Piyush Srivastava
-The Telegraph Lucknow: For 18 months since April last year, Phulwasi Devi and 34 other elderly residents of Pipariya village couldn't figure out why they hadn't been receiving their subsidised food grain or old-age pension. It took them an 18km bus ride last Monday to find out, from the district social welfare department office, that they had all been marked "dead" in official records.. The 35 victims, who include 20 women and 30...
More »Chronicle of a starvation death foretold: Why it is time to abandon Aadhaar in the ration shop -Jean Dreze
-Scroll.in The recent starvation death in Simdega epitomises a much larger problem of Aadhaar-related exclusion from the public distribution system in Jharkhand. The recent death of 11-year old Santoshi Kumari in Simdega district of Jharkhand has rightly stirred the country’s conscience. The context of this tragedy, however, is poorly understood, not least because of the Jharkhand government’s obfuscation. According to the family’s video testimonies, Santoshi died after starving for eight days. Even...
More »Non-linking of aadhaar with ration card is denying people their Right to Food
During the Bengal famine of 1943-44, over 2 million people died due to starvation, diseases and malnutrition, among other things. According to scholars, the apathy of the British government was largely responsible for such a massive tragedy. Despite the enacting of the National Food Security Act (NFSA) in 2013, the situation of the downtrodden and the poor has not changed much in the country as compared to pre-Independence time. On 28...
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