Hunger deaths are rampant in India, especially in the states of Jharkhand, West Bengal and Odisha. A major reason for this is the unavailability of government rations.
Some deaths in Jharkhand in the last five years have left many serious questions about the government facilities and system reaching the poor and tribals living in abject poverty. The death of 11-year-old Santoshi is one such story; she died due to the lack of food (rice). Her death in September 2017 left the entire society shocked. The news was not just limited to Jharkhand alone but spread like wildfire even internationally where it was described as shameful for the country.
Koyali Devi, Santoshi’s mother, a resident of Simdega district, had informed that her death was on account of starvation. The family was not able to get the government ration for months as they were unable to get their ration card linked with the Aadhar card.
At that time, BJP was in power, under the leadership of Raghubar Das, and Hemant Soren, present CM, was in opposition. He had said that Santoshi’s death was on account of hunger and had attacked Raghubar Das's government from all sides.
However, the government refused to accept the death as a death due to starvation. After 27 months the government changed and so has the tone of Hemant Soren. It is unfortunate that Hemant Soren, who repeatedly mentioned the death of Santoshi during his election rallies, started saying that his state was untouched by hunger upon assuming power.
In March 2020, in response to a question raised in the assembly on hunger by CPI (M) MLA Vinod Singh, the Food Supply Department in a written statement mentioned that not a single death due to starvation occurred in Jharkhand between 2015 and 2020.
James Herrans, associated with the Right to Food Campaign (RTFC), says, “When Hemant Soren was in opposition, death due to starvation was a big issue for him; but as soon as he came to power he says that not a single death has occurred on account of starvation. There were deaths before and there are still many deaths on account of hunger in Hemant Soren’s regime too; even if he does not accept the same. We had come to know in our findings that on account of less food being received continuously and lack of healthy (nutritious) ration being supplied, people are falling sick and dying.”
As per the report of RTFC, between 2015 and 2020, 99 deaths had occurred in 9 states on account of starvation; out of which a maximum of 33 deaths took place in Jharkhand.
Five months after Hemant Soren came to power, on May 18, 2020, a new case came to light that redefined the relationship between poverty and hunger. This time, it was from Hesahatu village in the Manika block of Latehar district. As per the family members, Nimmi, a five-year-old girl, died on account of hunger. Kalawati Devi, Nimmi’s mother, said, “She could not cook anything as there was no ration in the house. My daughter died as she did not have anything to eat.” According to RTFC, this was the 32nd case of death due to starvation in the state; it remained in the headlines for days. Professor Zjdrange, an economist, also called it a death due to starvation.
These kinds of deaths have occurred in the neighbouring state of Bengal too where the government refuses to accept the same as death due to starvation. Purbayan Chakraborty, an activist associated with RTFC says, “In December last year, 10 infants died in Murshidabad district of Bengal. All these infants were underweight since the mother did not get enough food. As a result, all those kids born were malnourished.”
Purbayan Chakraborty noted that malnutrition occurs when a person neither gets three meals a day nor gets them on time, which leads to death. Purbayan cites an example of a death that took place in August last year in Jhargram district of Bengal. Thirty-year-old Sanjay Sardar of Bhula Beda village in Jhargram lost his life on account of starvation. However, like other deaths, the Bengal government does not consider it a starvation death.
Odisha faces the same problem. Sameet Panda, Coordinator, RTFC chapter, Odisha chapter, says, “Death due to hunger is not stopping in the state of Odisha. Last year, three such deaths took place in Jajpur and Kendujhar districts. A family member’s Aadhar card was delinked from his ration card, due to which he was not able to get ration.”
According to RTFC, between 2015 and 2020, 12 deaths took place in the two districts of Odisha while four deaths were in Bengal. Activist Gangaram Paikra says, “In Bastar and Sarguja regions of Chattisgarh too, tribals die of starvation. However, the government does not consider this. I believe that gradually, when less food is available or not available, there will be weakness, malnutrition or other diseases and death will also occur. Though the government refuses to accept these deaths as starvation deaths, these are due to hunger.”
The major reason for deaths due to hunger is the unavailability of government rations. Sometimes, the thumb impression does not match with the POS machine (Point of Sale), sometimes the ration card is Aadhaar-linked, and sometimes there is no internet network. These are the constraints due to which ration is not made available to the people. Meanwhile, even people who have received ration either do not get it for months or receive less than the fixed amount. The activists working on this issue feel that it is a scam.
James Herrans says that a huge poor tribal population is denied government ration. On the other side, people who have ration cards do not get their supply for months.
Saraswati, 33, delivered a baby eight days ago. A resident of Baghatand village in Ramgarh block of Palamu district of Jharkhand, Saraswati has received only two months' ration in the last eight months. She says, “I have complained to BDO and MO. They informed me that they had already given my 6 months of ration to the dealer. I have been there but I have not received the ration to date.”
Saraswati’s husband works as a labourer out of the village. She had been forced to get ration on credit for months; she will repay the amount once her husband comes back. There are many such examples like Saraswati who either do not get ration or if they do, they get only for a month.
According to data from Jharkhand's Department of Food Safety Distribution and Consumer Affairs, there are about 60 lakh ration card holders in the state. But James Herrans says the number of beneficiaries of the government ration is much higher. He says, “The number of ration cardholders in the state is based on the 2011 census; 13 years have passed. Obviously, the number of families has increased considerably during this period, but the number of ration card holders has not increased. Poor families are deprived of ration even today."
The matter of deaths in the country on account of hunger has reached the court. In 2021, the death of three persons of a family in Bokaro district was also said to be due to starvation, which was taken suo motu cognisance by the Jharkhand High Court. On this matter, High Court lawyer Sonal Tiwari filed an intervention application in the High Court, giving details of all the deaths due to starvation that had taken place in the state earlier.
Sonal Tiwari says, “I have argued this in court and asked why does the present government not accept deaths due to hunger in the state, whereas the same government used to call it a death due to hunger while being in the opposition. The government should define what they mean by death due to starvation.” Sonal says that the reply has been filed by the state government, which has not been heard yet.
Babu Lal Marandi, former Chief Minster and BJP state president has been raising the same question. He accuses the Hemant Soren government and says, “Jharkhand government is being run by middlemen and corrupt officers. When they were in opposition, hunger was a major concern for them. As soon as they came to power, their priorities changed. Nobody should die of hunger. They are unable to deliver the government ration to the villagers also. Whenever I visit a village, people tell me that they have not received any ration for several months. In some places, they get only some amount of the ration amount and in some other places, the entire ration gets usurped. Starvation deaths are taking place even in Chief Minister Hemant Soren's Barhait assembly constituency. People there are unable to have access to food. Children are malnourished. They are dying due to diseases.”
Raj Shekhar, National Coordinator, RTFC, on the question of hunger death, says that it is very easy for the government to say that these are not hunger deaths. He says that not only do the poor Dalits and tribal get less ration supply, but the nutrition level is not sufficient. RTFC has been demanding for a long time that pulses, oil and vegetables should be provided in the ration. The process of ration distribution should be made free from the technical process.
Factually, India suffers from severe malnutrition and starvation. India ranks 111 out of 125 countries in the Global Hunger Index 2023, which is a serious indicator of hunger. According to the National Health Survey 2017 report, about 19 crore people in India sleep empty stomachs at night and about 4500 children under five years of age die every day in the country due to hunger and malnutrition. According to UNICEF's 2018 report, 8,82,000 children died prematurely, which has been recorded as the world's highest number of deaths. The same report said that 17.7 lakh children were severely malnourished in 2018.
(Translated by Kaveri Mishra)