On January 1, an 80-year-old woman died of starvation. The family slipped through the many government schemes meant to provide relief.
Outside her deceased mother’s rented house in Mahuadanr block of Jharkhand’s Latehar district sat Bhagiya Birjain. Bhagiya, a widow, lived in a nearby settlement after her marriage. She was the first to arrive after hearing that her mother, Budhni Birjiyan, 80, died while she was alone, on the night of January 1.
“My mother had not eaten anything for three days before her death; she had nothing to eat and starved in the piercing cold,” said Bhagiya. Her death is the latest in a series of starvation related deaths which have come to light since eleven-year-old Santoshi Kumari’s death in Simdega, last year.
Budhni’s prolonged starvation was not improbable. She did not have a ration card as well as a Aadhaar. The danger of food insecurity was lurking around her. Budhni belonged to the Birijiya tribe, recognised as a ‘Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group’ (PVTG) by the state. She was entitled to 35 kg of free rice every month under the Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) meant for the “poorest of the poor” in the country.
However, Bhagiya says, despite their repeated requests they did not receive the ration. “We had applied for the card about six times, each time they made some excuse and we could never get free rations. Once they asked us to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi to apply!” she recollects.
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