Bhubaneswar: While the state government has floated a number of schemes to ensure food security and social safety, activists and analysts have alleged blatant ignorance by the authorities leading to deaths and cases of malnourishment in different districts of Odisha.
According to various fact-finding reports conducted by individual teams and private bodies, 13 cases of deaths due to starvation in the past 4 years have been reported. Meanwhile, other reports have suggested that conditions of few villages suffering from malnourishment have yet not improved despite huge funds being pumped in by the state government.
In one such case study, Odisha Khadya Adhikar Abhiyan presented a fact-finding report on 17-year-old Goutam Behera who died July 6, 2019, allegedly due to starvation. The observations were made by a three member-team— Sameet Panda campaigner, Abhiyan, Basudev Mahapatra a journalist and Ajit Panda, a development analyst— on ground reports from Sargimunda village of Karlakot Panchayat in Nuapada district where the alleged incident occurred.
“Goutam Behera lived with his sister Debanti Behera and was the son of Gajraj Behera. His father had abandoned him when he was 4-year old. Both brother and sister lived under extreme hardships. While Goutam was paralyzed from waist below his sister suffered from a severe dermatological condition in her hands,” the report said.
“The brother-sister duo could not get a ration card after multiple appeals and complaints by the villagers to the authorities. The authorities issued a Priority Household Card (PHH) in the name of Debanti under which they were entitled to 5 kg of rice each every month. They last received their quota May 25, nearly one-and-half months before Goutam’s death,” the report added.
Alleging ‘callous approach’ by the authorities, the report suggested that despite them being aware of the siblings’ distress, the authorities included them in the scheme instead of Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY), which they were entitled to. Besides, the Community Health Center refused to conduct post-mortem of Goutam’s body stating that it would ‘lead to unnecessary legal complications.’ This was in blatant violation of Odisha Relief Code that says an officer not below the rank of Tehsildar should conduct inquiry of a suspected starvation death case.
“Immediately after my brother’s death an AAY card was issued July 9 along with 70 kg of rice which is a two- month quota under AAY. Had it been done earlier by the block or district administration, the death of Goutam could have been prevented,” Debanti rued.
In a similar case of indifference, a fact-finding report in Nagada village in Jajpur—where news of about 19 infant deaths in 2016 due to malnutrition shook the world the government undertook herculean effort in improving the conditions— shows the reality is a far cry from what the government projects it to be. An RTI filed by Pradip Pradhan also backs the report.
The reports reveal that the government intervention since 2016 has not made any substantial contribution in checking malnutrition in the village. While more than 10 children are still malnourished, most of the youngsters of the village said that their meals consisted of only rice and dal or rice and Nutritious vegetables are hardly available. The consumption pattern is the same as it was in 2016 when the incident occurred, the report said.
Furthermore, the RTI alleged that huge embezzlement of funds have taken place by providing substandard facilities to the tribal village. About 1.8 crore was spent to provide electricity to the village and 60 families have been given connection. However, electricity connection is still a distant dream for households in all three Nagada villages till now. Similarly, about `17 crore was sanctioned for road construction to the village. But the road is in bad condition and may get damaged during this monsoon, the report stated.
“The biggest issue is that the government is not accepting the fact that there have been deaths due to starvation. The government should responsibly and promptly trace and eliminate the gaps in policy implementation to ensure that benefits of each and every scheme reach the target,” Basudev suggested.
However, a senior official at the Food Supplies And Consumer Welfare Department denied the claims made by these reports and said that ‘the government has put its best foot forward in eradicating cases of malnourishments in the state.’