(a) whether cases of death due to starvation in the country have come to the notice of the Government;
(b) if so, the details of people died due to starvation during the last three years, State/UT-wise, particularly Jharkhand;
(c) the concrete steps taken/being taken /likely to be taken by the Government to deal with starvation in the country;
(d) whether India ranks at 115th among 119 countries in Global Hunger
Index; and
(e) if so, the reasons therefor?
MINISTER OF STATE FOR CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD & PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION
(SHRI C. R. CHAUDHARY)
(a) & (b): No Madam. No State Government/Union Territory Administration has reported any incident of death due to starvation in the country. There have been media reports of starvation deaths in some States/UTs. However, on enquiry, the deaths due to starvation have not been substantiated including in Jharkhand.
(c) The Government has been providing foodgrains at highly subsidized prices to the targeted population through State Governments/Union Territory Administrations under the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) in terms of National Food Security Act, 2013 and Other Welfare Schemes (OWSs). National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013 provides for coverage of upto 75% of the rural population and upto 50% of the urban population, thus covering about two-third of the population of the country for receiving foodgrains @ of Rs. 3, 2 & 1 per kg for rice, wheat & nutri-cereals respectively under TPDS. During the year 2018-19, the Government has so far allocated a quantity of 609.08 lakh MT of foodgrains to the States/UTs under NFSA, Other Welfare Schemes and allocations due to natural calamities and festivals.
Further, Government of India has issued advisories to all States/UTs that no beneficiary/household shall be deleted from the list of eligible beneficiaries/households only on the grounds of not possessing Aadhaar and shall also not be denied subsidized foodgrains or cash transfer of food subsidy under NFSA due to non-availability of Aadhaar or failure of biometric authentication. Advisories have also been issued by the Government of India to States/UTs to put in place special dispensation that includes home delivery of the entitled quota of foodgrains and delivery through authorized nominees in respect of beneficiaries who are above 65 years of age or who are differently abled and have no other adult family member listed in the Ration Card and are not in a position to visit Fair Price Shop themselves.
(d) & (e): As per information available in the public domain, India’s ranking in the Global Hunger Index (GHI) brought out by “Concern World Wide” is 103. As per GHI Report 2018 of “Concern World Wide”, the composite GHI scores of India have improved from 38.8 in 2000 to 31.1 in 2018. Thus the country has shown consistent improvement over the years.
****