Starvation death makes us hang our head in shame

When we see on the one hand hundreds of crores and  thousands of litres of mustard oil being literally spend, rather wasted for a night or say few hours in lightening over two lakh lamps, involving thousands of employees and other expenditures in the name of keeping our religious heritage alive to saffronise the environment on the other hand in a state of Chattisgarh Ranchi, from where belongs our International cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni shockingly and anguishingly dies an eleven year old adolocent poor girl of hunger just because the authorities concerned in the food department n the ration shop found that the families food card was not linked to Adhaar Card and the family in abject powerty not delivered ration since last February.

To the utter dismay, despair and shock of the local populace the eleven year old girl while starving of hunger asked for morsal of rise. The story filed by Saurav Roy of Ranchi in HT says that the concerned ration shop owner later on send his goons and some hired gaonwallaas to thrash the deceased mother charging her that she is unnecesarily insulting the village’s name as the girl died of the malaria infection which was catagorically denied by the deceased’s mother Koili Devi.

The already dejected mother losing her only daughter travelled 8 kilometres on foot from Karimati to Simdega district to seek Shelter at the home of a social activist. The family already reeling under abject poverty could not receive ration due their ration card not being enrolled with Adhaar number. The girl survived for few days on doles and mid day meals but died afterwards for being hungry for four days in sequence.

This incident is indeed horrifying which makes our heads hang in shame. In several states of India including Delhi, scams in food and civil supply departments is a common affair as food stuff like tons of grains and ration including hundreds of thousands of Keroscene meant for the common masses and the people below poverty line is sold in black market and poor consumers are told that the government quota haven’t arrived.

The department’s employees are allegedly in league with them. Recently a huge scam involving 500 crores of whopping Ghotala has come to light in Uttarakhand and the chief of the department has been terminated. Similarly, we come across news of low quality food being served to children under the mid day meal schemes with incidents of cockroches and dead lizards found in the food stuff leading to deaths of children and various physical deformities.

The central and state governments have been allocating thousands of crores in such scheme but unfortunately a major portion of it is allegedly siphoned off on the way. There have been examples of manipulations in records with food stuff meant for the poor usually being sold in black market at the expanse of the lives of the poor, under privileged and the down troddens of the society.

The most shocking and and anguishing incident of 11 year old adolocent Santosh Kumari’s starving death is a stark reminder for the political powers that be at the centre and the states to learn lessons from this brutal incident and ensure that they give up wasting huge expenditures and vulgar ostentation on issues of religious relevance than concentrating on saving the children of the country from starving deaths.