By Sujata Jena

Bhubaneswar, July 15, 2020: In what is perhaps the first case of starvation death during the lockdown in Odisha, a 46-year-old tribal woman died after going without food for three days, a group of food activists said.

Dukhi Jani, a resident of Kaliamba village in Odisha’s Nayagarh district, depended on collection of non-timber forest produce for survival after her husband deserted her.

“She had gone to the forest on June 24 afternoon when she collapsed and died,” Sameet Panda, the convener of the Odisha unit of Right to Food, told Matters India on July 14.

Panda said the news of the woman’s death was covered in a local newspaper. “As Jani was buried instead of being cremated a suspicion spread that she was murdered. Later they found that there were no survivors in her immediate family to perform the funeral,” he added.

A four-member fact-finding team led by Panda sent by the Odisha Khadya Adhikar Abhiyan (Right to Food Campaign) visited the area on July 3 to probe the death.

“Circumstantial evidences strongly suggest that Dukhi Jani likely died of chronic hunger and starvation. The government must act responsibly and promptly to avoid repetition of such case in future,” the team said in its finding.

Panda says Jani possessed an “Annapura” card sanctioned in 2016 that entitled to her to get 10 kg rice free from the public distribution system. However, “her access to subsidized food grain supplies was limited and irregular,” he said.

According to him, the free food rations the prime minister promised for 800 million disadvantaged people during the lockdown period have not reached the poor in remote areas.

The US$24billion package hailed by the World Health Organization also includes cash transfers to 204 million poor women and free cooking gas for 80 million households for the next three months as Convid-19 welfare measures.

“The reality on the ground is very different,” say Panda and others.

The food right activist says Jani’s ration card was cancelled as it was not linked with her Aadhar card.

“She was deprived of free ration from November 2018. She was entitled to the pension as a single woman but couldn’t get one in spite of applying several times via panchayat and block officials. This is a clear case of administrative negligence and apathy on many counts,” Panda alleged.

The fact-finding team revealed that the tribal woman didn’t have a job card under MGNREGA, which could have provided her unskilled work. Neither could she avail the federal government’s Jan Dhan during the lockdown.

The woman also did not get rice and dal offered under the Prime Minister Garib Kalyan Yojana (Project for the welfare of the poor) even she had presumably did not have a ration card.

The investigating team members who spoke to local villagers said despite approaching panchayat and block officials, Jani could not get a ration card under the Antyodaya Anna Yojana.

“She got a State Food Security Scheme card only after she went to the district collector’s grievance cell on February 24 this year. She did not have any other social security scheme to support herself,” said Laxmidhar Singh, another member of the team.

Local sarpanch Trilochan Sahu said he had arranged for 15 kg rice and 1,000 rupees for Jani during the lockdown.

Anganwadi worker Basanti Behera said Jani was given cooked food for some days during the initial period of the lockdown by the community resource person of the gram panchayat but it stopped after some time.

Nayagarh district collector Poma Tudu did not respond to messages or calls seeking the administration’s comment on the alleged starvation death.

Besides Panda, the team comprised social activist Laxmidhar Singh of Odisha Shramajeebee Mancha and Indigenous Peoples Forum, economist Dr. Manoj Dash and journalist Rajesh Mahapatra.

Earlier on May 16, a five-year-old Dalit child allegedly died of hunger in Jharkhand’s Latehar district.

Video testimonies released by a right to food activist and economist Jean Derez who visited the child’s home in Hesatu village, showed family members, neighbors and community health workers attributing Nimani’s death to hunger.