Jharkhand: 11-yr-old girl dies of starvation after family’s food supply cut

Ranchi: In a heart-wrenching incident, an 11-year-old girl from Jharkhand died of starvation after her mother was denied food from the local ration shop for failing to link her Adhaar Card with Ration Card. The deceased Santoshi Kumari, lived in a village in Jharkhand with her family. The family’s ration card was canceled, and their subsidized food supply was cut. Post which for months the administration didn’t give them any food. Girl’s mother claims that “no one in the house had eaten for 5 days”. Though the doctors claim that the girl died of Malara, family members allege that she died screaming “bhaat bhaat” (rice). The girl’s family was entitled to Adhaar Card, which made her family entitled to subsidized ration under National Food Security Act. As per reports, a local dealer in Simdega district refused to give anything to Santoshi's family because their ration card had not been linked to their Aadhaar unique ID number following a government rule in February.