Food denied to poor for not linking Aadhaar to Ration card in Jharkhand

In September, a girl from Jharkhand died of starvation months after her family's ration card was cancelled as it was not linked to Aadhaar. Image source: IANS

People with no access to food have been denied monthly subsidised ration because their cards are not linked to Aadhaar in many villages of Jharkhand.

Several instances of starvation are reported in the past few months as their Aadhaar has not been linked with their ration cards after the government issued a directive in February making it mandatory, which was later revoked.

In September, a girl from Jharkhand died of starvation months after her family's ration card was cancelled as it was not linked to Aadhaar. And this is not the only case, at least four cases of deaths have been reported from Jharkhand because of the same reason.

The names of many people have been struck off from the Public Distribution System because their Aadhaar was not linked to their ration card.

On December 8, Right to Food, an informal network of organisations that fight for the right to food of people, organised a public hearing to which hundreds of villagers from remote villages of Jharkhand reached Manika village. The meeting was organised to hear their Aadhaar related grievances. In the hearing a lot of villagers complained that many households have been listed as high-income households.

86 per cent of the rural households in Jharkhand are entitled to subsidised food-grain under the Food Security Act.

According to a survey, 133 ration cards have been cancelled in Latehar district which is also the poorest district of Jharkhand, for no reason.