Govt must ensure basic right to food, shelter: Human right activists

Human right activists termed the deaths of three minor girls due to starvation in east Delhi's Mandwali area unfortunate and said the government should stop being in denial of existence of poverty in the country.

Noting that such incidents of starvation deaths were very much prevalent in other parts of the country like Jharkhand and Maharashtra, the activists called upon the government to ensure the basic right to food and shelter of every individual is met.

The Delhi Rozi Roti Adhikar Abhiyan (DRRAA) has stressed on the need to strengthen the framework of food security and remove barriers which prevent people from accessing it.

"Making food security conditional upon peoples' ability to produce identity proof, residence proof and Aadhaar etc is inhumane and a violation of the right to life guaranteed by the Constitution," they said in a statement.

The DRRAA demanded a detailed inquiry into the deaths to examine whether the family was covered under several ongoing food security and social welfare programmes like whether they received ration under the Public Distribution System or if the children below the age of 5 were enrolled at Anganwadi and whether the mother was receiving any support or treatment for mental health issues that she was facing as per media reports and the testimony of neighbours.

"If the family was left out of the purview of these programs, the inquiry must examine the reasons for their exclusion. The inquiry must fix accountability and ensure that officials who were in any way responsible for the exclusion of the family from these programmes are held responsible," said Dipa Sinha, co-convenor with the Right to Food Campaign.

Social activist Anjali Bhardwaj said these starvation deaths highlight the alarming situation of distress and food insecurity in the capital of India.

"Immediate steps must be taken by the Delhi government and the central government," she said.

Reacting to the incident, activist and General Secretary of All India Progressive Women's Association Kavita Krishnan said, "It is not surprising that such an incident took place in Delhi. We need to identify that there is an extreme poverty in Delhi and survival and livelihood are enormous issues for the poor population. There have been starvation deaths across the country and poverty is a reality and the government should stop pretending that it has ended."
Activist Mariam Dhawale said, "We have been saying this again and again but within the city, there is a very high poor population. Aadhaar and biometrics are further preventing them from getting ration. We have seen it in Jharkhand then in Maharshtra and now in Delhi."