Dukhi Jani, a 46 year old Kandha Tribal woman has died, allegedly due to chronic starvation caused by Aadhaar-related exclusion.

Rethink Aadhaar stands in solidarity with the findings of Odisha Khadya Adhikar Abhiyan, on the tragic death of Dukhi Jani, a 46 year old tribal woman due to chronic starvation, and calls on authorities in Odisha to institute an enquiry into the circumstances of her death, as it appears to be a case of exclusion caused by Aadhaar linkage,.

According to news reports, on June 24th, 2020 Dukhi Jani, from Kaliamba village in Nuagaon block, Nayagarh district of Odisha died after going without food for three days. The Odisha Khadya Adhikar Abhiyan, the Odisha unit of the Right to Food campaign, carried out a fact-finding mission on July 3rd, 2020 to investigate these reports, and found that systemic administrative apathy had caused this tragic — and avoidable — loss of life, by creating conditions where the deceased had no or little food for a long period of time, and went without food for three continuous days before her death.

Despite the existence of several central and state schemes, Dukhi was left without any safety net. The fact-finding team’s investigations found that she had been struck off the list of Annapoorna cards in November 2018, and was not able to reverse this, and get a ration card, despite repeatedly approaching Panchayat and Block officials. As a single woman, she was entitled to receive a pension, but couldn’t get this either despite applying several times. She didn’t have a job card under MGNREGA, which could have provided her unskilled work. She didn’t even receive Jan Dhan support provided by the central government as assistance during the lockdown, or the rice and dal offered under the PM Garib Kalyan Yojana. All she got, according to her village’s Sarpanch, was 15 kilos of rice and Rs.1000, which was part of the state government’s scheme and given to her without a ration card.

The fact-finding team reported that when they asked the local Panchayat Executive Officer, Mr. Padmalochan Biswal the reasons for cancellation of Dukhi’s Annapurna card, he was of the view that it was cancelled due to non-seeding of Aadhaar number with her ration card. This is a clear case of administrative negligence and apathy, and a tragic illustration of exclusion caused by Aadhaar.

It is unconscionable that despite several schemes run by the government to ensure that the poor have access to social safety and food security, such systemic failures prevent people from accessing their entitlements. These failures are exacerbated by the insensitivity and apathy of the of the local administration, who take refuge behind technological failures. Previous investigations of the Abhiyan have warned that wide-spread cancellation of ration cards was taking place due to the mandatory seeding of Aadhaar numbers with ration cards in Odisha, and that many families have been denied their rations because of failures in linkages.

Rethink Aadhaar echoes the demands of the Odisha Khadya Adhikar Abhiyan, and calls for a thorough enquiry into the tragic death of Dukhi Jani, including an independent enquiry into the reasons she was excluded from her social entitlements, and any relation this has to the Aadhaar linking/ seeding process. The Abhiyan also calls for an investigation into the violation of norms specified in the Odisha Relief Code, as there was no official designated to investigate the case.

The fact-finding team’s report can be accessed here, and their press release here.