Bhubaneswar, 5th April, 2023

On 3rd March 2023, 11-year-old Arjun Hembram, known to his family as Juna Hembram, from the Keonjhar district of Odisha, passed away in the early hours of the morning, because of severe malnourishment. The child, who was born with a disability, had not had any rice to eat for two days, and passed away after developing a fever. The child was buried the next day, without a post-mortem.

The tragic incident of a child’s death due to malnourishment, was reported by the local media. A fact-finding team, of journalists, social workers and social scientists, visited Ghatisahi under Ragada revenue village of Ranagundi Grampanchayat, Keonjhar district of Odisha, to look into the matter. The team’s report (which can be accessed here) found that the child’s family had not received rations for 21 months, most likely due to another Aadhaar-enabled exclusion, because “Aadhaar seeding” or linking the ration card to Aadhaar had not happened. Arjun’s mother was not able to understand why her ration card had been cancelled, but it was most likely due to her name being spelt differently on her Aadhaar card and ration card.

Expressing their deep concern at Arjun Hembram’s tragic death, the experts noted that this was not the first time that such an incident has taken place in Jajpur district. As the local news has reported, hundreds of children from this community have been excluded from the PDS as they do not have Aadhaar.

“No words of condemnation would be enough to censure this act by the very state whose primary responsibility is to protect the lives of its citizens,” said Sameet Panda, from Odisha Khadya Adhikar Abhiyan, Bhubaneswar.  

Rethink Aadhaar stands in support of the key demands made by the Civil Society Forum on Human Rights (CSFHR), Odisha Khadya Adhikar Abhijan and Jan Swasta Abhiyan, outlined below:

• Exclusion of children without Aadhaar from PDS is an issue of concern in this community. Steps must be taken to ensure all left out children and adults are added to the PDS immediately and the onus of submitting Aadhaar should not be left to the community. Administration must take steps to ensure not a single person is excluded from the system for want of Aadhaar.

• As per the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India’s interim orders on the PUCL Vs. Union of India and others (Civil Writ Petition 196 of 2001) and also the New Education Policy, 2023, Aadhaar seeding is not necessary/mandatory for availing Government supported social security and food and nutritional security schemes and programmes. No child/family should be excluded from their entitlements due to Aadhaar seeding related issues.

• The district administration needs to initiate weighing of all children in the AWCs across the regions in a mission mode to identify children suffering from malnutrition and take immediate steps for community management of malnutrition amongst children. The weighing and malnutrition measurement of children should be done every month judiciously and all AWCs should be provided with necessary equipment and training with regular monitoring.

• The team understood that Mid Day Meal in the school is the first and primary meal for the children in the community. The administration must take steps to introduce nutritious breakfast programmes in the schools which can be supported under DMF. Also the families especially the children go through extreme food crises during summer holidays, steps must be taken to ensure MDM is continued even during summer breaks for the children.

• Even under a universal entitlement approach, aged and disabled people, dalits, and tribal groups would need specific unconditional support of food, health services and benefits. Community kitchens could provide a cohesive solution for families with precarious food and nutrition conditions.

• Out-of-school children are left out of the school meal programme, despite being the most vulnerable; they should be allowed to access all feeding programmes unconditionally.

• Three children with disability from the deceased’s family, though eligible for social security pension, have not been added under the scheme till the time of visit. All AWCs have details regarding children with disability, steps must be taken by the district administration to arrange necessary documents and include children and adults with disability under the pension scheme. All eligible but left out families must be included under the pension scheme as soon as possible which would strengthen financial and food security of the families. 

• Numbers of old age pension beneficiaries are said to be facing problems after the transition in the pension scheme from cash in hand to bank transfer. This can lead to extreme hardship and hunger among the aged persons. State must take steps to ensure no pension beneficiaries are excluded or cease to receive pension due to the transition and they are given cash in hand as soon as possible.

• The MGNREGA which has consistently proved to be a  lifeline when it comes to rural work and income security, the team was told that work under the scheme has been put on hold due to the problem faced with the NMMS app. The steps must be taken to sort out the issue immediately and all households must be provided with job cards and necessary numbers of work is allocated to the village. District Mineral Fund (DMF) and MGNREGS funds can be utilized for developing private agricultural lands and community lands, especially for soil and water conservation, development of village infrastructure and community assets. The initiation of MGNREGA should also be with a functional crèche in the community which would free the mother to work under public work programs.

• The team also understood that none of the households have cultivable agricultural land, necessary steps must be taken to include the households under FRA and land is being allocated looking at the feasibility under the Act.

• Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRI) members need to play a more proactive role to address issues of chronic hunger and malnourishment, right to quality education, health services and benefits, food and nutritional security, social security benefits and wage employment, especially during the lean periods of the year. There is a greater need for better co-ordination with the Block and District administration.

• The companies which have benefited from the land and natural resources have hardly taken any measures to give back to the communities other than hardship and pollution. They are no less accountable than the administration to ensure no family lives with hunger in their vicinity. The companies like Tata Steel and others must allocate necessary resources and develop a clear integrated and overall development strategy and implemented on a Mission mode in the tribal pockets of Jajpur district. Focus should be on food and nutritional security, gender equality and women’s empowerment, promotion of Climate-resilient regenerative agriculture systems and practices to ensure food and income security of the communities.

The Fact Finding Report can be accessed here.