Dr John Mohan Razu Former Professor, CTC, Mokokchung I bow my head in shame. I’m totally devastated and dumbfounded, when I heard that three sisters aged 8, 4 and 2 died due to huger and starvation. Father of these children is a rickshaw puller went out in search of job when this unfortunate episode happened. Their mother happened to be mentally challenged. It’s shocking, utter shame to the system and a huge shame to all the Indians. Post-mortem and autopsy reports revealed that the three sisters died of hunger and starvation. The report further states that they had not eaten any food for more than 8 days. The autopsy reports further states that their stomachs, bladder and rectum were empty. The shrunken bones and flesh could not take anything and so there hardly found any fat—absolutely no fat at all. It’s pathetic, horrifying and annoying. Right from the Prime Minister to the chief ministers and their cronies irrespective of political shades and affiliations talk about big things— transforming India to digital, bullet train to and what not? This shocking incident happened just 12 kilometers away from the Indian Parliament in Mandavali, Delhi. If this is the state of affairs of our country in the 21st Century where many great promises are made and debates takes place, then the citizens should rethink about the systems that we have created that have absolutely failed to deliver and therefore be made responsible and accountable. The systems that are evolved to deliver have failed and become non-functional. Starvation, hunger and deprivation are the order of the day of many Indians. The Government at the Centre and other state governments may be boasting of their schemes and programs and exaggerate about their achievements, but got exposed to the incident that happened in under nose of central and state governments. Politicians lie without any shame and often they get caught. The classic example is what happened in Delhi—shocker that three children died of starvation. It shows that we do not have strong agencies and systems to deliver that do not account to anyone. They all failed and betrayed us. What is this new India we are talking? The following data would give us more shock waves and tremors as we go through: India has the largest number of undernourished population in the world; 19 crore people go hungry every day; 1 in 4 children in India is malnourished; 3000 children die every day; 21 per cent under five is undernourished; 14.5 per cent of our population is undernourished; 51 per cent of women in the reproductive stage is anaemic; and Global Hunger Index report states India is in the 100th position in the ranking out of 190 or so countries. The above facts and figures make us to ask simple questions: Where did we fail and who failed? In hunger and poverty there are no taking brownie points. As citizens we collectively failed for the death of those children including the ones died in Jharkhand. A country that has grown economically and made many strides in many areas has failed in not providing food, shelter and employment. Let us not pass buck on each other. We have failed collectively and those who are governing the country and the bureaucracy that works out programs, policies and makes false promises and extend fake news and wrong data should take the onus and be ashamed. Those who died of starvation and hunger did not have absolutely anything in their stomachs. They died of starvation with empty stomachs. How can be digest the very images that posits many things? The government which is representative of the State failed in not providing the basic fundamental right—food then it should be considered as ‘killing’. It’s nothing, but ‘silent killing’. This is another way of getting rid of poor and vulnerable from the very face of the earth. It certainly amounts to that. Father of the three not children, a rickshaw puller went out in search of job and may not have found any job, and thus left the children without feeding them. A pathetic and stomach churning episode happened to our children the future of India—starved to death/starvation death. As I type this write up I am angry to myself and feel guilty that in a country of plenty there are many who die of starvation and hunger. I have been confounded with many things that pushes me to ask: what type of future we give to our generations? This is the country that could have combated hunger and poverty on war-footing, but is still caught with ‘politics of poverty and hunger’. Each political party wants to capitalize on the issue of poverty and as a result the poor becomes the target. The program and schemes that are enunciated by the state governments and the government at the centre fails to benefit people. Populist programs are just to make the vulnerable and the disempowered more dependent and vulnerable. The schemes and programs should create more jobs and livelihood opportunities. The political parties deliberately keep weak and vulnerable as vote banks—objects of their doles, and not subjects of their own history. In this episode and others as well we see clear violations of the state by not providing the basic food, shelter and employment. The State failed miserably
