A deadly virus called hunger!
Prime Minister Narendra Modi keeps issuing statements that the number of poor has decreased under his rule. He seems to think that it is easy to reduce poverty by changing the parameters of identifying the poor.
Simply by applying a different set of indicators, crores of people have been kept out of the reach of BPL cards. Many have lost their BPL cards for owning a small TV. They may not be eligible for BPL cards any longer but they continue to feel hungry. There have been reports that many have died as they have been denied ration for not possessing Aadhaar cards. Supply of ration through BPL cards was stopped to people in several parts of the country including Karnataka for not possessing Aadhaar cards.It is estimated that about three crore ration cards have been suspended.
Jharkhand’s Koili Devi, a victim of this mess, knocked on the doors of the Supreme Court. Devi’s ration card was cancelled in March 2017 as she did not have Aadhaar card. The family had to live in hunger. In September 2018, her daughter died of hunger. The family did not have anything other than salt and tea powder. Even on the day the daughter died, the family could consume only salt and tea. Devi is now fighting a battle holding the government responsible for her daughter’s death.
Demonetization in 2016 significantly increased the poverty in the country. Hundreds of laborers lost their jobs and malnutrition increased. The cancellation of ration cards added to the woes of those who were already hit hard because of demonetization. The government snatched not only jobs but also ration supplies. We need to bear in mind that those who are not able to procure Aadhaar cards belong to very poor sections of the society.
The middle class struggled and managed to obtain Aadhaar cards by standing in queues and roaming different offices. But it was impossible for families that were already in the grip of hunger to go after Aadhaar cards. Similarly, adivasis and tribal people found it difficult to even submit documents to obtain Aadhar cards. The families that were not able to obtain Aadhaar cards were those who depended on ration cards. Unfortunately, the specter of Aadhaar cards snatched their rights to live.
After the lockdown, the state of the poor in the country has become more pathetic. In the three months of the period of lockdown, the media published numbers about people who died due to the Coronavirus. However, the number of people who died due to hunger never came to light because hunger does not figure in any list of diseases. But hunger is the mother of all diseases as it slowly and steadily takes away the lives of people. Hospitals do not have machines to identify hunger. No hospital writes a report that a death has occurred because of hunger. It seems that doctors have decided that hunger does not fall under their purview. If hunger were to be included in the list of diseases, the numbers would show that more people died because of hunger than those dying due to the Coronavirus. The three crore ration cards that were snatched away have also contributed to these deaths.
We should immediately stop bhajans around the Coronavirus and pay attention to the living condition of migrant laborers in both rural and urban areas. Similar to the gathering of data about the number of people infected with the Coronavirus, the government should obtain a report about the living condition of these laborers. Investigations should be conducted about the number of people who have died due to hunger. Details should be obtained about the number of laborers who are availing the facilities of the public distribution system. If it is found that these laborers do not have ration cards, efforts should be made to find out the reasons for this. India which was called a developing country is now in the list of poor countries after demonetization. The United Nations has warned that poverty will increase in the coming days. In this context, it is the government’s duty to increase the availability of food grains to the poor. If three crore ration cards are cancelled at this juncture, we perhaps have to assume that the government has designed a major programme to annihilate the poor through hunger.
Taking cognizance of this, the Supreme Court has issued notice to the Centre and the state governments. But we cannot assume that the governments would take the notices seriously. The government that has already snatched away the cylinder subsidies seems to be considering cancelling the ration cards too. When the entire country is in the grip of hunger, industrialists like Adani and Ambani are prospering and have not been impacted by either demonetization, Coronavirus, or lockdown.
This is because the government has assumed that the country’s progress and development means the growth and development of Adani and Ambani. For the growth of these two industrialists, the government has thrown crores of people to the jaws of death. If the government’s agricultural policy is implemented, the public distribution system will slowly disappear. How can we then expect that the government will provide justice to the three-crore people whose ration cards have been cancelled.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Chhattisgarh Vedanta power plant blast: Death toll rises to 20; sixteen workers undergoing treatment
Sakti (Chhattisgarh) (PTI): The death toll in a blast at the Vedanta power plant in Chhattisgarh's Sakti district has mounted to 20 with seven more workers succumbing to injuries, while 16 others are undergoing treatment at different hospitals, officials said on Wednesday.
The deceased include six labourers from West Bengal, five from Chhattisgarh, three each from Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh, two from Bihar, and one from Madhya Pradesh.
The opposition Congress has demanded registration of an FIR against the plant management and a judicial inquiry into the incident.
The explosion occurred on Tuesday afternoon in a steel tube carrying high-pressure steam from the boiler to the turbine at the Vedanta Ltd power plant located in Singhitarai village, leaving several workers with severe burn injuries.
According to officials, four workers died on the spot, while nine others succumbed to injuries soon after the incident.
Seven more workers have died in hospitals, raising the toll to 20, Sakti Collector Amrit Vikas Topno told PTI on Wednesday.
He said that a total of 36 workers were affected in the blast, and 20 of them died.
"Of the 16 injured workers, five are undergoing treatment in hospitals in Raipur, while 11 others are in hospitals of Raigarh, the neighbouring district of Sakti," he added.
Topno added that every possible effort was being made to provide the best medical treatment to the injured.
The deceased were identified, and their family members are being contacted. Arrangements have been made to transport the mortal remains to their native villages via ambulance following the postmortem examination and to provide immediate financial assistance, he said.
Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai has announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh to the families of each deceased worker and Rs 50,000 for those injured.
Vedanta Power has also announced a Rs 35 lakh compensation for the family of each deceased worker, along with employment support.
The company will also provide Rs 15 lakh to each injured person, ensure salary continuation until recovery, and offer counselling support, a statement from the plant management said.
The chief minister has ordered an inquiry by the Commissioner of the Bilaspur division, assuring strict action against the guilty.
He directed officials to ensure free and proper medical treatment for all injured and emphasised that no negligence in their care would be tolerated.
The district administration has also ordered a separate magisterial probe, while the company has initiated its own internal investigation.
Collector Topno has appointed the Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) of Dabhra to conduct the magisterial inquiry.
The SDM has been asked to submit a report within 30 days covering key aspects, including the cause of the accident, whether it was due to technical or human error, and details of safety inspections carried out at the plant.
Meanwhile, the opposition Congress has demanded registration of an FIR against the plant management and a judicial inquiry into the incident.
State Congress communication wing head Sushil Anand Shukla on Wednesday alleged negligence on the plant management's part and accused the government of attempting to shield those responsible.
He also demanded compensation of Rs 1 crore for the families of the deceased and Rs 50 lakh for the injured.
The construction of a 1,200 MW coal-based thermal power project (two units of 600 MW each) in Singhitarai, originally owned by Athena Chhattisgarh Power Ltd, started in 2009, but remained stalled between 2016 and 2022.
Vedanta acquired the plant in 2022, after which a 600 MW unit was completed and commissioned in August last year, while the second unit is still under construction.
The deceased have been identified as Amrit Lal Patel, Thanda Ram Lahre, Udhab Singh Yadav, Rameshwar Mahilange, and Nadeem Ansari (all from Chhattisgarh); Susanta Jana, Sheikh Saifuddin, Manas Giri, Kailash Mahto, Shibnath Murmu, and Dipankar Singh (West Bengal), Tarun Kumar Ojha, Abdul Karim and Ashok Parhiya (Jharkhand), Raju Ram, Pappu Kumar and Brijesh Kumar (Uttar Pradesh), Aakib Khan and Ritesh Kumar (Bihar), and Chitranjan Dhulai of Madhya Pradesh, officials said.
