No starvation deaths reported by states/UTs: Govt
New Delhi (PTI): The government on Wednesday said no state or union territory has reported any incident of death due to starvation in the country.
"Not a single state government/ union territory administration has reported any incident of death due to starvation," Food Minister Piyush Goyal said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha. He was replying to a question by Lok Sabha MP Gajanan Kirtikar on whether the country is still facing the problem of starvation deaths.
He said the central government is providing foodgrains free of cost to 80 crore beneficiaries under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) from January by subsuming two current food subsidy schemes.
The end-to-end computerisation of Public Distribution System (PDS) has ensured rightful targeting of nearly 80 crore beneficiaries all over the country. Portability of ration cards has been seamlessly enabled in 36 states and UTs, he added.
In a separate reply, the minister said there has been 100 per cent digitalisation of 19.5 crore ration cards in the country.
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Trump says he ‘hasn’t even thought about’ continuing Iran ceasefire
Washington: US President Donald Trump has said he has not yet considered whether he would continue the ceasefire involving Iran, while also claiming the United States holds the advantage in negotiations.
Speaking to reporters, Trump said he was prepared to make a deal with “whoever is running the show” in Iran.
“They are fighting with each other, there’s tremendous infighting. They’re probably fighting for leadership in many cases. I think they’re fighting not to be leader because we knocked out two levels of leaders,” he said.
Trump added, “When they want they can call me. We have all the cards, we’ve won everything.”
Referring to ongoing negotiations, he said, “They gave us a paper that should’ve been better. And, interestingly, immediately when I cancelled it [envoy trip to Pakistan], within 10 minutes we got a new paper that was much better.”
“We talked about they will not have a nuclear weapon, very simple … They offered a lot, but not enough,” he added.
When asked whether he would continue the ceasefire, Trump replied, “I haven’t even thought about it.”
The remarks come as uncertainty remains over the future of the temporary truce and broader negotiations between Washington and Tehran.
