India, one of the world’s fastest developing economies has million of people who are dying due to starvation. A country which is self sufficient to feed its one billion people and showing marvelous growth rate in various industries, acute starvation and malnutrition in children and adults remain ongoing concerns in rural and urban areas. Many schemes like the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 (NREGA), the midday meal scheme and the Targeted Public Food Distribution System that have been launched to ensure a day’s meal for the poor. But most of the schemes have failed due to corrupt caucus between the law enforcement agencies, landlords and their mafia, the local politicians and corrupt administrative set-up.

According to UN Special Rapporteur’s report, based on the reports of non-governmental organizations within and outside India, including the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) and the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC), immediate attention and affirmative actions should be taken by government of India to improve food distribution system in the country. However, the condition of the poor is worse in the rural area due to lack of proper health care facilities, illiteracy, deep rooted caste based discrimination. Few days back, an eighteen month old Alina Shahin in Varanasi district of Uttar Pradesh died due to Grade IV malnutrition. She had been taken to the local public health centre, where the staff denied giving primary treatment to her.

The starvation deaths in Dalit and the other lower caste communities is more as compare to upper caste of the society. Now it is proved that merely announcing few schemes for the poor class would not be enough, it’s time to implement the policies. But we have to put more emphasis on agriculture, land reforms and Public Food Distribution System (PDS).

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