Jharkhand witnesses one more ‘hunger’ death due to Aadhaar

A 62-year-old daily wager in Jharkhand died of hunger on Monday.

Ranchi, Oct 25: The family of a 62-year-old daily wager from Jharkhand's Deoghar alleged that the man died of hunger on Monday as they were refused subsidised rice after a government-run Public Distribution System (PDS) shop failed to read his daughter's thumb impression in the Aadhaar-linked biometric machine.

On Tuesday, Ruplal Marandi's daughter, Manodi, told local reporters that his death was the result of hunger as the family could not collect ration because of a biometric mismatch at the local PDS shop.

"We did not get ration for the last two months as the Aadhaar-linked biometric system didn't recognise my thumb impression," Marandi's daughter Manodi said.

However, the local administration denied the charges and called it a "natural death". An official stated that a probe report found that the family had a ration card and got timely supplies.

Marandi's death is the third such case reported from Jharkhand where victims allegedly died of hunger.

On September 28, 11-year-old Santoshi Kumari from Simdega allegedly died due to starvation as her family was denied foodgrains for months as their ration card was not linked to Aadhaar.

However, government officials stated that the girl was suffering from malaria.

Similarly, when the family of 50-year-old rickshaw-puller Baidyanath Ravidas from Dhanbad's Jharia alleged that the man died of hunger last week, officials maintained that the deceased died due to prolonged illness.

Although Ravidas had an Aadhaar card, he did not have a ration card and thus failed to avail government's subsidised rice.

OneIndia News