The Hindu : Kashipur deaths not due to starvation: NHRC

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Aug 17, 2002

National

National

Kashipur deaths not due to starvation: NHRC

By Prafulla Das

BHUBANESWAR AUG. 16. The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has said that the deaths reported from the Kashipur block in Orissa's Rayagada district last year were not due to starvation.

The NHRC report assumes significance because it was exactly a year ago that the whole country was shaken by allegations of hunger deaths in the tribal-dominated pocket of Kashipur.

Taking suo motu cognisance of the media reports on the alleged hunger deaths, the NHRC initiated a probe last year and the findings of the NHRC's special rapporteur, Chaman Lal, has discounted the theories of starvation deaths.

``I am inclined to agree with the State Government that the reported deaths were not due to starvation. This has also been supported by the findings of the medical team which has visited the affected villages and examined the post-mortem reports,'' Mr. Lal said in his 10-page report after he visited Kashipur.

"The medical examination has confirmed the cause of death as food poisoning.'' He, however, said that poverty was backbreaking in Kashipur; the tribals lacked the purchasing power and the public healthcare facilities were not functioning satisfactorily.

``The issue of poverty of the majority of people in Kashipur who are landless and without any sustainable means of wage employment does not seem to have been appreciated by the Orissa Government while probing the matter,'' he said.

``Most of the below-the-poverty-line (BPL) families have no means to procure food beyond the meagre scale of PDS, they are forced to eat a poor substitute like mango kernel. The hike in PDS price has further worsened their plight,'' Mr. Lal said.

Eating mango kernels was not the issue because the kernels were eaten by "almost every family in this area.'' The kernels were cooked with rice or ragi, after cleaning in running water. Normally, the food is consumed in paste form on the same day, Mr. Lal said.

Referring to the medical examination report which said that the deaths were due to food poisoning, Mr. Lal, however, said that it was "doubtful that the fungus/toxic organism, if any, in the mango kernel itself could be the reason because the process of cooking involves a thorough cleaning of the mango kernels.''

About the healthcare system, he said that the ``enfeebled bodies'' of the poor people were vulnerable to diseases and ailments.

"Their poor resistance to attacks of diseases such as tuberculosis, diarrhoea, jaundice, etc., combined with an inefficient public health care system is responsible for a high mortality rate in this area,'' he said.

Among a set of suggestions, Mr. Lal underlined the need for allotment of land to the landless, development of irrigation through watershed projects, identification of moneylenders and their prosecution.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National