GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION
LOK SABHA
UNSTARREDQUESTION NO: 3656
ANSWERED ON: 19.03.2013
STARVATION DEATHS
(a) whether nearly a quarter of the population in the country suffers from hunger and cases of starvation deaths have been registered in some States including Delhi despite overflowing stocks of foodgrains in Government godowns;
(b) if so, the details thereof and the reaction of the Government thereto;
(c) whether the Government has formulated any schemeaction plan to tackle the problem of hunger and starvation in the country; and
(d) if so, the details thereof and the action taken thereon?
ANSWER
(a) to (d): The NSS Consumer Expenditure Survey conducted quinquennially by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, provides estimates of household consumer expenditure and its distribution at National and State levels. Based on these surveys, as indicated in the NSS Report No.547 on the Perceived Adequacy of Food Consumption in Indian Households (February, 2013), the percentage of households that have reported getting two square meals a day throughout the year has gradually increased from 94.5 in 1993-94 to 98.9 in 2009-10 in rural India and from 98.1 in 1993-94 to 99.6 in urban India.
No State GovernmentUnion Territory Administration including NCT of Delhi has reported any incident of death due to hunger and starvation so far.
To tackle the problem of hunger and starvation in the country, the Government has been providing food grains at highly subsidied prices to the targeted population through State Governments Union Territory Administrations under the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) and Other Welfare Schemes (OWS) such as Mid-Day Meal Scheme, Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Scheme, Raiv Gandhi Scheme for Empowerment of Adolescent Girls, Annapurna, Emergency Feeding Programme, etc. During 2012-13, taking into consideration the foodgrains available in the Central Pool, the Government has so far allocated a quantity of 578.41 lakh tons of food grains to StatesUTs under TPDS. This includes additional allocation of 50 lakh tons of foodgrains made for the BPL families at BPL issue prices and 21.21 lakh tons of additional allocation for distribution in the poorest districts as per order of the Hon’ble Supreme Court and 7.77 lakh tons of food grains allocated for the calamity relief, festivals etc. In addition, 49.26 lakh tons of foodgrains have also been allocated to StatesUTs under Other Welfare Schemes.