Lok Sabha Question No. 419 (STARRED), answered on 2023-03-29
Subject: Starvation Deaths
Ministry: CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION
Asked by: Gajanan Chandrakant Kirtikar

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD & PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION DEPARTMENT OF FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION

## LOK SABHA

## TO BE ANSWERED ON 29NP MARCH, 2023

## STARVATION DEATHS

## +*419. SHRI GAJANAN KIRTIKAR:

Wil the Minister of CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC

- (a) whether the country is still facing the problem of starvation deaths;
- if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor, State-wise;
- (c) the details of the corrective measures being taken or likely to be taken by the Government to prevent the said problem in various parts of the country, State-wise; and
- (d) the details of the works done by the Government in this direction so far?

A NSWER MINISTER OF COMMERCE & INDUSTRY, CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD & PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION AND TEXTILES (SHRI PIYUSH GOYAL)

(a) to (d): A statement is laid on the Table of the House.

## ORIGINAL IN HINDI

STATEMENT REFERRED To IN REPLY To PARTS (a) To (d) OF THE STARRED QUESTION DUE FOR ANSWER ON 29.03.2023 IN THE LOK SABHA:

(a) to (d): No Sir. Not a single State GovernmentIUnion Territory Administration has reported any incident of death due to starvation:

The Central Government, to remove the financial burden of the poor beneficiaries and to ensure nationwide uniformity and effective implementation of National Food  Security Act (NFSA), has to provide foodgrains free of cost under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) to AAY households and PHH beneficiaries as eligible under NFSA for a period of One year beginning from Jan, 2023 subsuming two current food subsidy schemes of the Department of Food and Public Distribution- a) Food Subsidy to FCI for NFSA, and b) Food Subsidy for decentralized procurement states, dealing with procurement, allocation and delivery of free foodgrains to the states under NFSA: 1st by

The Government of India accords high priority to the issue of adequate foodgrains to the deserving and needy beneficiaries, which are provided free of charge and distributed through State GovernmentsIUnion Territory Administrations: The NFSA is operational in a seamless manner across all States/Union Territories. The coverage under the Act is substantially high to ensure that all the vulnerable and needy sections of the society get its benefit:

With the specific purpose of ameliorating the hardships faced by the poor and needy due to economic disruptions caused by the COVID-19 outbreak in the country, the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) had been launched. The allocation of free foodgrains, under PMGKAY was in addition to normal allocation done under the NFSA, 2013. A total quantity of approx: 1118 LMT foodgrains had been allocated during the period of 28 months from April, 2020 to December, 2022.

The scheme of End-to-End Computerization of the PDS has ensured rightful targeting of nearly 80 Crore beneficiaries all over the country: Leveraging the strong foundation of End-to-End Computerization, FPS automation, the Department is implementing One Nation One Ration Card (ONORC) plan for nation-wide portability of ration cards under NFSA: The national portability of ration cards under ONORC plan has been seamlessly enabled in all 36 StateslUTs covering around all eligible beneficiaries under the NFSA:

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