No starvation deaths reported by states/UTs: Govt

New Delhi: The government on Wednesday said no state or union territory has reported any incident of death due to starvation in the country.

“Not a single state government/ union territory administration has reported any incident of death due to starvation,” Food Minister Piyush Goyal said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

He was replying to a question by Lok Sabha MP Gajanan Kirtikar on whether the country is still facing the problem of starvation deaths.

He said the central government is providing foodgrains free of cost to 80 crore beneficiaries under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) from January by subsuming two current food subsidy schemes.

The end-to-end computerisation of Public Distribution System (PDS) has ensured rightful targeting of nearly 80 crore beneficiaries all over the country.

Portability of ration cards has been seamlessly enabled in 36 states and UTs, he added.

In a separate reply, the minister said there has been 100 per cent digitalisation of 19.5 crore ration cards in the country.

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