To avoid starvation deaths, the Centre has asked the States to begin providing doorstep delivery of foodgrains as part of the Public Distribution System (PDS).
In a national consultation with State Food Ministers on Friday, Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Ram Vilas Paswan urged States to implement reforms to strengthen the subsidised foodgrain distribution system, and to work with the Centre to ensure the prices of essential commodities remain stable and inflation was contained.
Speaking to reporters, Mr. Paswan said home delivery of foodgrains, especially to the disabled and elderly, should be done as a precautionary measure. “We have issued guidelines to all the States to ensure that there are no starvation deaths because ration was not delivered,” he said.
According to Right to Food activists, at least 12 starvation deaths have been reported in Jharkhand over the last 10 months.
Mr. Paswan added that the government had made significant progress towards end-to-end computerisation of the targeted PDS and emphasised the need for Aadhaar seeding of beneficiaries and installation of e-PoS machines for ensuring targeted delivery.
Published - June 29, 2018 09:52 pm IST
