NEW DELHI: Union consumer affairs minister Ram Vilas Paswan took to Twitter on Friday to announce the initiative taken by the ministry on the death of an 11-year-old girl in Jharkhand. He said that he has asked secretary to look into the matter and send a team Jharkhand to probe. The minister also said that Jharkhand government will soon send a report on this issue.
Unfortunate death of a girl reportedly due to starvation went viral on social media this week. Following reactions from several quarters over the apathy of the government departments, the State government initiated a probe into the matter. The Jharkhand government also announced `50,000 as assistance to the girl’s family.
The local activists had alleged that the girl died a fortnight ago after going without food for several days. They said her family’s ration card was cancelled for not being linked to the Aadhaar number.
Officials of the Jharkhand government have also said that the girl belonged to a very poor family and they had provided Antodaya card to the girls’ family while assuring action in case of any lapses.
The death of the girl child also triggered debate and controversies with many raising questions about the dangers of linking welfare to Aadhar cards. It has been said that the girl Santoshi Kumari died after her family was denied subsidised grain because their biometric identity card, known as Aadhaar, was not linked to their ration card in government records.