Seventh starvation death in Jharkhand: Budhni didn't have aadhaar, ration card; her Indira Awas house has no roof

By A Representative
In yet another gruesome incident in Jharkhand, a 40-year-old tribal woman has reportedly died of starvation in Sewatand village of Giridih district. The woman has been identified as Budhni Soren. A widow, she is survived by her daughter Sunita, and seven-year-old son, who happened to be the only family member living with her. Budhni was not getting any ration, as leave aside Aadhaar, she did not even have a ration card.
Budhni's death, says a report from Giridih and Ranchi by Shahnawaz Akhtar in a news portal, enewsroom.in, is the seventh reported hunger-related death in Jharkhand, though regretting, the district administration has refused to term it as death due to starvation.

The Indira Awas house of Budhni

"They have maintained that Budhni died of cold on Saturday, and buried her on Sunday in Sewatand of Tisri block, which is about 100 kilometers away from the district headquarters", the report says.
Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Ravi Shankar Vidyarthi, refuting the starvation death, told the news portal, “There was food in her house. The Block Development Officer (BDO) found rice and potatoes and he has made a video of it,” said.
However, villagers strongly refuted the government official's claim, stating, foodgrains were placed in Budhni’s house after her death. Quoting villagers, the report says, this was Budhni’s second marriage. Her husband Tuddu Hemburm died a year ago. She used to collect leaves from a nearby forest and make dona-pattals to make ends meet.

The village mukhiya

Few days back, she caught cold and was unable to venture out. Hence Budhni could not earn money to buy food. A villager said, “She even used to drop in at her son’s school during lunch time, so that she could share the mid-day meal with him.”
Her step-daughter Sunita Soren claimed that she had not eaten anything for the last three days. “She had no Aadhaar card or ration card. And there was nothing at home to eat,” Sunita said.
The Tisri block in which her village is situated, says the report, has a history of middleman exploiting the poor villagers. Often they take bribe to get any government related work done. Budhni was a beneficiary of the Indira Awas scheme, yet no roof was fixed on her government allotted house.
In fact, someone had withdrawn the money from her account, Dhanmendra Yadav of Tiger Force alleged. Tiger Force is a social organization fighting corruption. Dhanmendra is a resident of Gumgi village, near Sewatand.

Daughter Sunita

The mukhiya of Thansinghdih panchayat Baleshwar Rai has also been quoted as saying that the villagers had informed him about the tribal woman dying due to starvation. “When I got the information, I came for inquiry. People told me that she had died hunger. If I would have known it earlier, I would have arranged everything,” he said.
Local MLA Rajkumar Yadav said, “I had raised Santoshi Kumari and Baijnath Mahto’s hunger death case inside the state assembly. The most important aspect in all these cases is that the administration in such cases claims that deaths havr occurred due to cold and not hunger. But they never conduct postmortem of the deceased.” No post mortem was conducted even for Budni’s body too. Tisri is also native block of the first chief minister of Jharkhand and Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (JVM) chief Babulal Marandi.

---

Pix: Courtesy enewsroom.in. Click HERE for video

Comments

Academics urge Azim Premji University to drop FIR against Student Reading Circle

By A Representative A group of academics and civil society members has issued an open letter to the leadership of Azim Premji University expressing concern over the filing of a police complaint that led to an FIR against a student-run reading circle following a recent incident of violence on campus. The signatories state that they hold the university in high regard for its commitment to constitutional values, critical inquiry and ethical public engagement, and argue that it is precisely because of this reputation that the present development is troubling.

Was Netaji forced to alter face, die in obscurity in USSR in 1975? Was he so meek?

By Rajiv Shah This should sound almost hilarious. Not only did Subhas Chandra Bose not die in a plane crash in Taipei, nor was he the mysterious Gumnami Baba who reportedly passed away on 16 September 1985 in Ayodhya, but we are now told that he actually died in 1975—date unknown—“in oblivion” somewhere in the former Soviet Union. Which city? Moscow? No one seems to know.

UAPA action against Telangana activist: Criminalising legitimate democratic activity?

By A Representative The National Investigation Agency's Hyderabad branch has issued notices to more than ten individuals in Telangana in connection with FIR No. RC-04/2025. Those served include activists, former student leaders, civil rights advocates, poets, writers, retired schoolteachers, and local leaders associated with the Communist Party of India (CPI) and the Indian National Congress.

Love letters in a lifelong war: Babusha Kohli’s resistance in verse

By Ravi Ranjan* “War does not determine who is right—only who is left.” Bertrand Russell’s words echo hauntingly in our times, and few contemporary Hindi poets embody this truth as profoundly as Babusha Kohli. Emerging from Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, Kohli has carved a unique space in literature by weaving together tenderness, protest, and philosophy across poetry, prose, and cinema. Her work is not merely artistic expression—it is resistance, refuge, and a call for peace.

Asbestos contamination in children’s products highlights global oversight gaps

By A Representative A commentary published by the International Ban Asbestos Secretariat (IBAS) has drawn attention to the challenges governments face in responding effectively to global public-health risks. In an article written by Laurie Kazan-Allen and published on March 5, 2026, the author examines how the discovery of asbestos contamination in children’s play products has raised questions about regulatory oversight and international product safety. The article opens by reflecting on lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic, noting that governments in several countries were slow to respond to early warning signs of the crisis. Referring to the experience of the United Kingdom, the author writes that delays in implementing protective measures contributed to “232,112 recorded deaths and over a million people suffering from long Covid.” The commentary uses this example to illustrate what it describes as the dangers of underestimating emerging threats. Attention then turns...

Aligning too closely with U.S., allies, India’s silence on IRIS Dena raises troubling questions

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* The reported sinking of the Iranian ship IRIS Dena in the Indian Ocean near Sri Lanka raises troubling questions about international norms and the credibility of the so-called rule-based order. If indeed the vessel was attacked by the American Navy while returning from a joint exercise in Visakhapatnam, it would represent a serious breach of trust and a violation of the principles that govern such cooperative engagements. Warships participating in these exercises are generally not armed for combat; they are meant to symbolize solidarity and friendship. The incident, therefore, is not only shocking but also deeply ironic.

The kitchen as prison: A feminist elegy for domestic slavery

By Garima Srivastava* Kumar Ambuj stands as one of the most incisive voices in contemporary Hindi poetry. His work, stripped of ornamentation, speaks directly to the lived realities of India’s marginalized—women, the rural poor, and those crushed under invisible forms of violence. His celebrated poem “Women Who Cook” (Khānā Banātī Striyāṃ) is not merely about food preparation; it is a searing indictment of patriarchal domestic structures that reduce women’s existence to endless, unpaid labour.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

India’s foreign policy at crossroads: Cost of silence in the face of aggression

By Venkatesh Narayanan, Sandeep Pandey The widely anticipated yet unprovoked attack on Iran on March 1 by the United States and Israel has drawn sharp criticism from several quarters around the world. Reports indicate that the strikes have resulted in significant civilian casualties, including 165 elementary school girls, 20 female volleyball players, and many other civilians.

Search This Blog