New York: Union Minister of Law and Justice Ravi Shankar Prasad reacted to the Jharkhand girl dying of starvation controversy by stating that no one can be denied basic benefits with or without Aadhaar card.
“I have asked the Jharkhand government to take action against the officer concerned in the case. Basic benefits cannot be denied to any person with or without an Aadhaar card," said the Union Minister to CNBC-TV18.
Santoshi Kumari, an 11-year-old girl in Simdega district, starved for eight days and died on September 28 after being denied ration because her family’s ration card was not linked to the Aadhaar number.
“The provision to ensure basic benefit accessibility has been covered under Section 7 of the Aadhaar Law. No poor person has complained about Aadhaar linkage with service delivery. It was the previous government that started Aadhaar only with a notification, we have framed a law. We have a robust system in place," said Prasad.
Kumari’s family lives in abject poverty and was fully dependent on food grains entitled under the National Food Security Act. Her father is mentally disabled and her sister and mother, who are daily wage workers, earn about Rs 80-90 a day.
Kumari was studying at a local school, where she used to get cooked lunch under the mid-day meal scheme but due to Durga Puja the school was closed.
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