Starvation in Orissa and Andrapradesh.

Starvation:-
Starvation is a severe deficiency in caloric energy intake, below the
level needed to maintain an organism's life. It is the most extreme
form of malnutrition. In humans, prolonged starvation can cause
permanent organ damage[1] and eventually, death. The
term inanition refers to the symptoms and effects of starvation.
Starvation may also be used as a means of torture or execution.
According to the World Health Organization, hunger is the single
gravest threat to the world's public health.[2] The WHO also states that
malnutrition is by far the biggest contributor to child mortality,
present in half of all cases.[2] Undernutrition is a contributory factor in
the death of 3.1 million children under five every year.[3] Figures on
actual starvation are difficult to come by, but according to the Food
and Agriculture Organization, the less severe condition of
undernourishment currently affects about 842 million people, or
about one in eight (12.5%) people in the world population.
The bloated stomach represents a form of malnutrition
called kwashiorkor. The exact pathogenesis of kwashiorkor is not
clear, as initially it was thought to relate to diets high in carbohydrates
(e.g. maize) but low in protein.[5] While many patients have low
albumin, this is thought to be a consequence of the condition.
Possible causes such as aflatoxin poisoning, oxidative stress, immune
 dysregulation and altered gut microbiota have been suggested.
[6]
Treatment can help mitigate symptoms such as the pictured weight
loss and muscle wasting, however prevention is of utmost
importance.
Causes:-
Starvation is an imbalance between energy intake and energy
expenditure. The body expends more energy than it takes in. This
imbalance can arise from one or more medical conditions or
circumstantial situations,

Circumstantial causes

 Child, elder or dependant abuse

 Famine – for any reason, such as political strife and war[12][13]
 Hunger striking
 Excessive fasting
 Poverty

Prevention:-
Starvation can be caused by factors, other than illness, outside of the
control of the individual. The Rome Declaration on World Food
Security outlines several policies aimed at increasing food
security[16] and, consequently, preventing starvation. These include:

 Poverty reduction
 Prevention of wars and political instability
 Food aid[17]
 Agricultural sustainability
 Reduction of economic inequality
Supporting farmers in areas of food insecurity through such measures as
free or subsidized fertilizers and seeds increases food harvest and
reduces food prices.

Starvation in Orissa:-

Orissa famine of 1866

Country India

Location Orissa

Coordinates 20.398464°N
84.402366°E

Period 1866-1868

Total deaths 4-5 million

Observations Drought

Relief INR 9.500.000

Impact on 33% of the population

demographics died

Consequences The famine also

served to awaken
Indians about the
effects of British Raj.

Succeeded by The Great Indian

famine of 1876

The Orissa famine of 1866 affected the east coast of India

from Madras northwards. an area covering 180.000 miles and
containing a population of 47.500.000;[1] the impact of the famine.
however. was greatest in Orissa. now Odisha. which at that time
was quite isolated from the rest of India.[2] In Odisha. one third of
the population died due to famine.

Causes:-
Like all Indian famines of the 19th-century. the Orissa famine was
preceded by a drought: the population of the region depended on
the rice crop of the winter season for their sustenance; however.
the monsoon of 1865 was scanty and stopped prematurely.[2] In
addition. the Bengal Board of Revenue made incorrect estimates of
the number of people who would need help and was misled by
fictitious price lists. Consequently. as the food reserves began to
 dwindle. the gravity of the situation was not grasped until the end
of May 1866. and by then the monsoons had set in.
Course and relief
Efforts to ship the food to the isolated province were hampered
because of bad weather. and when some shipments did reach the coast of
Odisha. they could not be moved inland. The British Indian government
imported some 10.000 tons of rice. which reached the affected
population only in September.[2] Although many people died of
starvation. more were killed by cholera before the monsoons and by
malaria afterwards. In Odisha alone. at least 1 million people. a third of
the population. died in 1866. and overall in the region approximately 4
to 5 million died in the two-year period.[2]
The heavy rains of 1866 also caused floods which destroyed the rice-
crop in low-lying regions. Consequently. in the following year. another
shortfall was expected. and the Government of British India imported
approximately 40.000 tons of rice at four times the usual price.
[2]
However. this time they overestimated the need. and only half the rice
was used by the time the summer monsoon of 1867. followed by a
plentiful harvest. ended the famine in 1868. In the two years of the
famine. the Government of British India spent approximately
Rs.9.500.000 on famine relief for 35 million units (i.e. one person per
day); a large proportion of the cost. however. was the high price of the
imported grain.

Effects
Lessons learnt from this famine by the British rulers included "the
importance of developing an adequate network of communications" and
"the need to anticipate disaster".[4] Indian Famine Codes were slowly
developed which were "designed to be put into place as soon as a failure
of the monsoon. or other warning-signal. indicated a probable shortage".
[5]
One early success of this new approach was seen in the Bihar famine
of 1873-74 when the famine relief under Sir Richard Temple resulted in
the avoidance of almost all mortality.[6]
The famine also served to awaken educated Indians about the effect that
British rule was having on India. The fact that during the Orissa famine
India exported more than 200 million pounds of rice to Great
Britain even while more than one million succumbed to famine outraged
Indian nationalists. Dadabhai Naoroji used this as evidence to develop
the Drain Theory. the idea that Britain was enriching itself by "sucking
the lifeblood out of India".
hunger and starvation persist scandalously. Because of a
number of problems, ranging from livelihood crisis and
indebtedness to distress migration, prolonged malnutrition and
non-implementation of government schemes, starvation amongst
the state's population is not at all uncommon. Even the
consumption of inedible items such as mango kernels, poisonous
roots and tubers and similar so-called 'distress food' items - often
passed off as 'traditional tribal food' - indicate the existence of high
levels of hunger and starvation in the state.
There are no concrete figures for the number of starvation cases in
Orissa, as the government itself has so far not acknowledged that
there is a problem. It was only because of sustained pressure from
the media, the judiciary, the National Human Rights Commission
and citizen's groups that the Orissa government released what is
considered as an underestimated figure of instances of starvation
deaths in the state. Koshala Development Forum, an organisation
that undertakes research on under-development in Orissa's tribal-
dominated Koshala region, cites in its working paper no.1, 2004, a
written statement by revenue minister Biswabhusan Harichandan
about starvation deaths presented in the State Assembly, published
in Utkal Sambad, an Oriya daily. From 2000 to 2003, 441
starvation deaths were reported in the state, the minister said. Of
these, 268 deaths were from the southern region, which has a high
tribal population.
The Orissa government thus far seems to have relied on a narrow
definition of starvation to refute reports of starvation deaths. And
it's true that not many people die exclusively because of starvation.
Starvation weakens the body and the person eventually succumbs
to a disease, due to his or her severely compromised immunity.
Take the case of Nakula Naik, a 45-year-old from Mangalpur
village in Dhenkanal district, who died of starvation in February
this year. A Dom by caste, he too was a bamboo weaver like
Santara Naik, and faced problems in procuring bamboo. In
addition, he developed asthma and therefore could not do manual
labour. Gradually, the family had to live on mendicancy and face
acute starvation. Although the sarpanch helped him get admission
in a hospital, he was released before his full recovery as he did not
have the money to continue treatment. The family lived by
consuming 'distress-food' items such as wild leaves and tubers.
After his death, his wife and his one-year-old child continue to be
threatened by starvation. A half-broken dwelling and a few vessels
are their only worldly possessions.
Though in normal circumstances, a disease like asthma may not be
fatal, a person who is starving is unable to combat it. However,
disease, and not starvation, is given as the official reason for death.
Moreover, public officials tend to believe that starvation means
absolutely no intake of food. Therefore, if the post-mortem reveals
a few grains in the stomach of the deceased, starvation reports are
rubbished.
To develop a concrete definition of starvation, activists from Jan
Swasthya Abhiyan, the Indian branch of the global People's
Health Movement, formed a 'Hunger Watch Group' and came up
with a measurable guideline. Their Guidelines for Investigating
Suspected Starvation Deaths 2003, says, "In adults, a BMI [Body
Mass Index] of 16 and less should be used as a cut-off point to
demarcate starvation from under-nutrition. Based on a
requirement of 0.7 kcal per kg per hour, a 50 kg person needs
about 850 kcal per day to maintain oneself at Basal Metabolic
Rate, without any physical activity. Thus any food intake that is
sustainedly lower than 850 kcal per day would be incompatible
with life in due course and is an indication of starvation."
Chaman Lal, Special Rappoteur of the National Human Rights
Commission, is quoted as saying in activist Harsh Mander's book
Towards a Food Rights Code, "A person does not have to die to
prove that he is starving. This insistence on death as a proof to
starvation must be given up. Continuance of a distress situation is
enough proof that a person is starving." The Hunger Watch Group
also affirmed that starvation is a public heath issue, as mortality
occurs even in case of diseases that are not ordinarily life-
threatening. As Hunger Watch's guidelines state, individual
malnutrition deaths are often extreme examples of severe
malnutrition prevalent in a community. Therefore, it calls for a
community diagnosis.
Failure of government schemes
On February 16, 2008, Pratap Barala, a reporter with local
newspaper Pragatibadi, wrote about the plight of a blind, 70-year-
old man in Dhenkanal. Development Initiative, a human rights
organisation in Orissa, investigated this case. Bimbadhar Pradhan,
the old man, lives with a widowed daughter-in-law, a teenage
granddaughter and a polio-affected grandson. No one in his family
is able to earn except his granddaughter. Despite her daily toil, her
earnings are not enough to support the family of four. Their
Antyodaya card lies unused as they have no money to buy grains
even at the highly subsidised rates.
Published 15.10.00, 12:00 AM
Bhubaneswar, Oct. 15 : Bhubaneswar, Oct. 15: Former railway
minister Bhakta Charan Das today warned of starvation deaths in
western Orissa if the state government did not set up 'free kitchens'
in the drought-affected areas. The senior Congressman, whose 11-
day padayatra across 132 drought-hit villages in Bolangir and
Sonepur ended on Thursday, said it was just a matter of time
before famine struck these two districts. 'The fields are bone dry.
Crop failure is near-total in the majority of villages. Most people
are subsisting on just one meal a day. In some places, there is not a
drop to drink. The situation is pathetic,' said Das. The former
Union minister said scarcity of food had already forced hundreds
of villagers to migrate to Raipur and Andhra Pradesh in search of
work. 'If there is no rain in the next fortnight, whatever is left of
standing crops will wither. The villagers will then have to migrate
or die of starvation,' he said. In Kullumal village under Khaprakhol
block in Bolangir district, only 40 per cent of the people remain.
The rest have migrated to other places. The situation in Khalipali
village of Sonepur district is no different. Over 200 of the 3,500
people who live in the village have migrated. The Bolangir
administration estimates that crops spread across 1,31,704 hectares
- almost one-third of cultivable land in the district - have been lost.
However, unofficial sources claim the extent of the damage is
much more. The average annual rainfall in the drought-affected
districts is 1,250 mm. However, just about 670 mm of rain has
been recorded this year. It is estimated that crops spread across 8.4
lakh hectares have been damaged in western Orissa.
Starvation in andrapradesh:-
News article:
Sep 8. 2001.
Hyderabad:
Orissa’s misery may soon befall n chandrababu Naidu’s
Andhra Pradesh. far from the silicon scope of Hyderabad lies
another reality of lost livelihoods and impending starvation. A
report from the districts where pangs of hunger expose the myth
behind the hype.

Warangal:

starvation is a reality in the northern telangana districts where

weavers in about 17 mandals are jobless since the closure of
several local handloom units six months ago. the weavers’
solidarity forum pegs the number of affected families at 4000 in
this district alone and it has also reported one death in the
kasibugga area of Warangal town. the problem is acute in
regonda .shampet.parkal and geesukonda mandals of the district
which has had to weather several crises in the last three years –
including suicides by cotton farmers . time is also running out for
100 weaver families of peddapendial village . Until the late ‘80s.
this village used to have three handloom weavers cooperative
societies and the community used to be counted in the above–
 average income group. today they are jobless and on the verge of
starvation . Kurnool: the small and marginal famers in rayalaseema
districts. particularly anantapur district. are reeling under an
extended dry spell . more than 25 farmers had committed suicide in
anantapur district last year when their groundnut crop was affected
by a pest attack . if that happens this year also . the farmers will
face serious problems . the scanty rainfall has already hit the crop
and it may affect the yields . according to agriculturists . facing
perennial drought conditions. farm labourers have been migrating
to the towns in search of sustenance. Vishakapatnam: was it ill-
health or hunger that killed six tribals in the remote areas of
srikakulam and vizianagam districts? Officially. there are no cases
of starvation in these north coastal parts. but certain deaths in the
tribal areas bordering Orissa are being dubbed as starvation deaths
by various political leaders . drught conditions prevail in the
backward areas of these distrctsand the situation is worse in areas
under the integrated tribal development agencies where lack of
nutritious food. poor health care and seasonsal fevers plague the
tribals. Yet. says a senior district official. “there is nopanic
situation in the drought-hit area and these deaths are not due to
hunger.” (reports from p v kondal rao. k veerabhadra rao and n
ramachandra rao)

January 15, 2010

AS you drive along the roads of Guntur and Prakasam districts of
Andhra Pradesh, never very far from the bustling city of Vijayawada, the
paddy fields stretch away, lush and green, to the horizon. The verdant
landscape affirms that it has been a good year for agriculture in coastal
Andhra, one of South Indias most fertile and productive regions. And,
one assumes, it has also been a good year for the local people.
But if you stop at any of the weavers hamlets or colonies that dot the
landscape, the story you will hear is very different. It is a story of
narrowing options, desolation and despair and, increasingly, of death.
Reports of starvation deaths and of suicides triggered by sheer
desperation are currently filtering out of the area with disquieting
regularity. While officialdom may quibble over what exactly constitutes
a starvation death (Did not the victims family draw its rice ration a few
days before the death? Did not the stomach of the deceased reveal some
remnants of nourishment?), what is clear beyond dispute is that the
weaving community of this relatively prosperous accessible region of
Andhra Pradesh is today trapped in an acute and deadly crisis.
Many weavers and their families, already existing below the threshold of
poverty, seem poised to descend beyond the point of physical survival
unless intervention is decisive, large-scale and immediate.
Frontlines case studies point to three broad conclusions. First, the
general conditions of life of the weavers of Guntur and Prakasam
districts are so desperately low that survival itself is a fragile, delicately
poised matter. It is therefore meaningless to pose the clinical question
whether deaths such as those investigated by the Frontline team are
technically starvation deaths. Here, weavers subsist on painfully low
levels of nutritional intake; they have access to very poor health care
facilities; their weakened bodies are susceptible to all manner of
infections and diseases which work to reduce further their physical well-
being. Any crisis a family problem, a reduction in income is certain to
accelerate the downward spiral, further lowering nutritional intake and
reducing the body to the threshold of mortality. The final cause of death
may be an infection; it may be something else.
The second point from the Frontline case studies is that none of the
survival strategies normally resorted to by people in crisis appear open
to the Andhra weavers. For those who seek to migrate to nearby towns,
there are simply no jobs.
Thirdly, Frontlines case studies suggest that recent Central and State
government economic measures, especially those adopted by the Central
government in its 1991-92 Budget, have in effect tipped the weavers
over the edge. The sharp increase in yarn prices that followed the Budget
has perhaps more than any other single factor precipitated the current
crisis.

This is no crisis affecting some outback, some peripheral section of the

people and the economy. Weaving in India provides employment to the
largest number of people in any sector other than agriculture; there are
an estimated 3.5 million handlooms in the country, supporting roughly
17 million people. Of this, Andhra Pradesh has an estimated 525,000
handlooms on which some 2.5 million people subsist; nationally, it ranks
next only to Tamil Nadu as a handloom-weaving State (with an
estimated 556,000 looms and 2.8 million people).
As yet, the unfolding tragedy of Andhras weavers has stimulated no
meaningful or sensitive response from the government, whether at the
Central, State or local level. On the contrary, the governmental emphasis
is on assuring the world that Andhras weavers do not starve and that this
seasons bountiful harvest does not coexist with death by starvation.

a. http://www.indiatogether.org/starve-poverty
b. https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/starvation-death-spectre-on-
orissa/cid/885388

c. https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/special-report/story/
19871031-deaths-in-orissa-government-opposition-press-have-all-
twisted-the-facts-799467-1987-10-31
d. http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/content/1964/death-by-
starvation/
e. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Famine_in_India
f. https://scroll.in/article/902028/cyclone-came-as-death-out-in-the-
storm-alone-homeless-odisha-man-may-have-starved-to-death
g. https://bangaloremirror.indiatimes.com/news/india/starvation-
deaths-in-andhra-pradesh-two-kids-die-eating-mud-for-food/
articleshow/69150948.cms
 May 2, 2019
Hyderabad: Two kids succumbed to their hunger in a span of
Further details refer link above

h. https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Hyderabad/daily-wagers-
from-ap-on-the-verge-of-starvation/article31156703.ece
i. https://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ians/two-
children-die-of-starvation-in-andhra-ngo-119050301274_1.html
j. https://www.hindustantimes.com/india/andhra-s-poor-hang-
precariously-between-heat-and-hunger/story-
CCkxUOifMNbrgwoJr7EGjN.html
k. https://motherchildnutrition.org/india/pdf/mcn-india-state-hunger-
index.pdf
l. https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/starvation-deaths-andhra-
two-children-die-after-eating-mud-food-101187
m.https://www.downtoearth.org.in/coverage/death-by-starvation-
31046

Kalahandi. Nabarangpur and Subarnapur are the places in Odisha

where some starvation death have been reported
 REFERENCES:-

 Ambirajan. S. (1976). "Malthusian Population Theory and Indian

Famine Policy in the Nineteenth Century". Population
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 Arnold. David; Moore. R. I. (1991). Famine: Social Crisis and
Historical Change (New Perspectives on the Past). Wiley-Blackwell.
Pp. 164. ISBN 0-631-15119-2
 Bhatia. B. M. (1991). Famines in India: A Study in Some Aspects of
the Economic History of India With Special Reference to Food
Problem. 1860–1990. Stosius Inc/Advent Books Division. ISBN 81-
220-0211-0