On November 14, 2018 the Ananda Bazar Patrika carried a report of 7 alleged starvation deaths amongst the Lodha Sabar Community (declared as Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group or PVTGs by the Government) at a village called Jangal Khas in Binpur 1 block of Jhargram district. A team from the Right to Food and Work Campaign West Bengal visited the area on 19 th November 2018 to investigate the incidents. While in the area, we got reports that another four people from the same community had been hospitalised, and one of them had died on the way to the hospital. So we visited their villages, Jhitka and Bhumi Dhansol, also under Binpur 2. The names of team members and the people we spoke to are given in Annexure 1. Our main findings are given below It Is A Crime to Be Hungry The most striking thing about the investigation was the persistent, overwhelming presence of the police. The entry to Jangal Khas village was guarded by two uniformed police men with rifles. They were as...
The Right to Food and Work Campaign, West Bengal is an informal Network of Organisations, Union(s) & other Social Networks committed to realisation of the right to food in the state of West Bengal.