If Africa has its Ethiopia and Somalia, India has Bolanghir and
Kalahandi in Orissa. To this, the latest addition is Amlashole
in West Bengal. According to Buddhadev Bhattacharya, Chief
Minister of West Bengal, ‘conditions prevailing in many slums in
Kolkata are comparable to Amlashole!’ West Bengal’s ministers
and officials, of course, do not accept that any body enjoying
the bliss of the Left Front rule, can die due to starvation.
However, they have no hesitation to accept death due to disease
resulting from lack of adequate medical care and non-
availability of medicine. In a state where there is no
unemployment benefit and social insurance support, people living
on Rs. 170/- per month per head, i.e., Rs. 850/- per month for a
family of five (which is true for families living below the
poverty line in Dinajpur, north or south), how are the ministers
so sure that people living in this ‘oasis’ of West Bengal do not
starve, when market price of rice is Rs. 8 to Rs. 10 a kilo?
Average requirement of rice in rur