More than half of Bihar's population starving: Survey

June 16, 2011, Patna: A survey has claimed that 55 per cent of population in Bihar was malnourished and 70 per cent of women and children were anaemic due to low intake of food apparently due to poverty.

"Bihar has attained 8-10 per cent growth rate due to development in tertiary sector, but 55 per cent of its people were suffering from malnourishment and 70 per cent of women and children were anaemic due to low intake of food and other supplements," the advisor to commissioner of the Supreme Court Rupesh told reporters here.

"The state government has failed to effectively implement the central flagship programmes like the mid-day meal, NRHM, MNREGA, which could have been benefited the rural people in terms of income generation and has taken no initiatives on its own like improvement in PDS, transparency in distribution mechanism and investment in social sector and agriculture since 2005," Rupesh said.

The Advisor to the Commissioner of the Supreme Court questioned the state government's claim "of 100 per cent coverage of the people under PDS and said that the figure was way of the mark as the people in several districts were not getting foodgrains due to absence of dealers."