Building on Amartya Sen’s famous claim that no famine has ever occurred in a democratic country, the book re-examines the relationship between democracy, public action and famine prevention. Drawing on both quantitative and qualitative data in India at national, state and local levels as well as in-depth field visits to two states on India’s east coast, Orissa and West Bengal, the author analyzes the following issues:
- The interaction between specific institutions in India and their accountability to the public
- The role of the media in highlighting problems of extreme poverty and destitution and the effectiveness of political and administrative responses to such reports
- The extent to which tribal groups are vulnerable to starvation and famine, and an analysis of whether starvation deaths in droughtprone Kalahandi district in Orissa are unique in India
- The impact of two major nutrition programmes, the Public Distribution System (PDS) and the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), in reducing the incidence, duration and impact of starvation deaths