The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has issued notices to the governments of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh asking them to give a detailed report on the drought-hit Bundelkhand region.

The commission took suo motu cognisance of the media reports about inhabitants of the drought hit districts of both the states in the region. It says that the media reports exposing the plight of people in Bundelkhand, if true, raise serious issues of violation of human rights to life, equality and dignity of the people where, due to the scarcity of food, the people are living in distress and starving to death.

The NHRC has given four weeks-time to the states to submit their individual reports.

In an official statement, the NHRC says, “Reportedly, people in the region are forced to each chapattis either with salt or potatoes. The crops of gram and pulses have failed due to no rain. The taste of pulses has become only a memory.”

“A majority of the population belongs to scheduled tribes and have no ownership of land. There are no irrigation facilities and the crops depend only on rain.  The students are being deprived of the mid-day meals in schools. There is no work for the villagers under MNREGA.”

We at Governance Now covered the drought situation in the region in our cover story in February 1-15, 2016 issue. Read full story here

Earlier in December 2015 it was reported that people of the region were forced to eat chapattis made of grass.