Is Madhya Pradesh the epicentre of malnutrition deaths? Recently, villages in the State’s Shivpuri district witnessed children of Sahariya tribe falling victims of malnutrition. Their names, according to the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC): Parant, Rajveer, Rajkumari and Sanni and they were all aged 3 years or below. The AHRC cautions that many more children like Ashiq, Kuldeep, Pawan and Malti from the same tribe are battling death due to malnutrition (please check the first link).
The AHRC has revealed that within a span of two months (September-October 2010), 5 children of the Sahariya tribe died in the Nahargarh village of the Shivpuri district. The AHRC has appealed that 10 more children of the same village may die any moment due to malnutrition.
The Sahariya tribe has been facing the twin problems of malnutrition and hunger since a long time due to the MP Govt’s neglect. Due to malnutrition, 29 children belonging to the Sahariya tribe died between December, 2009 and April, 2010 (please check the second link).
According to a report of the Right to Food Campaign, 50 children lost their lives due to undernourishment within a span of 3 months in 2004 (May to March). In an appeal of the AHRC, it has been said that in Shivpuri district alone, 9450 number of children (20.7%) are affected by malnutrition and most of them belong to the Scheduled Tribes group.
The AHRC has blamed these deaths on the failure of the government machinery and ill-treatment of the Scheduled Tribes. In a report produced in 2009 by the AHRC, it has been said that 80 percent of children in the Rewa district of Madhya Pradesh were affected by malnutrition and most of them belonged to the Kol tribe. In a similar kind of report by the AHRC, there has been mention of 5 children of the Mawasi tribe in the Kirahpukhri village of Satna district being highly malnourished, and it was feared that they might die due to the negligence of the MP government. According to the AHRC, 7 children of the Mawasi tribe died due to malnutrition in the same village during 2008 (please check the third, fourth and the fifth links below).
It seems that the instruments available before the MP government, whether it is the Aanganwadi centres (AWCs), the ration cards provided under Antyodaya Anna Yojna (AAY) to the below poverty line (BPL) families or the job cards given to the BPL families under MGNREGA so as to ensure livelihood security, are unable to counter prevalence of hunger and malnutrition among the Scheduled Tribe community.
In case of the Shivpuri district, all these children most vulnerable to malnutrition are neither registered at the AWCs nor visited by workers or helpers working at the AWCs. The parents of these children often get into debt-traps as they take loans at the rate of 3 percent per month for covering the cost of treatment. The head of the family also work without pay in the crop field belonging to person who provides the loan, the report says.
Most of the ST families who are affected by malnutrition are not landless. But whatever land of average size 1.5 acre or less they posses, have no irrigation facility. These BPL families have been provided the Antyodaya Anna Yojna cards but they are unable to purchase their full quota of 35 kg per month despite the prices being subsidized. The cards are mostly in possession of the village Sarpanch who, the AHRC report reveals, siphons off the wage of the original beneficiaries (please check the first link).
It has not been long since the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly has passed the Public Service Guaranty Act so as to ensure delivery of basic services to its people. However, situation has not changed for these children of Shivpuri district.
Further readings:
1. http://www.ahrchk.net/ua/mainfile.php/2010/3603/
2. http://www.im4change.org/news-alert/ahrc-28-children-die-of-malnutrition-in-mp-1266.html
3. http://www.ahrchk.net/ua/mainfile.php/2010/3598/%29-
4. http://www.ahrchk.net/ua/mainfile.php/2010/3594/
5. http://www.ahrchk.net/ua/mainfile.php/2009/3320/
6 http://www.igovernment.in/site/mp-makes-law-guarantee-public-services-38129
