50,000 malnourished kids died in 8 years in rural Maharashtra

The lack of food is rapidly killing tribal children even before they reach six, leaving 51,461 malnoursihed children dead across rural Maharashtra between 2004 and 2012.

The startling revelation has once again raised a debate within the government about the need to make higher allocations for the health, women and child development departments, even as the centre-state schemes evolved for the tribal population, which often goes without decent two-meals a day, appears to have remained on papers.

A senior officer in the tribal welfare department revealed, “The judicious utilisation of funds for the specific schemes is never implemented. Almost 45% of the funds, which remain underutilised, are diverted for other projects.”

Another hurdle in preventing malnourishment is the severe lack of coordination among the various health-related departments, namely ministry of health (the nodal body), tribal ministry and women and child development and family welfare.

Citing that the budget session is on, a senior minister on conditions of anonymity said, “If we compare the child tribal deaths in 2004-05 with those in 2011-12, we can see a decline in the numbers, from 8,003 to 2,849. What has the government worried is the speedy progress of malnourishment cases from the rural areas to urban centres, which can be partly attributed to the migration for livelihood to cities, including outskirts of Thane, Nashik and Mumbai.”

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) parameters, severe underweight children among the tribals accounted for 22.3%  population in the year 2011-12. This, even as minister for women and child welfare Varsha Gaikwad maintained that “Notwithstanding the reasons, the government is committed to eradicating malnutrition with help of a sustained long-term programme.”

While issuing stern directives to the senior bureaucrats and ministers concerned to maximise fund utility for the stated purpose, chief minister Prithviraj Chavan argued that a progressive state cannot afford to let such a menace in its own backyard.