Children having food in their school in Jawahar
The Prime Minister may have called malnutrition a national shame but little has changed on the ground in tackling the problem. The battle against malnutrition is one in which the state seems to be on the losing, especially in tribal areas of Thane district of Maharashtra.
NDTV travelled to Jawahar Taluka in Thane district. Of the several cases of malnutrition one stood out. One-year-old Sarika should have weighed at least eight kilos at her age but her weight is a miserable three kilos. She is so weak that she can barely keep her eyes open. Sarika's mother tells NDTV, "She is malnourished as we don't get anything from the Anganwadi."
In rural Thane's tribal belt, six children have died due to malnutrition this year. 21 malnourished children have been admitted to the main Cottage Hospital in Jawahar. They have been referred to the hospital from various Public Health Centres in the area. The back stories of all these children are identical. All of them are born into acute poverty to very young anaemic mothers who can't afford to feed them.
The doctor at the Murbad Cottage Hospital says, "There are 19 kids with severe acute malnutrition here. Two kids with Moderate Acute Malnutrition have also been admitted. So there are 21 children here." In Dabholi village in Jawahar, teachers at the residential ashram school that NDTV visited, claim that the nearly 700 students get a full vegetarian thali for meals, twice a day including milk and fruits. But a child at the school called the bluff. When asked what he ate, he replied, "Khichdi." When asked about milk and fruits, he simply shook his head indicating "No."
But the corruption is not the only menace these children battle. They also pay the price for state apathy and sheer neglect. In Shahpur's Takipathar village, the local anganwadi worker says she struggles to feed the 12 children in her care. The reason is that for seven months she has not been paid the Rs 2000 earmarked for each child's food.
Devaikama, the local Anganwadi worker says, "We are supposed to get Rs 2000 every month but it does not come regularly. For the last seven months I have not got money."
Even as Maharashtra continues to figure at the top of the list of states affected by malnutrition, the problem seems to be far from being solved. Local activists like Indavi Tulpule of the Shramik Mukti Sangathan say "The number of deaths. The real figure may be higher. These are just the ones reported."