Killing Poverty

Malnutrition-related deaths in Palghar in Maharashtra are a pointer to the lack of employment and welfare measures for tribal people to keep the wolf from the door.

- Anupama Katakam

TWO-YEAR-OLD SAGAR WAGH DIED OF pneumonia on August 28. He is among the 255 children from Palghar district of Maharashtra who have succumbed to acute malnutrition-related illnesses since April this year. State government figures record 82 deaths in August and 47 in September in the district.

The Palghar deaths are symptomatic of a larger problem in the tribal belt in the State. Every year after the monsoon, the tribal regions see a spate of deaths, particularly among children, because of hunger and malnutrition which increase the risk of diarrhoea, tuberculosis and pneumonia.

Some 17,000 malnutrition deaths, including that of adults, occurred in 2015 across the State, points out a petition filed in the Bombay High Court. Recent figures from the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme say there has been a 5.8 per cent increase in the number of underweight children in the State. According to State government figures, 7,000 children in Palghar suffer from various forms of malnutrition.

Activists say it is only a conservative estimate of the numbers. They say the problem is massive, but it is only when deaths begin to make news that the government rushes in with quick-fix remedies like a few additional meals. This too fizzles out owing to lack of funds.

Palghar and other affected districts are just a few hours from urban centres such as Mumbai, Thane City and Nashik. “It is baffling how hunger can exist when the region is so easily accessible,” says a local social worker. “The obvious reasons lie in the bureaucracy, corruption, unemployment, the neglect of the marginalised, and sheer lack of sensitivity,” he says.