On the outskirts of Mumbai, malnourishment still rampant

MUMBAI: Just 110km away from the city lies Palghar district where children are dying of malnourishment-related illnesses. Government data revealed this year, 126

MUMBAI: Just 110km away from the city lies Palghar district where children are dying of malnourishment-related illnesses. Government data revealed this year, 126 children died because of low-birth weight, pneumonia, diarrhoea, dysentery and heart ailments in the tribal-dominated district. In Mokhada, one of the worst-affected talukas in Palghar, 75% of the women give birth to children weighing less than 1.5kg.

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And the government apathy doesn’t help. Last week, state tribal minister Vishnu Savara found himself in a soup when he was caught on video saying “let it be” when questioned about the increasing number of deaths owing to malnourishment in Palghar district. He was in Palghar to visit the family of Sagar Wagh — the malnourished two-and-a-half-year-old boy who died on August 30. They refused to meet him.

But the deaths are a symptom of a much more complex problem than just lack of nourishment. Locals say tribal settlements are also plagued with social and economic evils such as lack of employment, child marriage, gender inequality, multiple pregnancies in a short span and a lack of maternal and prenatal care.

Local authorities, however, are pinning their hopes on the state government’s Amrut Aahar Yojana, which provides nutritional food to pregnant tribal mothers and children between 0-6 years.

The problem: Locals claim the funds for the programme have not been released as yet by the government to be given to each taluka.