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Sahariyas sinking
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Three-year-old Abhishek, who is malnourished, with his father Sanjay Jatav outside their hut in Kasba Thana village in Rajasthan's Baran district. Much of the Rs 72 crore, meant to stop chronic malnutrition and hunger deaths among Rajasthan's 90,000 Sahariya tribals, has not been spent. HT photo: Himanshu Vyas
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When some of the money meant for the welfare of Sahariya tribals was used, it was diverted to construct homes for officials or on other official needs. These homes for officials were built using the Sahariya development fund in Baran district.
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Bagmati is three and a half year old but looks like an infant because she is malnourished. She and her father Janki Lal Sahariya sit outside their hut in Amrod Sarana village in Baran district.
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A woman and her child rest outside a health centre in a village in Baran district. Seven Sahariya children died of hunger-related causes in 2009, according to official figures.
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Sahariya women and children wait outside an anganwadi in Chainpur, Baran district. Rajasthan's 90,000 Sahariya tribals are among the India's poorest people.
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Sejal, like many other Sahariya children, is malnourished. She is two and half year old but weighs just eight kg, as an anganwadi official found out at a government crèche in Sunda village of Baran district.
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Bagmati, who cannot crawl or walk, is carried by her father Janki Lal, a daily wage labourer, in their village in Baran.
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A Sahariya child in Amrod Sarana village in Baran district. The Centre stopped giving money to the Rajasthan government in 2009-10 for the Sahariya welfare scheme because the state failed to provide proof that it had spent these funds.
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A malnourished boy called Roshan, 3, pulls at his mother's breasts in Sunda village in Baran district. Data on the health of Sahariya children in five Rajasthan villages are shocking: apart from 42% of children who are malnourished, 25.93% are severely malnourished and 1.85% suffer severe, acute malnourishment.
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Nirmala Sahariya, member of the legislative assembly from Kishanganj-Shahbad, stands alongside her Bolero car in Baran district. Rajasthan government officials admit they have been unable to utilise the entire funds meant for the Sahariya community but they have excuses. As one official said: the "achievement is that Sahariyas have now stopped dying from hunger".
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