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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | An unequal platter -Soumitra Ghosh & Sarika Varekar

An unequal platter -Soumitra Ghosh & Sarika Varekar

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published Published on Jun 26, 2018   modified Modified on Jun 26, 2018
-The Hindu

It is time the government finds a sustainable solution to the malnutrition crisis

Development is about expanding the capabilities of the disadvantaged, thereby improving their overall quality of life. Based on this understanding, Maharashtra, one of India’s richest States, is a classic case of a lack of development which is seen in its unacceptably high level of malnutrition among children in the tribal belts. While the State’s per capita income has doubled since 2004 (the result of sustained high economic growth), its nutritional status has not made commensurate progress.

A comparison

A comparison of nutrition indicators for children under five years, using the third and fourth rounds of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) 2015–2016 and 2005-06, shows this: though stunting has declined from 46.3% to 34.4%, wasting rates have increased from 16.5% to 25.6%. Further, the underweight rate (36%) has remained static in the last 10 years. This is worse than in some of the world’s poorest countries — Bangladesh (33%), Afghanistan (25%) or Mozambique (15%). This level of poor nutrition security disproportionately affects the poorest segment of the population.

According to NFHS 2015-16, every second tribal child suffers from growth restricting malnutrition due to chronic hunger. In 2005, child malnutrition claimed as many as 718 lives in Maharashtra’s Palghar district alone. Even after a decade of double digit economic growth (2004-05 to 2014-15), Palghar’s malnutrition status has barely improved.

Results from a survey

In September 2016, the National Human Rights Commission issued notice to the Maharashtra government over reports of 600 children dying due to malnutrition in Palghar. The government responded, promising to properly implement schemes such as Jaccha Baccha and Integrated Child Development Services to check malnutrition. Our independent survey conducted in Vikramgad block of the district last year found that 57%, 21% and 53% of children in this block were stunted, wasted and underweight, respectively; 27% were severely stunted. Our data challenges what Maharashtra’s Women and Child Development Minister Pankaja Munde said in the Legislative Council in March — that “malnutrition in Palghar had come down in the past few months, owing to various interventions made by the government.”

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The Hindu, 26 June, 2018, http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/an-unequal-platter/article24256008.ece?homepage=true


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