Malnutrition reaches epidemic proportions in Madhya Pradesh

Over 25 children died in two villages of the Jhabua district in the past four weeks. Agasia and Madarani villages, falling in the Meghnagar block of the predominantly tribal district, registered 27 deaths since October 19

Malnutrition has reached epidemic proportions in most parts of Madhya Pradesh, with children being the most vulnerable group.

This, along with a general deterioration in the health conditions of children and continuing government apathy towards tribal regions, has resulted in a large number of child and infant deaths being reported.

Over 25 children died in two villages of the Jhabua district in the past four weeks. Agasia and Madarani villages, falling in the Meghnagar block of the predominantly tribal district, registered 27 deaths since October 19.

Alarmingly enough, most of these children were in the 0-6 age group and most weren’t even registered at the local anganwadi centre. Agasia and Madarani are just a small part of the larger story that has emerged. Recent reports from Sidhi district mention the death of 22 children in 48 days since August 2009. Malnutrition, especially among the tribal populations of the State, according to the reports of the Supreme Court Commissioners and the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund, is much higher than in sub-Saharan Africa.

According to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-III, 60 per cent of the children in the 0-3 years category in Madhya Pradesh are malnourished, while 82.6 per cent in this category are anaemic. The Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) in the State stands at 70/1,000, while the same indicator for tribal areas is 95.6/1,000.

In October, The Hindu first reported severe malnutrition among the Kol tribal group in Jawa block of Rewa district. Recently, the Hong Kong-based Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) issued an international appeal to several organisations urging them to persuade the State government to address the issue. The AHRC report mentions that over 80 per cent malnourished children are in Rewa.

The deaths in Jhabua have reportedly been caused due to symptoms resembling those of dengue and malaria along with high incidence of anaemia. However, the alarming levels of malnutrition in the region could be the primary cause, leading to a fall in immunity levels.

“We have discovered 14 deaths till now and the primary causes are severe malnutrition, anaemia and falciparum malaria,” says Meghnagar Block Medical Officer (BMO) Vikram Verma.

“Anganwadis are located far from these regions and the ANMs [Auxiliary Nurse and Midwives] too hardly ever reach there. This, along with the remoteness of these tribal regions, compounds the problem. We are taking this seriously and efforts are on to address the situation.”

While the BMO’s statements acknowledge the seriousness of the situation, the ambiguous position of the Health Department comes to the fore with an entirely different version of the story from the joint director of Health. “There have been only four deaths and that too, in early October. I have ordered action against the supervisor and the ANM and served a show cause notice on the BMO over the delay in reporting this situation,” said K.K. Vijayvargiya. He refuted any role of malnutrition in the deaths. “Although the reasons are not clear, there definitely is no malnutrition, maybe just seasonal fever.”

The apathy and indifference displayed by the health officials have led the villagers to seek medical help from quacks and private practitioners. “The children here appear extremely weak and show malaria and dengue like symptoms and die within an average span of four days,” says Ajit Singh, a local journalist.

While the Health apparatus is obviously not serious about handling the issue, other social welfare schemes do not seem to be helping either. The fathers of all the four children who died in Agasia village were not with their families as they had migrated to seek employment since their National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme cards were being withheld by the village sarpanch.

The displacement of tribal groups from their traditional forest dwellings, where they had access to minor forest produce like berries and other fruits to feed their children, has made matters worse in a scenario where the Public Distribution System shops in tribal areas often open only once a month.

The last reports received from the region said one more child died in Madarani. The situation in Agasia, where four deaths have taken place, was deteriorating, with eight children in the 0-6 age group being critical. The district administration’s response, however, continues to be cold.

Keywords: children, malnutrition, epidemic proportions, Madhya Pradesh, vulnerable

Mahim Singh

No room for 3/12 in the algebra of tragedy and outrage

Twenty-five years after the world’s worst industrial disaster occurred at midnight on December 3, 1984, the only fact that seems worthy of being reported is that there is nothing about the disaster that is hidden anymore. Nothing that has not been written about; nothing more required to point fingers.

And yet, as the nation mourns the first anniversary of 26/11 through war-like visuals on TV, questions about Bhopal linger. While the perpetrators of 26/11 are being tried in court, justice has not been delivered to the victims of chemical poisoning here. Even after a quarter century of protests, of misery, of lives lived in the shadow of death.

The media finds catharsis for the trauma of 26/11 in its footage of the restored Taj Mahal hotel. But there is nothing redemptive for TV about slums full of poor survivors living on contaminated water demanding their right to justice, which are the only images 3/12 has to offer.

Victims of the Bhopal disaster note that while the Indian government submitted several dossiers of evidence to Pakistan over 26/11, it has failed to get one man, a declared fugitive, extradited from the U.S. even after every piece of evidence against him and the corporation he headed, Union Carbide, is public knowledge.

The Chief Judicial Magistrate of Bhopal, while issuing a second non-bailable warrant for the arrest of Warren Anderson earlier this year, held that the “wilful non-execution” of this warrant was a “punishable offence under sections 217 and 221 of IPC” on the part of the Union government and “public servants” concerned.

It also held that the “public servants” responsible for the execution were “Cabinet secretary K.M. Chandrashekhar and Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon.”

The industry-sponsored trivialisation of the Bhopal issue, including the Dursban bribery scandal, is not news anymore. There is enough on-the-record information about the captains of India Inc pitching in for Dow Chemical, which now owns Carbide, asking the government to free the U.S. conglomerate of the responsibility of cleaning up the Union Carbide factory premises.

Documents obtained by Bhopal activists through RTI reveal Ratan Tata's personal letters to Manmohan Singh, Home Minister (then Finance Minister) P. Chidambaram and Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia in 2006, urging them to let Indian industry clean up the Bhopal site as it was “critical for Dow to have the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers withdraw their application for a financial deposit by Dow against the remediation cost.”

Dow Chemical CEO Andrew Liveris was more forthright. In a letter to Ronen Sen, Indian ambassador to the U.S. at the time, he wrote:“Certainly, a withdrawal of application would be a positive demonstration that the GOI means what it says about Dow's lack of responsibility in the matter.” In return he offers, “economic growth in India, including key foreign investments that will promote job creation…”

For the media, Bhopal is not as glamorous as Mumbai. While he 26/11 attacks “featured” the Taj Mahal hotel, Café’ Leopold et al, all that Bhopal had to offer was slums full of poor survivors living on contaminated water protesting for their right to justice.

Further, the attack on Mumbai, the commercial capital of India, involved rich citizens and international tourists. Finally, while the attack on Mumbai was an attack on industry, what happened with the people of Bhopal was an attack by the industry

“When we met the Prime Minister in 2008 and brought up the issue, he raised his hands and said he didn't want to hear a word about Dow, saying tragedies happen and this country needs to move on,” says Rachna Dhingra of the Bhopal Group for Information and Action.

But for those who still live with the contamination all around them, moving on is something they find impossible to do.

26/11 targeted a nation. 3/12, unfortunately, could manage only people.

Keywords: Bhopal tragedy, victims, Twenty-five years, Union Carbide factory, Bhopal Group for Information and Action, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers

Mahim Singh