Kol and Mawasi tribes of Satna MP die of hunger

Frontline  Volume 25 - Issue 22 :: Oct. 25-Nov. 07, 2008 DEPRIVATION Dying of hunger AJOY ASHIRWAD MAHAPRASHASTA in Satna Malnourished tribal children die because ICDS schemes are all but non-existent, and the government is in denial. PRAMOD PRADHAN  At Hardua village in Ucchera block of Satna district, a child with Grade 3 malnourishment and suffering from skin infection. THE final five kilometres to Ramnagar (Khokla), as the village is officially called, in Satna district of Madhya Pradesh has to be done on foot down a hill thick with shrubs and bushes. As we enter the village, eager eyes scan us for food or some other kind of livelihood support only to droop in disappointment once they learn that the wait has been in vain. The people of the Kol and Mawasi tribes who inhabit this village are a desperate lot: they have neither employment nor food, and their malnourished children are dying. In the past four months at least four children have died and those standing by the side of their elders had protruding stomachs, sunken eyes, wrinkled legs and slightly deformed heads, all symptoms of malnutrition.   more

Towards the ideal of a hunger-free India by M.S. Swaminathan

The Hindu, October 2, 2008

Achieving the goal of nutrition security for all Indians will need a fusion of political will and action, professional skill, and peoples’ participation.

“To a people famishing and idle, the only acceptable form in which God can dare appear is work and promise of food as wages.” These were the words of Mahatma Gandhi when he was healing the wounds arising from the Hindu-Muslim divide at Naokhali in 1946. He thus stressed the symbiotic bonds among work, income and food security. Eradication of hunger and poverty is also the first among the U.N. Millennium Development Goals (MDG), which in my view represent a global common minimum programme for human security and well-being.

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In 1981, Indira Gandhi suggested after meeting Vinoba Bhave at the Paunar Ashram in Wardha district that the district should be converted into a “Gandhi district,” since Gandhiji spent an important part of his life there. She asked me to chair a small group to prepare a blueprint to develop Wardha into “Gandhi district.”

Our first task was to develop a definition for a Gandhi district. We defined it as one where no one is below the poverty line and no one goes to bed hungry, not because of doles but because of opportunities for sustainable livelihoods. In other words, bread with human dignity was to be the hallmark of the proposed district.

At that time, over 80,000 families were below the poverty line and hence specific suggestions were given to raise all these families above the poverty level by creating opportunities for productive and remunerative work. Unfortunately, this plan to dedicate Wardha to Gandhiji is yet to be implemented. Even now, it will be worthwhile to update the report and transform Wardha into a hunger-free and poverty-free district dedicated to Gandhiji.  

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Malnutrition Kills Toddlers in Indonesia

Malnutrition Kills 21 Indonesia Toddlers
Malnutrition kills 21 toddlers in eastern Indonesia, thousands more at risk
JAKARTA, Indonesia June 12, 2008 (AP)
The Associated Press


U.N. warns that failed harvests and drought mean risk of another famine.



At least 21 toddlers have died of malnutrition in eastern Indonesia in recent months due to a food shortage that threatens the lives of thousands more children, a local health official said Thursday.

An additional 116 youngsters have been admitted to clinics and hospitals in critical condition, said Stephanus Bria Seran, who heads the health department in East Nusa Tenggara province.

"We urgently need medicine and nutritional foods to save the children," he said. "We are racing against time because they need nutritious food within 30 days if we want to save their lives."
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The food shortages have been caused by flooding and drought. Farmers fear the next harvest may also fail due to excessive rainfall and landslides.

Children's diets began lacking sufficient nutrients, causing diseases, hospitalizations and deaths over the past six months, he said.

In the same period, nearly 85,000 children have been registered as malnourished in the province, one of the country's least developed.

The figures show a sharp jump from the whole of 2007, when 10 toddlers died out of 68,000 registered as malnourished in the province.

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