People's Democracy
(Weekly Organ of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)
No. 28
July 14, 2013
|
Vol. XXXVII
No. 28 July 14, 2013 |
Kerala
- Sharing a National
Shame
M B Rajesh
KERALA is widely
known for its spectacular
achievement in human development which is even comparable to
the most advanced
capitalist countries. Low infant mortality is an important
feature of this high
human development. However
it is
disturbing to note that a reversal of this trend has already
set in motion in
the state. Continuing
malnutrition
deaths among tribal children in Attapady area of Palakkad
district is an
indication of changing trends.
With more than 40
percent ST population,
Attapady is one of the important tribal belts in the state. The region has
seen an alarming rise in the
malnutrition deaths in the recent period.
In the last three months alone, 21 infant deaths
occurred in Attapady
and in the last one and half years, 53 children died due to
malnutrition. When
malnutrition deaths were reported in the
first week of April the state government dismissed those
reports as a
politically motivated attempt to defame them.
When I raised this issue after visiting Attapady and
wrote a letter to
the chief minister seeking his urgent intervention, he even
declined to
respond. On the
other hand, the District
Medical Officer prepared a report which went to the extent
that those infant
deaths were not because of malnutrition but because of their
inability to
absorb nutrition! This
callousness on
the part of the government sparked widespread outrage and
protests. When
the government declined to intervene,
the DYFI and the CPI(M) organised massive relief work to
help tribal people in
their distress situation.
In a period of
less than one week, the DYFI district committee collected
7500 Kg of rice and
1500 kg of pulses and distributed it to the affected people. Subsequently the
CPI(M) district committee
distributed 30 tonnes of rice and five tonnes
of pulses in the region. By this
time, the government was forced to accept the fact that high
levels of
malnutrition prevails in Attapady. Two
ministers, including the one for ST welfare was sent to
Attapady where they had
to face the heat of people’s anger. The
ministers went back and on the basis of their report, a
package was announced
which contained a plethora of promises.
Thereafter, another package was announced by Jairam
Ramesh, union
minister for rural development who visited the region in the
first week of
June. However,
despite the raining of
promises by both the central and state governments, nothing
was translated into
action. As a
result, deaths of children
due to malnutrition continues to happen.
GRIM
SITUATION
Various
studies have found that an extremely grim situation is
prevailing in
Attapady. An
expert group of eminent
doctors led by former vice chancellor of Kerala University
Dr B Iqbal has found
that the average weight of children who died was between
600-800 grams! The
report also says that out of 100 children
they had examined, all were anemic and malnourished. The
UNICEF investigation
report has also arrived at similar findings.
According to the report, anemia in pregnant women and
inadequate
nutrition are the main causes for the tragedy.
UNICEF team, headed by health specialist Vandana P
Bhatia, has pointed
out that out of 39 cases of infant deaths, all had reported
pre-term low birth
weight. All
these findings established
beyond doubt that this area is under the clutches of extreme
malnourishment.
The root of the
problem lies at the
dispossession of tribals from their land and the resultant
loss of
livelihood. When
they were sowing a
piece of land, they used to cultivate millets and pulses
which helped them to
attain minimum levels of nutrition.
Thrown out of their land, the tribal population are
now totally
dependent on the public distribution system for their
subsistence. The irony is
that, the central government policy of reducing food subsidy
and targeting of
PDS has excluded almost one third of tribal population in
Attapady from the BPL
category. When
I took up this issue with
the CM, though the government had agreed to provide the BPL
benefits to all
tribal households in Attapady, that has not yet
materialised. The
government’s announcements still remain
in paper and it has not yet allocated required quantity of
food grains to
ensure sufficient supply.
Even those who
are in the BPL list are getting only 28 kgs of food grains a
month instead of
35 kgs which they were getting during the tenure of the LDF
government. This
shows the utter lack of concern the UDF
has towards the tribals.
BREAKDOWN
OF ICDS
Thirdly the neglect
and failure of the UDF
government in the implementation of various schemes meant
for the welfare of
tribals is a major reason for the present fiasco. The
breakdown of ICDS is
evident from the pathetic condition of 172 anganwadis in the
area. Even the
basic minimum facilities are absent in these anganwadis. The norm of one
supervisor for every 25
anganwadis was also not followed in Attapady.
Steps in this regard were taken only recently. The
UDF government was
heartless to the extent that they even snatched away the
nourishments given to
small children through anganwadis, when they stopped the
provision of milk, egg
and bananas, implemented by the previous LDF government. As the reports of
malnutrition deaths came,
there was an uproar over the issue and the government
assured that the scheme
will be reinstated. What
the government
did was that to ask poor and underpaid anganwadi teachers to
buy milk, egg etc,
from their pocket and later get reimbursed from the
government. Can
anganwadi teachers, who are struggling
to make two ends meet, pay for milk etc and make it
available to tribal
children? The present government even assigned the task of
food supply for
anganwadis to private contractors leading to large scale
malpractices. This
collapse of ICDS has also ruined the
nutrition programme for pregnant women and adolescent girls. A nutrition
programme called ‘Safala’
initiated by the LDF government was not implemented in
Attapady by the UDF
government. Further,
this government
reduced the quantity of nutrition kits distributed in the
area by half.
Fourthly, the
weakening of public health care
system has denied the tribal population the much needed
medical care especially
for pregnant women and new born babies.
The UNICEF report has pointed out lack of medical
facilities and trained
medical personnel as a cause for a large number of infant
deaths. A
And lastly, the
plight of tribals was further
worsened with the MGNREGS coming to a standstill in Attapady
due to
unjustifiable delay in the payment of wages.
The district vigilance and monitoring committee had
estimated Rs 28
lakhs as dues in wages to the poor tribals of Attapady. The stopping of
MGNREGS deprived the tribals
of their only source of income and pushed them towards near
starvation. The
wage dues were settled only in May, after much hue and cry.
FLAWED
POLICIES
A careful analysis
of the ground reality, a close
look into the experiences, a detailed study of various
reports and data will
lead us to the conclusion that this devastation was caused
by the flawed
policies and failed promises.
As
described by Dr B Iqbal, what is happening in Attapady is a
process of silent
genocide of tribal people.
Unless and
until these devastating policies are defeated and reversed,
this dangerous
trend of mass infant deaths due to malnutrition cannot be
arrested. Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh had to confess a few months back
that malnutrition
deaths are a national shame. Kerala, a state always
appreciated for showing the
way for the whole country in social progress and human
development, is now
sharing the national shame of malnutrition deaths! This is the
consequence of pursuance of same
neo-liberal policies by both the central and state
governments. The alternative
policies of the former LDF government have now been replaced
by the UDF
policies at the cost of Kerala’s much acclaimed human
development. There is no
other option left but to unleash wider struggles against
these ruinous
policies.
