20 Feb. 2011
In the last eight months deaths of 16 children below six years of age from Mumbai’s Rafiq Nagar slums in itself speaks the magnitude of abject poverty and apathy of the government towards acute malnutrition problems. The children of this area do not have any access to food which is distributed through Public Distribution System as their parents do not have ration cards. Poor sanitation aggravates the problem from bad to worse. Of the total 7.3 lakhs slum children more than 40 to 50 percent children are malnourished. Central government and civic officials visited the area only after it was reported in media. Maharashtra chief minister and women and child development minister did not reply to the calls or the messages made by media. Vinita Jadav, civic medical health officer, who is in charge of the slum, agreed that there had been deaths due to malnutrition but rejected the death toll given by the media.
In the last eight months deaths of 16 children below six years of age from Mumbai’s Rafiq Nagar slums in itself speaks the magnitude of abject poverty and apathy of the government towards acute malnutrition problems. The children of this area do not have any access to food which is distributed through Public Distribution System as their parents do not have ration cards. Poor sanitation aggravates the problem from bad to worse. Of the total 7.3 lakhs slum children more than 40 to 50 percent children are malnourished. Central government and civic officials visited the area only after it was reported in media. Maharashtra chief minister and women and child development minister did not reply to the calls or the messages made by media. Vinita Jadav, civic medical health officer, who is in charge of the slum, agreed that there had been deaths due to malnutrition but rejected the death toll given by the media.
