Maharashtra Government Lies About Malnourishment in Mumbai

Medha Patkar, today, addressed the press for a conference on the cases of malnutrition found among the displaced people of Mandala, Mankhurd.

The residents of Mankhurd have been on Dharna at Azad Maidan for more than a month now. Medha Patkar emphasized the point that evicting people out of their homes not only rendered people homeless but gave rise to myriad other problems like the health of children. The government continues to deny the existence of malnutrition in Mumbai.

As the people from the slums and poor localities, continue their battles for shelter to livelihood, it's not very startling yet shocking to note that even the more basic needs of food and water are not fulfilled, in the case of these populations forming about 55% of Mumbai population. The cases of malnutrition came up for hospitalization and immediate treatment, are proving the same. It is more shocking and painful that however, why treatment, even attention to an honest view of such a serious, problem is being denied to the children and their families by the concerned department and ministry who should have jumped into action, thanking the non-governmental organizations, by now.

Instead, its serious and objectionable that both the concerned Minister for Health, Smt. Vimal Mundada and the team sent by the Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission observed and declared that there was no case of malnourishment among the children in Mumbai as reported in certain section of media.

A clear indictment of the inaccuracy of their statement is provided by official documents and data where 15 ICDS projects(with about 100 anganwadis in each resulting in a total of over 1500 anganwadis.) i.e 1,50,000 children population are shown to have 67,210 children out of the 1,27,417 children weighed, falling under the malnourished category. (Grade 1 to Grade 4, on the basis of their nutritional status). This is a shocking 52.75% which is comparable only to the adivasi areas in India. Comparing with April 2005 data, we find that there has been an increase in 2.7% of malnourished children in a year.

The ICDS project, funded by the World Bank has failed to improve the status, obviously with no control over other factors related to deprivation of all basic amenities and problem of livelihood and worsened by eviction and anti-poor policies of the government.

The World Bank's trumpeted objectives, which aim to decrease the incidence of child disease, starvation and death, remain a paper exercise.

This is not at all questionable, as the Ministers and CM should know, since even the Finance Minister of India accepted in his last (2005) budget speech before the nation that percentage of malnourishment is not less than 47%. When situation is worse in the financial capital of India, the message is clear: there is no link between the financial or economic growth and the social indicators. This is how our country stands below the 130th rank on Human Development Index in spite of being 4th on the wealth related indicators.

One feels the anguish to note that the power holders busy in diverting land, water and all resources to the corporations who are growing and shining (not whole of India), whether in the rural or in urban India, (removing urban land ceiling act, evicting slums and hawkers, handing over huge chunks of land for SEZ and others), the livelihood crisis is worsening not getting resolved. In Mumbai, for example, thousands of families and their children are without shelter, without nutrition, without water. The anemic mothers and jobless fathers can just not take care of the children.

They, especially the no-earners or low-earners can't even afford to go to the deteriorated government hospitals where too you have to spend money at each step nor the profit making private dispensaries. With no plan to go, can they even be self reliant?

The PDS service with 'Antyodaya' is already infested with corruption (every ration card costs 3500 for the poor, while only 15 Rs. for the middle class and except kerosene, grains are mostly not available, as for the citizens-voters of Mandala and other slums in Govandi - Mankhurd area. They are also considered to be not eligible for water or sanitation, applying cut-off date of 1995, as if, all those who have come after 1995 are neither citizens nor humans.

This is absolutely against the Slum Areas Act of Maharashtra, 1971 as also against the letter and spirit of the National Slum Development Programme (NSDP) introduced in 1996-97 for up gradation of urban slums through provision of basic amenities. The critical review of the Govt. of Maharashtra performance in this regard comes from the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India's Report for the year ending March 2005 which makes one realize the lack of political will and distorted priorities exhibited by the Govt. of Maharashtra.

The CAG report brings out that while Mumbai with 52-60% of state's slum population got 76.43% of NSDP funds. However at the State level from 2001 till 2005, 85 to 65 crores of funds remain unutilized! The height of callousness and misplaced visions of development can't be better indicated than by what CAG states!

The CAG's report also passes a stricture, saying while there is no cut-off date specified in either NSDP or in Maharashtra Slum Act, the GoM applied 1995 as the cut-off date also for provision of basic amenities. No elected representatives have ever debated these serious problems in the legislatures or in the constituencies.

The poor people in Mumbai must recognize this as deprivation and destitution imposed upon the very working classes who are needed for all hard work, building metros to megalopolis and yet are not provided for their minimum basic needs and challenge the perverted politics proving to be of no help, no support but looking and exploiting their lab our, their rights, their future.

The struggle by the brutally evicted slum dwellers is on, at Azad Maidan since 17th May in this context and neither the CM, who is Minister for urban Development nor the Mumbai Pradesh Congress Committee or even Margaret Alva, in charge of implementing the CPM of UPA, could do any justice,

The agitation continues (even when the monsoon and floods are at the door step for sure) with the following demands:
Right to shelter and land for the purpose
All services-ICDS, water, sanitation to all slums with no cut-off date.
Employment guarantee act applicable to the urban poor, along with the rural poor.

We will fight the battle on the streets in the court of law for right to food to life which is violated. We also demand an immediate intervention by the concerned ministers to the PM who have shown a green signal to Metro, a non-priority but only a red signal to the self-reliant working poor.

Members of the National Alliance of People’s Movements represented by Medha Patkar, Mukta Srivastava, Simpreet Singh

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Posted by collective at June 25, 2006 12:06 AM