How many more deaths before we learn...?

With fresh reports of starvation deaths from rural Maharashtra, UP, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, the globalised myths of top heavy development are rapidly crumbling, reports Deeptiman Tiwary

Whose Childhood? Hunger stalks children in Nandurbar and Melghat in Maharashtra Photos Sunil Khandare

In a country that feeds much of its food grains to rats in its overflowing food godowns, 10,000 die of hunger every day, as a survey has claimed. Increasing poverty and a development model totally divorced from the needs of the poor has driven the rural mass to the brink of starvation. While the government keeps denying this, reports after reports from India’s hinterland show an increase in the number of starvation deaths every year.

Recently, there have been a series of reports on hunger deaths in various places, including Nandurbar (Maharashtra), Sonebhadra (UP), Shivpuri (Madhya Pradesh), and Baran (Rajasthan), as it happened last year. In Nandurbar, a report Maranatach He Jag Jagate was recently prepared by Punarvasan Sangharsh Samiti (PSS). This report is based on information obtained under the Right to Information Act, and a survey conducted by PSS in 22 villages of the Akalkuwa Block of Nandurbar district.

A huge discrepancy was found between the situation on the ground, revealed by the PSS survey, and government records. Of the 1,148 children surveyed by PSS in June this year, 104 were found to be malnourished, but government records show only 17 cases of malnourishment. Almost 75 percent of the women surveyed were seriously underweight. The report proves the cycle of undernutrition, which gets transmitted from weak mothers to undernourished children.

Chirauji Devi of Sonebhadra, Uttar Pradesh, died of starvation as nothing had been cooked in her home for 14 days. Looking after a sick husband, a handicapped son and his wife and four grandchildren, Chirauji Devi worked under the Food For Work programme. But her wages were never paid. This and other cases of starvation deaths in UP were heard at the Indian People’s Tribunal (ipt) meeting held in Varanasi on September 30, 2005.

Do We Deserve This? Mother and child in a Maharashtra village

In August this year, 48 deaths were reported from 40 villages in Baran district in Rajasthan. Half the victims were children. Causes of these deaths: chronic undernutrition, absence of healthcare and poor hygiene

A recent report by historian Uma Chakravarti of Delhi University presents a grim account of the predicament of 160 Sahariya families in Majhera village, Shivpuri district, in Madhya Pradesh. Adult men in Majhera work in hazardous stone quarries, and there is high prevalence of tuberculosis in the village. Recently, the quarries were shut on the grounds that they destroy the environment. This forced the Sahariyas to retreat to the depleted forests for survival. Deaths were reported from eating poisonous herbs and leaves. The village has a large number of widows who are forced to resort to the liquor trade for a living. No widow pensions or maternity benefits were available to these women. The fair price shop has been distributing rice to the Antyodaya Anna Yojana cardholders at twice the stipulated price (Rs. 6 per kg).

A six-member team from the Institute of Development Studies, (IDSJ) Jaipur, and Bharat Gyan Vigyan Samiti (BGVS), recently visited Baran district in Rajasthan to investigate deaths reported in the local press due to hunger, undernutrition and illness. In August this year, 48 deaths were reported from 40 villages. Half of the victims were children. The team visited six villages and investigated various causes of these deaths: chronic undernutrition, inadequate vaccination, absence of emergency healthcare and poor hygiene, among others. The team, however, found some signs of positive change since last year. For instance, the pds was functional and employment programmes have protected some families from hunger. But chronic energy deficiency and lack of a balanced diet remain widespread.

As renowned political scientist Prof C. Douglas Lummis put it during his lecture in Delhi recently, at the unveiling of a report on the state of food security in adivasi areas of India by Centre for Environment and Food Security (CEFS), the main reason behind increasing number of starvation deaths and the miserable state of food security among the poor is our skewed understanding of development. “The problem is we depend too much on this word called ‘development’ without understanding what it is. It is a very deceptive word. It is just a metaphor. It makes facts like poverty, starvation and forced labour forgettable.

“They say with development the poor will catch up. My question is when will this catching up begin. The gap between the rich and the poor is only getting wider and wider. Actual development is the non-violative progress of people where the one going through the process of development is grateful to have developed,” he said. He also critcised the Western outlook towards ‘underdeveloped’ countries and the policies of ‘liberalisation’ and ‘globalisation’. He said, “Another myth about development is that where there is poverty, people are underdeveloped and through the process of development it can be done away with. This is exactly what you call ‘Modernisation of Poverty’.”