MUMBAI, July 04, 2004
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
S BALAKRISHNAN

One of India's most prosperous states has revealed a horrifying underbelly. More than 9,000 tribal children below the age of six have died of malnourishment-related causes in 15 districts of Maharashtra in about a year.

Government statistics released on Monday acknowledged the deaths in these areas, some close to the country's ritziest metropolis, Mumbai, occurred between April 2003 and May this year. Between April and May this year alone, 1,041 children have died. The toll until April was 7,970. The state's top health official said, however, all the deaths were not related to malnutrition. "There are a variety of factors, including low birth weight, jaundice, convulsions, hypothermia and premature delivery," said state's director, health services, Dr Subhash Salunke.

These figures have emerged out of a survey conducted by the government to map the extent of the problem. In April-May '04, 807 children have died in the five districts of Thane, Nashik, Amravati, Nandurbar and Gadchiroli alone.

Dr Salunke sought to downplay the shocking statistics by observing the number who have died form less than 2% of the tribal child population. He said the government was tackling the "socio-economic component" of the problem by treating adolescent anaemia and other factors. According to Unicef figures, about 2.3 million children under the age of five die annually in India, half of these deaths due to malnutrition. A rough calculation shows Dr Salunke's figure for Maharashtra's tribal children is roughly seventeen times the national average