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| Maharashtra's horror |
| Maharashtra's horror: Food for starving children siphoned off, sold as feed for livestock
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| INDIA
, 8-June-2012
0:54:10 AM |
| It is tale of shame from Maharashtra's Thane district. An NDTV investigation has found that nutrition supplements meant for malnourished children in anganwadis is being siphoned off by middlemen, allegedly in connivance with government officials. The supplements are then sold to poultry and dairy farms as feed for livestock.
A hidden-camera investigation uncovered this nexus in Vikramgadh taluka in Thane district. Activists say that this malpractice is not just limited to Thane but spread across the state. "There is no community control. It is only a systemic control which is apathetic towards the whole issue because it's not their children who are malnourished. It is the alienation of the entire bureaucracy from the poor is another issue which is affecting all the schemes for food, whether it is PDS (public distribtion scheme) or ICDS (Integrated Child Development Services), " said Lina Joshi, the former Director of an NGO, Apnalaya.
An NDTV team posed as potential buyers and approached middleman Yashwant Thakre. Once the NDTV team gained his confidence he showed the team empty packets of the supplements. The contents of the packets had been emptied into larger gunny bags and stored at his house. Mr Thakre told this NDTV team, "This comes from the government talukas. The supply that comes to the taluka, we get hold of with a little bit of adjustment. This belongs to the government. You cannot sell it outside."
The supplements are sent to anganwadis to ensure that children from economically weaker sections of the population get enough basic nutrition. But due to an absence of proper monitoring, middlemen like Mr Thakre siphon it off to make a quick buck, and deny the children what is rightfully theirs.
According the Maharashtra government's figures, 1,17,493 children have died in the last four years due to malnutrition in state. In 2011-12 alone, 21,533 children have died due to malnutrition.
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