With the malaise of malnourishment turning into a spectre haunting the poor in Uttar Pradesh, new-borns being the worst hit, one suspects the “youngest India by 2020” statistics is only taking stock of urban demographics.
Gorakhpur might have taken centrestage recently when it became the horrific site of a mass grave for children, babies, new-borns as young as ten days. But in the area, these deaths are counted among the usual.
According to the World Health Organization report of 2016, 35.7% of children in the age group of 0-5 years in India are malnourished. Of that, Uttar Pradesh occupies the top spot – at 46.3% of malnourished children in that age group, it is unarguably the state with the highest number. As local Bundelis would tell you, tongue-firmly-in-cheek, “Chalo, kisi mein toh number one hua UP (Oh come on, at least UP is number one in something).”
But sarcasm doesn’t abet the problem or the pain.
In fact, if you were Hema, it would be irrelevant. A resident of Ladhpur village in Jaitpur block of Mahoba, a district in Bundelkhand, she is visibly upset. One look at her new-born baby will tell you why. Hema complains that her three-month-old daughter is always running a high fever; plus, she’s suffering from constant diarrhoea and vomiting. “Every hour, she’s either vomiting or crapping” – clear indications of a severe malnourishment that has resulted in a dehydration very close to dangerous levels. A biscuit or two is all she’s been able to feed her for days. “We have had no support from the aanganwadis”, she says.
Anita echoes the sentiment but is more forthcoming with information, which she has very little. Her son Piyush was born underweight, but she is not sure what to make of her child’s “bahut zyaada kamzori (extreme weakness)”. Her husband tries to helpfully add, “An aanganwadi worker came to check on him, but we were not given any help or information.”
The lack of information is as severe as the problem itself. One intensifies the other in a lethal chicken-and-egg situation.