National Human Rights Body issues notice to Madhya Pradesh, over malnutrition deaths

3 days ago | Published by : Renu Ratheesh

New Delhi, September 28: The National Human Rights Body issues notice to the state of Madhya Pradesh on account of the death of 116 children due to malnutrition in 5 months. The Madhya Pradesh Government led by Shivraj Singh Chouhan is being blamed for the dysfunction of the health department and corruption was alleged by the opposition.

A probable chief ministerial candidate of the Congress in the 2018 state elections, Scindia, has been targeting the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government quite regularly lately. “There seem to be large-scale corruption in providing ready-to-eat meals to children in remote villages. The officials were distributing cash relief to the villages, and that should be checked. Anganwadis do not exist and funds, running into crores of rupees allocated by the state to improve the health of malnourished kids, do not reach the poor and affected,” said Scindia.

The Gwalior royal family scion also informed the Union minister that surveys conducted by various central agencies in 106 villages of Madhya Pradesh found 461 cases of malnourishment in just five days. He said that many children had died of malnourishment in 2006 in Sheopur, but the state government did not learn a lesson from it. Scindia also alleged that in Sheopur 1,900 anganwadis were shown on paper, while only 62 exist. “There are no employment opportunities, so wife and husband have to travel long distances for work. The kids suffer the consequences of this,” he alleged.

Tags: #Madhya Pradesh, #malnutritiondeaths, #NationalHumanRightsBody, #notice