This Great Indian Tale of Alimentation will make you #Vote4Children

Picture Source: ibnlive.in.com

The last time I was home, I fought a battle every morning – a battle between those few extra minutes of sleep and the loud, shrill noises of hammers, drills and other cacophonous machines early in the morning. Some renovation work barely 20m away from my place had been stealing that precious morning peace. Irritated, I would get up, turn to the window, curse the unnamed and then go back to bed. This had become kind of a routine. But then some days, I would actually LOOK.

Through the cloud of thick brick dust you could see two girls playing in the heaps of sand until they were shouted upon by a lady-worker. For some reason unknown, they caught my eye.

So walking past the site, I observed them closely one fine morning. Covered in an old donated over-sized frock, the younger one was hanging playfully on the “Karya Pragati pe hai” (Construction in Progress) sign while the other was making sure she doesn’t fall.

“Biscuit khaaoge?” I asked with an involuntary smile.

The little one looked at her exhausted counterpart as if seeking her approval. She was short, petite with an observable pot-belly beneath her clothes. The hay-like growth on her head was haphazardly combed. She came over to me hesitantly, grabbed both packets and ran to hide behind the elder one.

“Ye tumhari behen hai?”     

                                                                             

Itching her dry, dull brown flaky skin, the latter nodded and turned her sunken eyes to the biscuits. She had hair that was sparse, dirty brown and bones prominent enough to study Anatomy on. She looked ill, weak and tired.

The poor health among children like these requires no expert diagnosis. For a country boasting of possessing limitless potential owing to its 40% population being children, the present scenario is a disgrace.

It is estimated that 1.83 million Indian children die every year before the age of 5, most of them related to malnutrition. Some of the following unfortunate figures released by the National Family Health Survey (2005-06) reflect the sad set-up of our Health-care:

• ·         Out of children under the age of 5, 42.5% are underweight and 48% stunted due to chronic under-nutrition
• ·         79% are Anemic
• ·         5.7% suffer from eye signs of Vitamin A Deficiency – the most common cause of preventable blindness.

The statistics themselves tell the tale of the disaster we are heading to.

Despite the various development programs and schemes launched by the Government, we still have a long way to go before we reach the targets under the first United Nations Millennium Development Goals. Malnourishment jeopardizes children’s health, development and survival slowing down the overall national progress. It is an ominous threat to our present and future which needs to be taken care of with optimal attention.

The need of the hour is to build a system that'll fortify our little angels for they hold the vision to a prosperous India that we have been dreaming of since August 15th, 1947.

This post is a part of the #Vote4Children Blog-a-thon on Youth Ki Awaaz. Find out more at: http://www.youthkiawaaz.com/vote4children