*[Hunger Alert] INDIA: Three and a half-year-old boy may die from acute malnutrition*

22 October 2008
------------------------------------------------------
INDIA: Three and a half-year-old boy may die from acute malnutrition

ISSUES: Right to food; malnutrition; government neglect; corruption; caste
based discrimination
------------------------------------------------------

Dear friends,

*The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from a
local human rights organisation, the People's Vigilance Committee on Human
Rights (PVCHR) that Vishal, a three and a half-year-old boy, is suffering
from severe malnutrition. He was examined by an Auxiliary Nursing Mother
(ANM) and diagnosed as suffering from Grade IV malnourishment. The boy has
not received any medical treatment or supplementary nutritional assistance
and remains in a critical condition.*

*CASE DETAILS*:

Vishal is the youngest son of Gulam Nut. Vishal resides with his parents in
Kuwar Village of Baragaon block under Pindra Tahsil of Varanasi District in
Uttar Pradesh state. Vishal is three and a half years old and is suffering
from acute malnutrition. He has two sisters, Luxmina (eight years old) and
Gunja (six years old), and one brother Kirana (five years old).

On 27 August 2008 Vishal was taken to the Primary Health Centre at Badagaon
and was seen by the Auxiliary Nursing Mother (ANM) Ms. Sushila Devi. There
the ANM diagnosed Vishal is suffering from Grade IV malnourishment. Vishal
is only four kilograms in weight. Grade IV malnutrition is a life
threatening situation unless immediate medical care is made available to the
person. Vishal being young makes his condition even more vulnerable.

Vishal's family are from the Scheduled Caste, 'untouchable' within India and
have few means of livelihood. Vishal's mother, Santara Nut sells bombaiya,
a sweet dish, but this is not enough to provide two meals a day for the
whole family.

Gulam Nut has an Antyodaya ration card (red) under the Antyodaya Anna Yojana
(AAY) scheme that intents to provide food assistance. However, the supply of
food grains under this scheme is iregular and thus cannot be relied upon.
Ghulam is a landless labourer, work that is poorly paid, irregular and very
tough. This makes it difficult to buy food grain from the Public Food
Distribution Shop (PDS) even with the subsidised prices given under the AAY.

Vishal should be receiving immediate medical attention after being certified
severely malnourished by the ANM but he has so far received no additional
nutrition. The family are also entitled to receive emergency assistance of
INR 1,000 (USD 20) as mandated by the Chief Secretary of Uttar Pradesh but
they have not received this.

Vishal's health continues to seriously deteriorate and if he does not
receive treatment he may die.

*ADDITIONAL COMMENTS*:

The Anganwadi Centre (AWC) for Kuwar village is one and half kilometres away
so that there is no access to child care in the community. This prevents
younger children from receiving nutrition or immunisation. The AWC is
essential for delivering the government's Integrated Child Development
Services (ICDS) for children under six years old. Health workers have a key
role in helping poor children from becoming malnourished and other medical
problems at the village level. Under the ICDS the AWC workers should visit
the community regularly to carry out health checks and identify malnourished
children. These children should then be registered at the AWC and provided
nutrition and health care until the child's condition improves.

The continued economic poverty and malnutrition prevalent in the lower caste
community in Kuwar village (see previous
AHRC-HAC-003-2008)
is seen as resulting from their lack of land ownership. There is land of up
to 40 acres, but the upper caste (Thakur community) has sole possession:
Bachcha Singh, son of Vishwana Singh; Ramsamujh Singh, son of Prashad Singh;
Lal Bahadur Singh, son of Prashad Singh; Rajendra Singh, son of Uday Narayan
Singh; Jharkkhand Singh, son of Baijnath Singh.

The landless Nut have put their demands before a District Magistrate--SDM
Pindra, Varanasi district--a team from the child nutrition department, and
the Block Development Officer (BDO) Badagoan who visited Kuwar on 19 August
2008 where the BDO gave orders for assistance for problems such as
electricity, houses, old aged pensions, ration cards and a hand pump as it
is submerged in water. The place where the nut community have put-up their
houses is surrounded by water on three sides due to digging. The water is
reaching the houses and causing damage.

Like other marginalised lower caste families the Nut community in Kuwar is
also entitled for land allotment from the government. In fact on August 20
two persons came to measure the land in Kuwar. But under pressure from the
upper caste landlords who are illegally possessing government land they
refused to measure the entire area. The upper castes have also threatened to
kill anyone trying to claim the land and warning them to leave the village.

All of the Nut families in Kuwar village face a similar situation as
Vishal's family. Despite living in a rural area only a few are employed as
agricultural labourers and the rest have no proper livelihood and are often
forced to beg in order to survive.

*BACKGROUND INFORMATION*:

The upper caste members occupying the land that should be allocated to the
Dalit community should be charged according to The Scheduled Castes And The
Scheduled Tribes (Prevention Of Atrocities) Act, 1989, under Section 3(iv)
that states whoever 'wrongfully occupies or cultivates any land owned by, or
allotted to, or notified by any competent authority to be allotted to, a
member of a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe or gets the land allotted
to him transferred' shall be punished.

The United Nations (UN) International Covenant on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights (ICESCR) Article 11 includes the right of everyone to an
adequate standard of living, including adequate food.

The Global Hunger Index released by the International Food Policy Research
Institute ranks India as the world's 24th most malnourished country. The
World Health Organisation (WHO) defines severe acute malnutrition as
weighing less than 60 percent of the ideal median weight for height.

UNICEF states that 47 percent of young children in India are malnourished,
and up to a third of the world's undernourished children are from India,
with girls being more affected than boys.

Please also see the AHRC's previous hunger alerts:
AHRC-HAG-004-2008;
AHRC-HAG-003-2008 ;
AHRC-HAU-001-2008 ;
AHRC-HAC-008-2008 ;
AHRC-HAC-007-2008 ;
AHRC-HAC-006-2008 ;
AHRC-HAC-005-2008 ;
AHRC-HAG-002-2008 .

*SUGGESTED ACTION*:
Please write to the authorities listed below and help Vishal and his
community from starvation. It must be ensured that Vishal receives immediate
medical attention. Please also ask the relevant authorities to tackle the
problem of land allocation to help this Dalit community.

The AHRC has written a separate letter to the Special Rapporteur on the
right to food calling for an intervention in this case.

To support this appeal, please click here:


*SAMPLE LETTER*:

Dear __________,

*INDIA: Three and half year old Vishal suffering from grade IV malnutrition
must be saved*

*Name of victim*:
Vishal, son of Gulam Nut, resident at Kuwar village, Badagaon Block,
Phoolpur Police Station, Pindra Tahsil, Varanasi district, Uttar Pradesh
*Name of alleged perpetrators*:
1. Bachcha Singh, son of Vishwana Singh
2. Ramsamujh Singh, son of Prashad Singh
3. Lal Bahadur Singh, son of Prashad Singh
4. Rajendra Singh, son of Uday Narayan Singh
5. Jharkkhand Singh, son of Baijnath Singh
*Place of incident*: Kuwar village, Badagaon Block, Phoolpur Police Station,
Pindra Tahsil, Varanasi district, Uttar Pradesh
*Date of incident*: 27 August 2008

I am writing to request your immediate attention concerning the condition of
three and half year old Vishal who may die from acute malnutrition. Vishal,
currently staying at Kuwar village despite being taken to the Primary Health
Centre, in Badagaon on the 27 August 2008 has still not received any medical
attention. At the centre Vishal was diagnosed as suffering from Grade IV
malnutrition.

I am informed that Vishal was examined by an Auxiliary Nursing Mother (ANM),
Ms. Sushila Devi. In addition to being denied proper treatment Vishal's
family is also denied the emergency assistance of INR 1,000 (USD 20) as
ensured by the Chief Secretary of Uttar Pradesh.

I am aware that Vishal is a member of a family of six that are unable to
secure two meals a day as they are poor, marginalised and Scheduled Caste.
Gulam, Vishal's father is a landless labourer but caste practices
discriminates him from receiving proper wages. In addition his work is
extremely tough and irregular. Gulam's wife, Santara, is able to sell
bombaiya (a sweet dish) but this is not enough to feed the whole family.

I am told that Vishal's economic hardship comes from their failure to
receive land allocated by the government as the upper caste remain in
possession of the land intended to be allotted to lower caste families like
that of Vishal. I am also informed that the upper caste landlords prevented
the allotment of government land to the lower caste in the village. I am
further informed that the upper caste even prevented the land from being
measured. The behaviour of the upper caste towards the Nut Dalit community
in Kuwar village contravenes The Scheduled Castes and The Scheduled Tribes
(Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, Section 3(iv).

I am informed that even though Vishal's father, Gulam hold a Antyodaya
ration card (red) under the Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) scheme, he is unable
to afford the cost of the subsidised food grains. Furthermore, health
workers at the Anganwadi Centre (AWC) are meant to carry out community
health checks to identify malnourished children and ensure they are provided
with nutrition and health care. However, this has not happened in Vishal's
case.

I urge you to act to ensure that Vishal receive immediate the medical
attention that he needs in order to prevent his health deteriorating
further. He remains in a critical state of severe malnutrition and needs
immediate assistance. Further, I ask you to investigate into the upper caste
discrimination and power that is preventing the land allocation to this
Scheduled Caste community in Kuwar village.

Yours sincerely,

----------------

*PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO*:

1. Ms. Mayawati
Chief Minister
Chief Minister's Secretariat
Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh
INDIA
Fax: +91 522 2230002 / 2239234
E-mail: c...@up.nic.in

2. District Magistrate
Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh
INDIA
Fax: 91 5422501450

3. Minister of Women & Child Development
Government of India
Shastri Bhavan
New Delhi
INDIA
Fax + 91 11 23074054
E-mail: min-...@nic.inm

4. Director
Department of Women Welfare & Child Development
Government of Uttar Pradesh
Jawahar Bhawan, Ashok Marg
Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh
INDIA
Fax: +91 522 228 6140

5. Dr. Anbumani Ramadoss
Minister of Ministry of Health & Family Welfare
Nirman Bhavan
Maulana Azad Road
New Delhi - 110011
INDIA
Fax: +91 11 2306 1751
E-mail: h...@alpha.nic.in

6. Ms. Selja
Minister of State for Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation
Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (M/o HUPA)
Nirman Bhavan, Maulana Azad Road
New Delhi - 110011
INDIA
Fax: + 91 11 23061780
E-mail: kumari.se...@nic.in

7. UNICEF
73 Lodi Estates
New Delhi 110 003
INDIA
Fax: + 91 11 2462 7521 / 11 2469-1410
E-mail: newde...@unicef.org

Thank you.