30 MINUTES SPECIAL
Font Size 
Biggest killer of Indian kids: poverty, ignorance
Published on Sun, Mar 30, 2008 at 00:09, Updated on Sun, Mar 30, 2008 at 03:59 in India section
Tags: 30 Minutes, Children , New Delhi
 |
Related Stories
Time for Mamata to walk the Budget talk 
- I have done everything for all the states: Mamata
- Mamata's Budget express chugs in with goodies
- NO INCREASE IN PASSENGER FARES, FREIGHT TARIFF
- Top bosses fly high as AI struggles to survive
- North Korea fires two more missiles again
- Lalu, Mamata are not on the same track
- Watch: Aam aadmi rates Rail Budget 2009
- Popular demands met, slew of sops in Rail Budget
- Sarah Palin to step down as Alaska governor: Report
Photogallery
 |  |
New Delhi: Over 6,000 children under the age of six die in our country everyday from hunger and malnutrition even though India claims to have the world's largest initiative for children under six but still ranks 94th out of 118 countries on the Global Hunger Index.
But why India's children dying of hunger when the country's food grain production is at an all time high.
Jaharunnissah is making her way to her son's grave. She lost her only son to hunger about two months ago. Four-year-old Khusbuddin was nothing but skin and bones and weighed a mere six-and-a-half kgs at the time of his death. His mother says there was never enough to eat.
"Woh kuposhan ka shikar tha usko main doodh dava poora nahin kar paati thi paise ke kaaran is vajay se uski maut ho gayi (He was malnourished. I could not give him milk and medicines due to lack of money. So he died)," Jaharunnissah laments.
Abandoned by her husband, Jaharunnissah is trying to stitch her life together. She has a daughter and an ailing mother to take care of but after an entire day's work of embroidering sarees she is paid a meager Rs 10-15. The poverty is just a constant reminder of the son she lost.
"Aaj agar mere bachhe ka ilaaj ho jaata to mera bachha bach jaata is baat ka mujhe dard rehta hain ki paise na hone ke kaaran aaj maine apne bachhe ko kho diya (I had money my son would have got the treatment and he would have been still alive. I feel very sad that I lost my son)," Jaharunnissah, trying to control her tears, says.
A few kilometers away, in another village near Varanasi, six-year-old Shamim is also battling malnutrition. Unlike other kids his age, he is neither playful nor talkative.
He has the symbolic bloated belly (Kwashiorkor) and a weak immune system that has led to further problems.
"Isko TB aur gurde mein kharabi hai. Haath per fool jata hai, saas phul jata hai (He is suffering from TB and his liver is also damaged. His hands and feet are swollen and he also complains of breathlessness)," Zohra, Shamim's mother, says.
Shamim's father Khursheed is a skilled handloom weaver but with the handloom industry in decline, he has been reduced to a casual laborer. Embroidering sarees is just not enough to make ends meet.
"Din bhar riyaz karenge toh 50 rupaye mil jaata hai usske upar nahi milta. aur ghar mein kharcha hai 150 ka toh usske baad karja hota hai, bhookmari hota hai, yehi saab hota hai, dawa nahi mil sakta hai, pehenne ko kapda nahi milta hai(We toil the entire day and get Rs 50 but our expenses are Rs 150 per day. So we have to take loan. Even after that we face hunger and cannot buy medicines. We don't even have proper cloths)," Khursheed says,
[ Single Page View ]
| Ads by Google |
| Related Ads: | |
URBANEYE
Read Comment | Post Comment
Bravo CNN_IBN team who took the pains to make this enlightening video! Now will the higher ups of CNN IBN
Read Comment
CAN ANYONE TELL ME HOW TO POST THIS VIDEO ON ORKUT. I WANT TO ASK HELP FROM MY FREINDS FOR
Read Comment
No politicians should talk about being a super power anymore.first give basic food to our poor.
Read Comment
Corruption rules and the result poor and undernourished children dies.We kill owr own future with bad practices its going on
Read Comment
I think every one know's the new proverb ' Rich people are getting richer & poor are geting poorer day
Read Comment
Read more comment »