Mumbai: A Malnourished Mayanagri With Over 16,000 Children Affected

Mumbai and malnutrition are rarely, if ever, spoken in the same sentence. The popular perception is that the city, with a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of an eye-popping US $140 billion and more than 90 billionaires, cannot have something as backward as malnutrition. For years, the spectre of malnutrition among children up to six years of age, which is a determinant of their physical and mental growth, was seen to be concentrated in the tribal areas of Palghar, about 100 kilometres from Mumbai. When the Human Development Index for the city was first undertaken and the HDI report presented in 2009, the only time that the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) decided to micro-map the socio-economic realities across the city, malnutrition and life expectancy in certain areas, such as the near-forgotten M-East ward, were found to be higher and lower, respectively, than in the under-developed states of India like Bihar and Chhattisgarh.

It now transpires that malnutrition is still lurking around, a blot on the BMC and the state government that has come to control so much in the city in the intervening years. The data from the Integrated Child Development Services, gleaned through its nutrition tracker, showed that nearly 7 per cent of children, presumably from the lower class and less-serviced areas like the M-East ward, are malnourished. That, in absolute numbers, is 16,344 children. Of these, 1,159 were in the severely malnourished category and 3,096 in the moderately malnourished category. This reflects, once again, not the economic prowess or consumption power in Mumbai, where one uber-luxe meal can cost upwards of Rs 1 lakh per person, but the inadequate system of food distribution and the efficacy of government schemes, such as the ICDS.

This is about making basic food available in the city to its poorest, ensuring that the most vulnerable children have access to nutritious food every day. The BMC now plans to set up Urban Child Development Centres to provide better care for the affected children, and Mumbai guardian minister, BJP’s Ashish Shelar, has demanded urgent action. Such episodic responses are not likely to make much of a dent. Tackling malnutrition calls for a considered and long-term approach that combines food access with affordable general healthcare for children and their mothers, well-paid Anganwadi workers who have to ensure all this, and a commitment from the topmost echelons of power to eliminate malnutrition.