Thousands worship Indian infant

15 November 2006

KOLKATA: Thousands of people are flocking an Indian village to worship a baby girl born with rare tumours as they believe she is a reincarnation of Durga, the multi-armed Hindu mother goddess, police said.

The tumours on the infant, born in a village in the eastern state of Bihar a few weeks ago, looked like extra limbs, drawing locals from around the region with gifts of fruits and flowers, they said.

"People believe the girl is their deliverer, but experts say it is a case of congenital defect," said Amit Jain, a senior Bihar police officer.

Durga is worshipped by millions of Hindus.

Scoop, New Zealand

India flunks UNESCO test in child education

Toufiq Rashid, Indian Express,October 26, 2006

NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 25: While the Sachar Committee report highlighted the worsening education indices for the Muslim community in India, a Unesco report released in Paris has more bad news for the education sector in the country.

The report gives India minus points (-1.7) in reducing the number of illiterates among adults above the age of 15 years in the country. According to the Education For All (EFA) Global Monitoring report, while India had 27,30,66,000 illiterates in 1990, the number marginally reduced to 26,84,26,000 in 2004. This number is the highest in the world. This despite increasing literacy rate from 49.3% in 1990 to 61% in 2004.

India figures along with three other countries — Ethiopia, Nigeria and Pakistan — which account for a significant proportion of the world’s out-of-school children. The report says the children comprise child labour; children who cannot afford school fees; hard-to-reach groups such as those living in small settlements or remote areas where no schooling is available; children of migrant families; children in coastal fishing communities; those with special needs; Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe children; urban deprived children; and children from minority groups (read mostly Muslims).

India also tops in terms of gender disparity in education — for every 100 out-of-school boys, there are 136 girls. The numbers are comparable to Arab states (134), South and West Asia (129), Benin (136). Only Yemen (184) and Iraq (176) are worse than India.

On the EFA development index, the report gives India a score of 0.7. While 90 per cent children get enrolled in primary schools, only 79 per cent study till Class V. Only 71 per cent of these children enroll for lower secondary and 40 per cent for upper secondary. For tertiary education, the percentage enrollment is just 12.

Referring to a survey commissioned by the Government of India in 2005 (Social and Rural Research Institute), the report says a nationwide survey showed that 13.5 million children were out of school. The percentage for the 6-13 age-group was nearly 7 and for the 6-10 age-group, 6.1.

The analysis focuses on results for the 6-13 age group, in line with the practice by the Centre and state governments in India. The highlights are:

• The 7% rate of out-of-school children reflects 6.2% for boys and 7.9% for girls

• The 7.8% rate in rural areas is significantly higher than 4.3% in urban areas

• In urban areas the rates for boys and girls are similar while in rural areas they are 6.8% and 9.1%, respectively

• The variations across social groups were much larger than those across gender and place of residence — 10.0% for Muslims, 9.5% for Scheduled Tribes, 8.2% for Scheduled Castes, 6.9% for Other Backward Castes and 3.7% for the remaining social groups

• Among the states, the rates are highest in Bihar (17%), Jharkhand (10.9%), Assam (8.9%), West Bengal (8.7%), Madhya Pradesh (8.6%), Uttar Pradesh (8.2%) and Rajasthan (6.9%)

• By contrast, in the south, some states appear to have virtually achieved universal schooling for the age-group — Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu record out-of-school rates between 0.5% and 2.1%

• Surprisingly, the number of SC and Muslim boys who are out of school are higher than those for girls. This is not the case for Other Backward Castes or STs

The only positive remark is about the India’s Open Basic Education (OBE) programme of the 1990s, which has targeted neo-literates who have successfully completed literacy and post-literacy programmes.

India ranks 3rd from bottom of the world on malnourished kids

Sonu Jain, Indian Express,October 14, 2006

NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 13: Yet another report confirms India’s losing battle against hunger. In the Global Hunger Index, India ranks 117th for the prevalence of underweight children. Only Bangladesh and Nepal are worse-off.

Overall, India is ranked 96th out of 119 countries covered by the index, which doesn’t paint a rosy picture per se. But India comes off far worse in its record for malnutrition in children, as measured by body weight.

The proportion of children found underweight in India, according to the latest figures is 47.5 per cent, which makes it worse than conflict-plagued, drought-stricken Sub-Saharan Africa, where the figure is some 30 per cent on average. India’s figure is also worse than that of individual Sub-Saharan countries.

These findings are from a report released globally today by the Washington-based International Food Policy Institute (IFPRI).

The Global Hunger Index combines three indicators: child malnutrition, child mortality, and estimates of the proportion of people who are calorie-deficient.

The index has been calculated for 1981, 1992, 1997, and 2003. The latest round ranks 119 countries, of which 97 are deemed “developing” and 22 “in transition.”

Speaking to The Indian Express on phone from Washington, the report’s lead author Doris Wiesmann said the two major factors for India’s low ranking were that per capita food availability did not increase from 1997 onward, and that child malnutrition rates remained at very high levels, with more than 46 per cent of children under five years being underweight.

India is a different story from Sub-Saharan Africa. A higher proportion of the population (33 per cent) is calorie-deficient there than in India (21 per cent) or South Asia as a whole (22 per cent). The sub-text to India’s dismal showing is malnutrition in children under five.

“Mothers, who are usually children’s primary caretakers, and their education, nutritional knowledge, well-being and status in families and communities are particularly important in this respect,” said Wiesmann.

The results are a direct fallout of the low status of women in Indian society, several earlier studies have pointed out.

“In India, women eat the last and the least, increasing the chances of anaemia,” she explained. This practice partly explain why 83 percent of women in India suffer from iron deficiency anaemia, as opposed to about 40 percent in sub-Saharan Africa.

Not surprisingly, one-third of the babies born in India are born with low birth weight, compared to one-sixth in sub-Saharan Africa.

“It has been observed that the women who have a say in the family, allocate more resources to their children’s nutritional needs. Men have other priorities,” she said.

There have been other studies that have explained India’s presence as a hotspot despite its growing GDP.

Lisa Smith, a IFPRI research fellow, and Usha Ramakrishnan, Associate Professor at Emory University, identified three factors contributing to the nutritional status gap between South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa in a recent study.

The first, making by far the greatest contribution among the three, is women’s status, followed by sanitation and urbanization

The implication for policy is clear: in the interests of improving child nutrition, women’s status should be raised.

The study also concluded that in regions where women’s status is low, programmes to improve child nutritional status would have more lasting impact when combined with efforts to improve women’s status.

India has a large programme that aims to provide supplementary nutrition for children called the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS).

Studies have shown that preventing child malnutrition in the most critical phase of child development between six months and two years is more effective than targeting children under the age of five once they have become malnourished.

By the time a child has developed signs of malnutrition, the damage may already be irreversible.

Over 25,000 child marriages on one day of MP Hindu festival, "Akshay Trityaa"

Superstition fuels child marriages in MP

Kumar Shakti Shekhar, NDTV.COM Sunday, April 30, 2006

(Bhopal):

Atleast 24 under aged couples about to get married in a mass wedding ceremony at Shivpuri in Madhya Pradesh, have been detained by the police.

These mass weddings are organised to mark 'Akshay trityaa' or akha teej.

The day is considered by Hindus as auspicious for weddings, but it has come to be associated more with the illegal practice of child marriage that still prevails in various parts of India.

But many among those detained are now refuting the allegation of being a minor.

One boy Madho Singh, allegedly a minor, has been detained in Rajgarh police station. He was to be married on May 3.

"I am a resident of Sanghi village. I was being taken to Bana village when the police came and arrested us. No, it was not my wedding today but I was supposed to get married in another 2-3 days. I have not done anything wrong as I am 22-years-old," he said.

Long-standing faith

Akshay Trityaa falls on the third day of the second half of the Hindi month of Vaishakh every year.

It is people's long-standing faith that couples live a long and happy life if they enter into wedlock on the occasion.

Thousands of marriages, including child marriages, are thus taking place in Madhya Pradesh at this time.

As a result of this, the infant and female mortality rates are high in the state. While the national average of female mortality is 407 per lakh, it is 498 in Madhya Pradesh.

Govt apathy

As against the infant mortality national average of 60 per 1,000, Madhya Pradesh has recorded 85 per 1,000.

Despite this the state government has shirked off all responsibility and has failed to launch a yearlong campaign with people's participation. As a result, the evil tradition continues.

State government advertisements on child marriages are considered illegal but the warning has hardly had any impact.

Child marriages take place on a large scale in Madhya Pradesh on Akshay Trityaa and the state government's writ goes only as far as the advertisements.

"I feel that no child marriage will take place this year. We will not let it happen. We are committed to totally checking child marriages in the state," said Kusum Singh Mehdele, Women and Child Development Minister, MP.

But anyone who dares to challenge the tradition is threatened with brutality. Last year a woman's hands were chopped off for trying to stop child marriage.

Sad reality

Madhya Pradesh leads the country in infant and female mortality rates and social workers blame child marriages for the sad reality.

"Whatever the claims of the government and official circulars may be, over 25,000 child marriages on one day cannot stop without political will and the fixing of accountability on ministers and officials," said Sachin Jain, social worker, Bhopal.

The state government's campaign to check child marriage will hardly have an impact since it was launched merely a few days before the Akshay Trityaa. It can prove useful only if run throughout the year.