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In four months, the area has 3,304 less malnourished kids, thanks to HC move. Things seem to be improving in the Melghat area which in August last year had the ill-repute of being home to

14,500 malnourished children. Within four months, that number has drastically fallen to 11,196. Evidently, strict monitoring by the Bombay high court (HC) and political will to implement

schemes which were already on paper was all that was needed to correct the situation. The statistics provided by the project officer stated that in December 2011, there were 7,976 moderate

acute malnourished (MAM) and 3,220 severe acute malnourished (SAM) children in the area. Between April and December 2011, there have been 215 deaths, as compared to 410 in the previous year.

The court had intervened by taking suo-moto cognisance of a petition filed by Purnima Upadhyay highlighting the issue. The petition had sought proper implementation of state government and

Central government schemes. The HC then directed the state government to appoint an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer who would coordinate among several government departments

working towards treating malnourished children in the Melghat area. In its May 4, 2011 order, the high court also changed the criteria for identifying malnourishment among children, from the

‘weight to height’ norm to ‘weight for age’. Upadhyay said, “Because of the high court’s intervention, things have started to look up. If this continues, the numbers in this area will

return to normal very soon.” Additional district health officer, Dr Kishor Bobade said, “The setting up of several Child Development Centres (CDCs) and Village Child Development Centres

(VCDCs) has helped reduce the numbers. In these centres, the compulsory provision of cooked food instead of Take Home Ration (THR) has led to a great change.” Bobade added, “Now we can

ascertain the degree of malnourishment and accordingly provide children with the necessary nutrients. And since the food is directly consumed by the children, the possibility of it being

eaten by other family members or simply being wasted is minimal.”