--  Deccan Chronicle, Hyderabad, September 3, 2005

Two-year-old Vishaka Deepak Ghongle, a grade 4 (the government's description of a child with very poor weight for her height and on the point of death) malnourished child, is not even able to stand up on her own and is helped by her elder siblings, four-year-old Vandana and five-year-old brother Amare.

The three siblings stay by themselves in their hut made of sticks and grass, making it one of the worst-built homes in the village of Savlikheda, around 30 km  from Dharni. It has a population of over 1,000 people.

But the Ghongle family, which doesn't own any land, is forced to work on three fields to make a living. Worse still, they are not entitled to one of the biggest government schemes — the Consumption Loans (CL) scheme - as the Ghongles are classified as Scheduled Castes and the CL scheme is only for Scheduled Tribes, who constitute over 80 per cent of the population of this region.

The Ghongle siblings are eating khichdi (lentil and rice porridge) from the local anganwadi (childcare facility) at a time when CL grains distribution is taking place next door. People from far off villages have come to avail of this scheme but the Ghongles cannot.

New difficulties of the tribals come to light. After visiting southern Melghat, it is time for us to visit the northern part of the region. This part, though being densely forested, comes under the state forest department with some part going to the Project Tiger Scheme.

After riding through one of the best roads, we reach Dabka, a small hamlet on the Nanded-Ajmer narrow gauge railway line. Here, we come across one-year-old Tulsi Jambhekar, whose parents have not received any help under the consumption loan scheme. When asked, her mother Lata, aged around 40 and mother of six children, said, "We survive on jawari bhakri (snacks made from grains)."

When asked about the presence of any vegetables in their diet, she said, "We eat toor dal," pointing to the pulses as vegetables. Her husband Phulchana works as a labourer on a few farms and owns a paltry piece of land himself on which he grows cotton.

We then reach the village of Baratanda where water shortage has become a problem due to which over five children in the village, like four-year-old Suresh Gulab Dhande, have gone into grade 3 of malnutrition. Former head of the village Suresh Verma said, "There was a drought last year due to which deaths occurred this year in spite of the good rains.

"We still haven't received any water from the administration as the three-phase electricity required for pumping water is not working." He added, "We have to depend upon unpurified water from the river and handpumps for survival."

We drive to a primary health center or PHC at Dhulghat Railway by negotiating difficult terrain. "Maybe this patch has not been covered under the Employment Guaranteed Scheme (EGS), come next year and this road will be chakachak (perfect)," said our driver, pointing out that the roads were better in some stretches due to the tar surfacing that has been done by local tribals under EGS.

At the PHC, we find Saraswati Bhilavekar of Savlikheda (around 30 km from here) a two-year-old grade 3 malnourished child. Her mother Neela is unable to explain why her child has fallen into the fatal malnourishment trap which is gripping the children of the region. "Saraswati eats only dry roti (flatbread)," she says.

The nurse at PHC intervenes, "How does she eat only dry roti? It is the parents who do not feed them properly."  She adds, "What can you expect from one like Neela who is 45-years-old and has already given birth to six children."