Ignoring hunger and health, Mokhada plays politics

As one approaches the towns of Jawhar and Mokhada, the irony that the places infamous for malnourishment have dhabas around their perimeters, stands out. Nestled in the backdrop of Sahyadri hills in north-western Maharashtra, Mokhada is one of the eight tehsils of the newly carved out Palghar district and along with the tehsils of Jawhar, Vikramgad and Wada, it is synonymous with abject poverty and deaths due to malnutrition.

This phenomenon is no novelty for the region which is home to tribal communities. Every year there are deaths due to malnutrition and though things are improving, the pace is slow.  According to a Hindustan Times report, 565 children died due to malnutrition in 2014. The figure was 626 in 2015 and 449 in 2016. The kids weigh as low as 1000-1250 g and do not get the vital nutritional supplements. The story is omnipresent in almost all the villages of these tehsils.

As per the 2011 census, Mokhada tehsil has a total population of 83,453 spread over 59 villages. The government records state that Palghar district has 278 malnourished kids in the month of September, 2018. Dr. Bhagyashri Patil, the medical officer at the rural hospital in Mokhada says, “We endeavour to save every life. We take a stock of the situation every week, identify the malnourished kids and keep them under observation for 15 days. The kids are provided with necessary supplements. We have also started with an ambulance service catering to the distant villages.” The hospital has a special facility for malnourished kids. The villages in Mokhada tehsil are spread over a wide area which could be 5-40 km away from the town. Not every village has access to a vehicle, so they walk half the way and then take the ambulance. The lapse of critical time results in increased health complexities. 

Mokhada Rural Hospital has a special facility for 

malnourished children

The government’s negligence has made way for various non-governmental organisations to work for this cause. “Nobody wants to hit at the roots. Providing food and medicines is noble but it is a temporary solution. The main issue is the non-availability of water. Water is a traded commodity. People are forced to drink the contaminated water from the wells and rivers which is the main cause of disease among children. There are dams built around Jawhar-Mokhada-Wada. A pipeline is needed to bring that water to the villages and towns. Every year promises are made but never kept,” says Rajendra Katilkar, aged 49, who has worked with ‘Aroehan’, the leading NGO working in Mokhada. Hanif Shaikh, 35, a local journalist doesn’t agree with this and remarks, “The main issue is the lack of employment. People don’t have resources to make two ends meet. Farming doesn’t have much scope. People migrate for the menial jobs which don’t pay well. Establishing industrial parks or corporations would help in generating jobs and improving the livelihood of the local population”. Another practice that is followed by the tribals is early marriage.   Katilkar and Shaikh, both blame early marriages for malnutrition as the underage girls are unable to bear a healthy child.

Local activists smell dirty politics behind the issue of deadline in the construction of pipeline. They accuse the politicians and district officials of having a nexus with the water-tanker mafias. Pipeline would make these mafias lose their business. District officials were unavailable for comment.

However, there is another side to this story. Katilkar and Shaikh, both state that the villagers do not want to improve either. According to Katilkar, there is a constant attempt by the villagers to declare their child as malnourished to get enhanced subsidies. Shaikh also says that even when people have money, it is spent on buying alcohol rather than food. Lack of awareness and education has a major role to play. Moreover, the local residents do not appreciate others preaching them on such issues. They see this as an interference in their lives.

Ambepanna village in Mokhada is home to four malnourished 

children

Jawhar and Mokhada are strategically located with access to the towns of Dahanu, Boisar, Palghar, Nashik and Silvassa. The Lok Sabha constituency is Palghar and Vidhan Sabha constituency is Vikramgad and both the seats are reserved for the Scheduled Tribes. Appa Chaoudhary, 73, a Mokhada resident says, “It is beyond my understanding as to why does it take so long to improve the basics. The ruling politicians must have lived the same life sometime in the past. Don’t they want to improve the life of fellow citizens?” Katilkar says that birth control should be the top priority. He says, “When it is getting increasingly difficult to provide resources to those existing, any addition to this shall make the things worse. Water is a lifeline and it is impossible to exist in its absentia. Constructive steps must be taken to make this resource easily available.”

Mokhada is very active during elections and monsoon. The tall promises made in the party manifestos lose their way in the five-year term only to reappear in the next manifesto. In the month of November 2018, the opposition parties had called for a bandh (strike) in Mokhada demanding it to be declared ‘drought affected’ to get additional funds from the state government. The protest was held because Vikramgad tehsil is declared as ‘drought affected’ leaving out Jawhar and Mokhada. People allege that Vishnu Savara, Minister of Tribal Development has ignored Mokhada as he doesn’t have a voter base in this tehsil.

Recently, the Government of India celebrated the electrification of all villages in India.  Around 40 kilometres from Mokhada is a village named Amale which gets disconnected from the tehsil in the rainy season as the adjacent river floods and there is no bridge. In the other parts of the year, the villagers, swim and walk to crossover. Last year eight children died in the village due to malnutrition. The village was helped with solar electricity by some NGOs but things have not moved further due to lack of funds. Mokhada has its own idiosyncrasy. It doesn’t fight just hunger and poverty, Mokhada fights politics too.