Weighing just about five kilos, a kilo lesser than his one-and-half-year-old younger sibling, Manoj is one of the thousands of malnourished children in the Palghar district, around 110km from Mumbai. The Pawar family resides in Bambipada, a tribal settlement in the Jawhar taluka of Palghar, where 28 children suffer from acute malnourishment. His death caused a major stir after his mother Sita Wagh refused to meet tribal minister Vishnu Savra. In fact, children work on the fields making them vulnerable to diseases.”In Mokhada, one of the worst-affected tehsils in Palghar, 75% of the women give birth to children weighing less than 1.5kg. However, locals say the scheme has not been implemented because the funds are yet to be transferred by the government for the tehsils.

Source: Hindustan Times September 18, 2016 19:18 UTC