Food for Starving Children Sold As Feed for Livestock

Bangalore: This is really pathetic from Maharashtra. An investigation conducted by NDTV found that nutrition supplements meant for malnourished children in anganwadis are being taken away by middlemen and are sold to poultry and dairy farms as feed for livestock. It is also alleged that this horrible malpractice is occurred with the involvement of government officials.

?This shameful practice was seen in Vikramgadh taluka in Thane district of Maharashtra in a hidden camera investigation. The government nutrition supplements are actually meant for the children of economically weaker section. Due to the lack of proper supervision from the government authorities, many children are losing what they rightfully deserved.

The former Director of an NGO, Apnalaya said ?There is no community control. It is only a systemic control which is apathetic towards the whole issue because it's not their children who are malnourished. It is the alienation of the entire bureaucracy from the poor is another issue which is affecting all the schemes for food, whether it is PDS (public distribtion scheme) or ICDS (Integrated Child Development Services), ?as NDTV reported.

There are 95,380 functioning anganwadis in Maharastra. Every year 1280 crore have been spent on providing nutrition to children through these anganwadis by the State with the help of central government. But in spite of this 80,586 severely underweight children are in Maharashtra.