Over 8 percent kids malnourished in Kallakurichi's Kalvarayan Hills: Child activist

CHENNAI: The Kallakurichi hooch tragedy, which took the lives of 66 people, is proving to be a whistle-blower on the poor socio-economic conditions of people living in the Kalvarayan Hills, partly located in the southern and southwestern districts.

On Wednesday when the Madras High Court took up the hearing of the suo motu case on the lives of the hill people, especially tribals, numbers tumbled out to depict poor living conditions in the areas once controlled by jagirdhars.

K Shanmugavelayutham, a child rights activist and former professor at the Department of Social Work, Loyola College, submitted before the division bench of Justices SM Subramaniam and C Kumarappan that, “Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) is prevalent among 8% of under-5 children in the Kalvarayan Hills, posing a serious public health concern associated with high mortality and long-term health consequences.”

The petitioner who represented himself in the case, as he extensively worked among the beneficiaries of Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) in the region as a trustee of the Rights of the Young Child organisation, spoke to DT Next on the apathy at hand and the need for urgent and exclusive intervention.

The contiguous Eastern Ghats makes it difficult for the people living in the hills to assert their rights, says Shanmugavelayutham. “For instance, the hills fall under three different districts — Kallakurichi, Salem and Tiruvannamalai. It comes under two different Assembly constituencies — Sankarapuram and Yercaud. This partly tells you why the cries of the Kalvarayan Hills weren’t heard all these years,” the social worker who is also an advisor of Vanavasi Seva Kendra, an NGO working in the area.

On the face of it, the hills located in three different districts would appear a non-issue as all of them have separate administrative heads and government machinery. But it belies the truth, the social worker says.

Sometimes numbers speak better. There is a 6% reduction in the number of beneficiaries of Anganwadi centres in the Kalvarayan Hills because of the closure of facilities and unfilled staff vacancies, a study conducted by the Rights of the Young Child Trust reveals.

The number of vacancies among the Anganwadi workers and helpers is too high at 18.4%, putting pressure on the existing staff, according to the study.

He cites the lack of an unified administrative system that looks into the specific and unique needs of people of Kalvarayan Hills as one of the main reasons. “That’s why we have appealed to the HC to appoint a special administrative head exclusively for the people living in the hills so that they needn’t jostle for funds and attention with people living in the plains. We tried to impress upon the court that the hills could have one single MLA to represent them — at least they would get exclusive share from MLACDS scheme — which the court turned down as it involves government’s policy decision,” says Shanmugavelayutham.

The HC’s scepticism of not to buy into government arguments over official data about development works extended to the region gets some sort of validation with the numbers shared by NGOs working in the region. “Our sources on the ground point out that in Kallakurichi district alone, the positions of four headmasters, 30 BT teachers, eight secondary grade teachers, and four PG teachers are vacant across 22 Government Tribal Residential (GTR) Schools are lying vacant,” says Shanmugavelayutham.

A tribal welfare school in the Kalvarayan Hills, which was upgraded to a higher secondary school two years ago, has been reportedly functioning without a headmaster.

Approximately 20% of health sub-centres in the Kalvarayan Hills are either in a dilapidated condition or are operating out of rented accommodations, the study conducted by the trust run by Shanmugavelayutham reveals.

The government has also affirmed to the court of its commitment towards improving the lives of people in the region. The only concern is whether the words would be put into action.