Melghat, a predominantly Adivasi region, has the highest number of malnourished children in Maharashtra’s Amravati district. Interestingly, it’s also known for having more NGOs than it has villages.

Why, then, are Melghat’s Adivasi children malnourished and still dying?

Melghat, comprising the talukas of Dharni and Chikhaldhara, stretches across a vast expanse of forest and a tiger reserve. It first made news for malnutrition in the 1990s when over 5,700 children died, according to data from the health department and a response to an RTI request. In the following decade, Melghat drew a lot of attention from the media as well as NGOs, activists, researchers, medical practitioners, and committees set up by courts to tackle malnutrition and child deaths in this region.

Innumerable reports, surveys, and papers have been written by medical practitioners, including Dr Abhay Bang and Dr Ashish Satav , detailing the high prevalence of severe stunting and severe acute malnutrition among Adivasi children under five in Melghat. They all suggested effective measures to control child deaths.

Yet, three decades, several government and non-governmental interventions, and multiple recommendations later, Melghat still has the highest number of child deaths in Amravati. The situation has improved since the 1990s but between 400 and 500 children still die every year. In 2019, about 409 children under six died, according to an RTI response as well as the Amravati Zilla Parishad.

A few bad eggs

First, the “more NGOs than villages” claim isn’t quite what it seems.

Mitali Sethi, project officer with the government’s Integrated Tribal Development Programme in Dharni taluka, said she was told there are 400 NGOs but only 350 villages in Melghat.

“When we actually began investigating, we realised there are only 20 functional NGOs,” Sethi said. “The rest of the registered NGOs are either religious organisations like Ganesh Mandals, self-help groups, or similar local organisations. There are registered organisations that accept funds but don’t work.”

Sethi added that a handful of NGOs in Melghat had shown results, like Mahan Trust, Khoj, Akshar Kshetu, Melghat Mitra, Plan India, and Action Against Hunger.

Yet, some NGOs seemed to be working for themselves instead of for the people. For example, Sethi said, during a meeting in December 2019, representations from a few NGOs discussed how accessibility was a main criterion for selecting villages.