Mahasingh Parte lives in the last hut in a village on the border of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
To reach the village, Matla, one has to trek a kilometre up a hill, on muddy trails and slippery slopes.
The village in Balaghat district in eastern Madhya Pradesh is surrounded by rolling hills and forests, a picture of tranquility for tourists visiting the nearby Kanha National Park.
But for Parte and other members of the Baiga tribe, who live in this remote region, life is a daily struggle – with little help forthcoming from the government.
Parte earns a living by collecting and selling tendu leaves and forest produce or labouring on other farms. The hut itself is bare except for a few steel utensils stacked in one dark corner. He grows millet and forages for seeds, other than depending on government ration.
“If we can manage, we eat two meals a day,” he told Scroll. “On many days, my children eat just once.”
In May, Parte’s four-year-old son Samlu caught a high fever. Soon, his six-year-old daughter Shamku’s body also felt warm.
One by one, all his five children fell ill.
But Samlu and Shamku were the worst off. Both had a rash-like eruption on their bodies. They developed a cough and a cold, and their eyes...
from Scroll.in https://scroll.in/article/1095475/for-months-tribal-children-in-madhya-pradesh-kept-dying-the-government-woke-up-too-late?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=public https://sc0.blr1.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/article/215385-arnlepjctm-1788423466.jpeg
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