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Saturday, Jul 10, 2004

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Opposition protests against malnutrition deaths in Maharashtra

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, JULY 9 . The Opposition walked out of the Rajya Sabha in protest against what they described as "the dissatisfactory'' reply of the Government on the deaths of more than 9,000 tribal children below the age of six due to mal-nutrition in Maharashtra in the past one year.

Replying to a debate on the subject, the Union Human Resource Development Minister, Arjun Singh, assured the House that the Government was not "insensitive'' to the problem. He admitted that the plethora of statistics given out in the statement of his deputy, the Minister of State, Kanti Singh, was not an answer to the serious problem. "I apologise if that is the impression the statement gives,'' he said.

He said he would visit Mumbai on July 16 and take up the issue with the State Government. He also invited Shiv Sena members, who had raised the issue to accompany him and suggested that a general debate be held on the issue in the House. While saying that it was a subject addressed by several departments, he said it was ultimately the collective responsibility of the administration and society. The Shiv Sena member, Sanjay Nirupam, who wanted to know whether the Government would send a Central team to do a spot assessment in the affected districts in the State, said the Minister's reply was not satisfactory and led a walkout of the Opposition parties.

Earlier, initiating the debate, Sanjay Rajaram Raut (Shiv Sena) said nearly 10,000 children had died of mal-nutrition in the last one year and 3,000 in during the past two months alone.

Sarla Maheshwari of the CPI (M) said the NDA Government had wasted crores of rupees on the carrying cost of large stocks of foodgrains which were being nibbled by rats. P.C. Alexander (Ind) and M.S. Gill expressed disappointment over the Government's statement and said parties must rise above political affiliations to tackle the issue.

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