Almost 25,000 children died of hunger last year, Maharashtra opposition claims

(July 13, 2012) The Maharashtra state government is coming under fire from activists after it was revealed during a legislative assembly debate this week that almost 25,000 children in the state died of malnutrition last year. The state opposition claimed that a total of 24,365 children had died as a result of malnutrition. There were over one million malnourished children in the state as of January this year, and of these more, than 124, 000 were in a bad state. The figures immediately drew criticism from activists who said too little is being done despite the ruling Congress-Nationalist Congress Party alliance being aware of the scale of the problem. Father Baptist Lopes, director of Adivasi Jeevan Vikas Kendra, a group working for tribal people’s development in Thane district said that starvation, hunger and lack of medical facilities in villages, especially in the tribal and backward regions of the state were accelerating the death toll.