title: trump the president what does that mean for the world  countercurrentsorg
text: napm condemns state and expert apathy on deaths of hundreds of adivasi children in malkangiri demands immediate medical relief and justice 
  apex court must intervene urgently state must declare medical emergency 
  rd nov  the national alliance of peoples movements is extremely pained and concerned about the rising number of deaths of adivasi children in the tribal district of malkangiri orissa due to outbreak of japanese encephalitis je while the deaths have crossed the unpardonable mark of  the govt as usual continues to undercut the number to less than the half of the actual deaths even taking the official figure of  deaths it an extremely serious case and calls for an urgent comprehensive action in a situation when state apathy and delay have been primary reasons for these avoidable deaths on such a large scale 
  we are indeed shocked that the team of experts sent by the centre has tried to absolve the government of all responsibility by attributing the deaths to consumption of some local seeds bana chakundi and not to je and governmental delay thereby blaming the adivasis themselves for the deaths when as per the orissa govts statistics itself  cases are confirmed je there out to have been remedial medical response on a warfooting considering the seriousness of je which can be fatal or can lead to lifelong intellectual behavioral or neurological impairments in many cases it is also a serious question as to why the govt did not ensure timely incorporation of je immunization in the public health delivery as per who standards and remained in denial mode the extremely casual response of the medical department state govt and now even the centre through this expert team only demonstrates that even in this time of crisis the concern is more their onus and image than the life of the children 
  public health expert dr sylvia karpagam in her reasoned counter to the centres report questions that when the socalled toxic seeds are consumed all round the year and by all families in the tribal region since generations it is intriguing as to why this epidemic erupts here only on children and why now one likely reason might be that the presence of je in the already malnourished children could have been aggravated by the consumption of the seeds in some cases but for the central team to take a generalized and extrapolated position on the basis of only  urine samples out of  official admitted death is certainly not a scientific way of medical research or does it appear convincing in the present circumstances many other experts as well have questioned the central teams unilateral conclusions merely on the basis of toxicity in the urine samples especially since je cases and deaths have been reported across the district even in the malkangiri town 
  it is also pertinent to note that the expert team has remained completely silent on the crucial role or failure of the anganwadis and icds monitoring system in the state in providing nutritional and health support to children in the tribal areas this is despite the fact that the apex court has time and again attached highest priority to ensure health and nutrition in all the tribal tracts and hamlets across the country in the form of hot cooked meals this situation is clearly in violation of the orders of the supreme court in the right to food case civil writ petition no  in fact one has to only go through the fact finding reports by right to food campaign in malkangiri districts conducted in  as well as  the abysmal situation of public health infrastructure and food distribution systems are one of the main reasons behind the regular outbreak of je disease the rampant malnutrition under staffed public health institutions abysmal health infrastructure are providing the perfect breeding ground for outbreak and spread of the disease it is indeed ironical that while on the one hand the union ministry of women and child welfare is pushing for packaged foods and gearing up to sign corporate mous in violation of scs norms on the other the anganwadis and icds servises in many areas of malkangiri or elsewhere especially in tribal areas seem to be utter disarray 
  in the light of this serious situation napm calls upon the centre and state to declare this as a medical emergency and ensure anti jeimmunization and other medical relief on a warfooting demands an independent enquiry into this crisis by a multimember team comprising of renowned public health professions independent health activists and doctors 
  calls upon the national commission for scheduled tribes ncst and the national commission for protection of child rights ncpcr to immediately take cognizance of the situation and their team including commission members and medical experts to investigate the causes recommend immediate measures and speed up action on the ground 
  calls upon the governor of orissa to make an immediate visit to the affected areas as the constitutional custodian of peace and good government for the tribal areas and ensure relief and justice to the adivasi children and families 
  appeals to the honble supreme court to immediate take up this matter in the ongoing right to food case civil wp  and issue directions to the state and centre and also monitor the proceedings before the orissa high court in the ongoing pil against the je 
  appeals to all progressive activists students the national media and propeople medical experts to reach malkangiri to assist the adivasis in whatever way possible establish the scientific and true reasons of the scale of deaths intervene to ensure immediate medical assistance and press for accountability of the state agencies and other actors involved 
  medha patkar  narmada bachao andolan and the national alliance of peoples movements napm aruna roy nikhil dey and shankar singh  mazdoor kisan shakti sangathan and national campaign for peoples right to information prafulla samantara  lok shakti abhiyan  lingraj azad  samajwadi jan parishad  niyamgiri suraksha samiti napm odisha dr sunilam aradhna bhargava  kisan sangharsh samiti suniti sr suhas kolhekar prasad bagwe  napm maharashtra milind champanerkar editorial member andolan magazine pune gabriele dietrich geetha ramakrishnan  unorganised sector workers federation napm tn c r neelkandan  napmkerala p chennaiah ramakrishnam raju meera sanghamitra napm telanganaap arundhati dhuru richa singh nandlal master  napm up sister celia  domestic workers union  rukmini v p garment labour union napm karnataka vimal bhai  matu jan sangathan  jabar singh napm uttarakhand anand mazgaonkar krishnakant  paryavaran suraksh samiti napm gujarat kamayani swami ashish ranjan  jan jagran shakti sangathan  mahendra yadav  kosi navnirman manchnapm bihar faisal khan khudai khidmatgar j s walia napm haryana kailash meena napmrajasthan amitava mitra  avik saha napm west bengal bilal khan ghar bachao ghar banao andolan mumbai bhupender singh rawat  jan sangharsh vahini  rajendra ravi madhuresh kumar napm delhi 
  also endorsed by dr mohan rao mbbs phd  professor centre of social medicine and community health school of social sciences  jawaharlal nehru university new delhi share this