Listen to this article:

Balaghat (Madhya Pradesh): Kaushila Markam, a resident of Madhya Pradesh’s Matla village in Balaghat district, visits her three-year-old daughter Babita’s grave only once in a fortnight. Babita’s grave is a pile of large stones that sits atop a hill in the village, located next to the Chhattisgarh border. Surrounded by lush green forests, the hilltop hamlet is home to the Baiga Adivasi community whose customs suggest that after death, the deceased’s existence is purged from the family home, with their belongings too buried along with them. Babita’s remains have no gravestone, or any other marking to suggest that a three-year-old child lies buried in these hills. Only a small steel plate that Babita used lies a few steps away.

Babita’s plate. Photo: Sravasti Dasgupta

“I don’t come here often. I feel like crying thinking of my daughter. Only once in 14-15 days,” said Kaushila.

Babita died on May 18 after four days of fever, and presenting with rashes all over her body. She was one of the first victims of the measles and malaria outbreak in Balaghat’s picturesque forested hill villages of Matla, Kondekasa, Bondari and Macchurda that surround the Kanha National Park.

No one from the health administration knew that she died. It was only in mid July, two months after Babita’s death, that word on multiple deaths of Baiga Adivasi children from these villages reached the Panchayat leaders, and then the district administration, that led to an official response.

Four months on, the outbreak in Balaghat has grabbed national attention, forcing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Madhya Pradesh government in the state to provide Rs 2 lakh compensation to the children’s families, and a Rs 225 crore package for Balaghat’s development. Yet Babita’s name is still not on any record, nor has her family received any compensation.

Kaushila said that when Babita first fell ill, a doctor was called to the house who said that the child had “mata”, the local term for measles.

“The doctor gave her an ointment and said that she would recover in four-five days. But she did not. Her body was filled with rashes and then she died here at home,” said Kaushila.

According to figures available with Balaghat chief medical and health officer (CMHO) Dr Shatrughan Singh Dahiya, who took charge only on September 7 after his predecessor Dr Paresh Ulap was removed amid the furore over the outbreak, the official toll in the epidemic is 32. The local MLA from the Congress Sanjay Uikey on the other hand has said that a total of 43 deaths have taken place. The death toll of 32 does not take into account deaths like Babita’s, which remains unreported in official documents.

Shatrughan Singh Dahiya took charge as the Balaghat CMHO only on September 7, after his predecessor was removed amid the furore over the outbreak. Photo: Sravasti Dasgupta

Official figures provided by the CMHO to The Wire say that both measles and malaria have been found among the affected. Since the health screening started in July, of the 27,000 people tested till September, 980 were found to be positive for malaria, and another 22 for measles. Yet a single cause of the outbreak is yet to be narrowed down on; officials say the diseases were worsened by malnutrition-related complications.

“We found out (about the outbreak and deaths) in the second week of July from the local public representatives of the area. Three days later our team visited the area. At present the count of the epidemic is 32. As you know, India’s CMR (child mortality rate) is 27, several children under five die due to malnutrition, diarrhoea and other natural causes. But we are monitoring the situation, we have formed a death audit team and if they find more deaths related to the epidemic those will be added as well,” said Dahiya.

While the administration has now swung into action, the severity of the outbreak and its fast spread, has highlighted how the Baiga tribal community has suffered institutional neglect at the hands of the government.

Villages surrounding the Kanha National Park paint a picture of tranquillity. Photo: Sravasti Dasgupta

Institutional neglect and a lack of trust

The Baiga community is among the 75 recognised Particularly Vulnerable tribal groups (PVTG) in India. The Union government identifies PVTG as those with pre-agricultural level of technology, low level of literacy, economic backwardness and a declining or stagnant population. However, the community’s vulnerability is visible on the ground not just for historical........

© The Wire