The Beautiful Life

The State Government’s decision allow government and private medical colleges in the state to issue the specific learning disabilities (SLD) certificate, will make it easy for students from the remote rural areas to obtain this crucial document.  Currently, these students spend considerable time and money on acquiring the certificate, as only a few centres in Mumbai offer the certificate. With rising awareness, demand for the SLD certificate has increased putting pressure on the few institutions in Mumbai that offer the certificate.  Dr Ashish Deshpande, President, Bombay Psychiatric Society, did his graduation and post graduation in Psychological Medicine from King Edward Memorial Hospital and Seth Gordhandas Sunderdas Medical College, Parel, Mumbai.  Dr Ashish Deshpande  spoke on the incidence of specific learning disability among children and the available remedies.  Edited excerpts.  Q What are the common learning problems found among scho...

Recently a Class I student had injured his right eye severely after a fight with a classmate. He may have to undergo retinal transplant surgery. This violent incident has again shifted the focus on increase in the rate of juvenile crimes in the city. Increasing violence among teenagers is becoming an inalienable problem. Escalating aggression among the new generation is extremely harmful to the society as a whole, Dr Samir H. Dalwai spoke on find out the reasons behind this trend. Dr Dalwai is a developmental and behavioural paediatrician and is the recipient of Rajiv Gandhi Manav Sewa Award for service to children by the Government of India. What are the reasons for rise in crimes committed by children? There are three reasons for it: i) Unrestricted, unsupervised exposure to media, especially violent sadistic animation and destructive games and little time or inclination left for real life experiences, ii) desire to achieve and acquire whatever one wants (‘instant gratificati...

Pankaja Munde belongs to a prominent political family of Maharashtra. She is the daughter of the late Gopinath Munde. As a state Cabinet Minister handling ministry of Rural Development, Women & Child Welfare and Water Conservation, Pankaja has made a name for herself as a mass leader and now she has taken over her father’s political mantle. She spoke on various issues like malnutrition, woman empowerment and gender equality. What measures is the government taking to control malnutrition deaths in the state? The real challenge lies in implementing the government policies effectively at the ground level, which should reach the people. Instead of making a political statement on this issue which will please people, it is important to concentrate on ensuring that the malnourished children should be provided with the required nourishment. We are trying to implement policies of the Central and the State government. Since last 15 years the focus was not on the diet. Can you ela...

Whether it is the suicide of Rohith Vemula, a PhD scholar at the University of Hyderabad or three cases of Ahmednagar, wherein members of a Dalit family from Javkhede-Khalsa village who were killed, three Dalit youth who were murdered from Sonai village and the Dalit youth of Kharda village, who was murdered for falling in love with a girl of a higher caste, atrocities on the community are becoming an everyday affair. Adv Prakash Yashwant Ambedkar, grandson of Bharat Ratna Dr B R Ambedkar, father of the Indian Constitution and leader of Bharip Bahujan Mahasangh, spoke on Dalit atrocities in an interview with Chitra Sawant. Q:Looking at all these cases, do you think there is failure to respect, protect and ensure the fundamental rights of the Dalit population? Are these groups still vulnerable to discrimination, exploitation and violence? Do you think the Prevention of Atrocities Act is being used effectively? A: Report of Atrocities Act states that there is not even 3% convic...

Despite several government health programmes, 39%  of children under five in India are short for their age, (stunted) according to findings by Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). Vandana Krishna (IAS), Director General of Maharashtra State Health and Nutrition Mission spoke on why the government should take the problem of malnutrition seriously. Vandana has headed the Woman and Child department of the State twice, and has been the Secretary, Health and Family Welfare department and she has also been the Mission Director of National Rural Health Mission. Q How can we identify problems related to severe malnutrition like stunting and wasting? First, we must recognize that stunting is a huge problem for India. Stunting means low height for age and wasting means low weight for height. Early childhood stunting causes irreversible damage to overall health of children. Their IQ and lifelong productivity is affected...

Though major reasons stated as causes of severe malnutrition are biological and economical, little attention has been given to important factors including cultural beliefs, biases and domestic violence. The inferior status of women in general results in poor attention and care given to the female child. “The secondary status of women in our cultural fabric results in the girl child receiving secondary treatment, lowering her confidence. Discrimination being shown in her education, thereby affecting her personality lifelong and malnutrition per say in childhood,” added Dr Vibhawari Dani, who is working with an NGO, named MAHAN in Melghat, providing community based preventive care and therapeutic programme for malnutrition to tribal children through village health workers. Stressing on the staggering figures of low birth weight babies born in India, Dr Vibhawari Dani, former senior Professor of Paediatrics, Government Medical College, Nagpur, said, “Nearly 25% of babi...

Around 30% of Indian children aged under five are underweight, according to the Rapid Survey on Children (RSOC), which was carried out in 2013 and 2014 by the UN and the Indian government. The report published recently brings that under nutrition remains a challenge in India. Misconceptions are a prominent cause for concern. For instance, newborns are not breast-fed immediately after birth and colostrum, which helps build the baby’s immunity, is discarded in many cases. Dr Pramod Jog, President of Indian Academy of Paediatrics and Professor of Paediatrics at D Y Patil Medical College, Pune, said: “The major nutritional problems among Indian children are lack of proteins, Vitamin A deficiency, iron deficiency and iodine deficiency disorders.  Tribal children are prone to multiple deficiencies. Protein deficiency is the most widely prevalent form of malnutrition among children. Severe protein deficiency associated with infection contributes to high child mortality.” Explaining the t...