Can a country truly prosper when its children are dying of hunger and lack of basic healthcare? The Supreme Court of India recently confronted this painful reality while hearing a plea on child fatalities in tribal belts.
A bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant described the crisis of acute malnutrition among indigenous children as “very serious”. The court issued formal notices to the Union Government and several state governments, demanding answers on why basic food and medical systems have broken down.
Supreme Court Steps In on Tribal Child Deaths
The intervention came during the hearing of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) titled Ajab Lal Lilhare vs Union of India and Ors.. The petition was filed by a resident of Balaghat, highlighting acute child malnutrition and disease outbreaks in tribal-dominated areas across Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Maharashtra.
A three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi, and Justice V. Mohana took note of the petitioner’s arguments. Counsel appearing for the petitioner told the court that indigenous children are losing their lives on a daily basis in severely hit administrative blocks.
The plea pointed out that vulnerable communities have faced repeated administrative neglect. Even after local residents submitted representations to state officials and elected representatives, authorities failed to act in time.
A Lethal Mix: Malnutrition and Treatable Diseases
According to the petition, the crisis is particularly harsh on Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs). In these remote pockets, children are falling victim to a deadly combination of Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) and preventable viral infections like Measles and Rubella.
Severe Acute Malnutrition means a child’s body is wasting away due to extreme nutritional deficiency. When combined with infectious diseases that are easily preventable through routine vaccines, it turns fatal very quickly.
The petitioner submitted that primary healthcare machinery in these regions has suffered a systemic collapse:
- Shortage of doctors: Rural and tribal health posts face an acute deficit of medical officers.
- Immunization drives on paper: Vaccine campaigns exist primarily in official files while ground coverage remains critically low.
- Halted Anganwadi supplies: Take-home rations and vital nutritional food packets meant for children and nursing mothers have stopped reaching many villages.
- Zero emergency transport: Hamlets located dozens of kilometres away from Primary Health Centres (PHCs) lack ambulance networks, forcing poor families to depend on unqualified practitioners.
The Question of Diverted Mineral Funds
One of the strongest arguments raised before the Supreme Court focused on the misuse of public welfare funds. The counsel urged the top court to examine the gross non-utilization and diversion of District Mineral Foundation (DMF) funds.
DMF funds are statutory trusts set up in mining districts under the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act. Mining companies pay a fixed percentage into these funds. By law, DMF money must be spent directly on the welfare of mining-affected tribal populations, with a core focus on:
- Nutritional support for children and women
- Clean drinking water access
- Healthcare infrastructure and medical staff
The petitioner argued that while massive amounts sit in DMF accounts or get diverted for unrelated projects, tribal children living right next to rich mineral zones are dying without food or medical care.
What The Law Says: Articles 21, 14, and Directive Principles
The petition directly invokes fundamental rights guaranteed to every Indian citizen under the Constitution of India.
Article 21 (Right to Life and Personal Liberty): The Supreme Court has repeatedly held that the Right to Life is not merely animal existence. It includes the right to live with dignity, the right to adequate nutrition, and the right to basic healthcare. When a child dies because the state failed to provide rations or basic immunizations, it violates Article 21.
Article 14 (Right to Equality): Every citizen has an equal right to state protection. Depriving isolated tribal settlements of medical infrastructure that urban residents take for granted creates arbitrary discrimination.
Directive Principles of State Policy: The petition highlights two key constitutional duties of the state:
- Article 39(f): Mandates that children are given opportunities and facilities to develop in a healthy manner and protected against exploitation and abandonment.
- Article 47: Imposes a primary duty on the state to raise the level of nutrition and improve public health.
What the Petitioner Has Demanded
To stop the daily fatalities, the plea has asked the Supreme Court to order immediate systemic remedies:
- Declare the worst-affected tribal areas as epidemic-prone regions under the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897, triggering mandatory emergency public health protocols.
- Deploy mobile healthcare units and ensure urgent door-to-door distribution of safe drinking water and nutritional food supplies.
- Ensure full saturation of central tribal development programmes, such as the Dharti Aaba Janjatiya Gram Utkarsh Abhiyan.
- Hold negligent public servants accountable and award statutory compensation to families who have lost children to starvation and lack of medical care.
Why This Matters For You
This case serves as a stark reminder of the gap between welfare schemes on paper and life on the ground. Millions of rupees are budgeted each year for child nutrition and tribal development. Yet, systemic apathy and fund diversions continue to endanger our most vulnerable citizens.
When the Supreme Court steps in under its writ jurisdiction, it forces state machinery to account for every rupee and every missing health worker. The case reaffirms that the constitutional Right to Life protects every citizen equally, no matter how remote their village is.
No welfare state can claim progress while its youngest citizens die from preventable hunger and treatable illness.
Story reported by Barandbench. This article is BareLaw’s independent explanation and analysis.
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