The state government in Madhya Pradesh has come under pressure relating to its negligence of children, particularly from the Sahariya community. Children as young as 6 months old have died from malnutrition in the past 2 months. The age range for the 23 deaths reported below are from 6 months to 12 years old. The Sahariya community are a scheduled tribe living in the Sheopur district. The local authorities were made aware of the plight of children in this area, with 98 children found to be severely malnourished and 119 children found moderately malnourished out of the 450 children surveyed by Sahyog, Support in Development. In August and September, monsoon season, 23 children from area have died from malnutrition. One reason is the collapse of government welfare schemes in the area, particularly the Integrated Child Development Scheme that works on malnutrition. The Asian Human Rights Commission has condemned the government's “dereliction of duty” in relation to their negligence of these schemes. The deaths of these children are indicative of the general government neglect of existing programs that could help to reduce child mortality from completely preventable causes. The names of the identified victims are as follows 1. Sanjay s/o Parmal, age 4 years, Veerpur. 2. Parlekh s/o Munshi, age 7 years, Veerpur 3. Jitendra s/o Mahesh, age 6 months, Veerpur 4. Pappu s/o Durgesh, age 6 months, Veerpur 5. Pappi d/o Ramkishor age 6 months, Veerpur 6. Neeraj s/o Bhairu Jataw, age 6 months 7. Pappu s/o Sobaran, 3 months, village Bhampura 8. Parwati d/o Mukesh Jataw, 12 years, village Gawadi, 9. Dilraj s/o Sitaram Adivasi, 5 years, village Bandarhar 10. Vaishnawi d/oRajaram village Khirkhiri 11. Lalaram s/o Sriram, 3 years, village Lahrauni 12. Ritu d/o Dalveer, 1 year, village Peeparani 13. Dharmendra s/o Lallu, 1 year, village Peeprani 14. Reena d/o Birbal, 5 years, village Semalda 15. Indal s/o ranveer, 1 year, village Semalda 16. Doya d/o Babulal , 6 years, village Kitrana Sahrana Karahal 17. A 12 year old in village Fulda 18. Krishna s/o Shrilal Adivasi, Sheopur 19. Ankit s/o Giriraj, 4 months, Sheopur 20. Rachna d/o Attar Singh, 10 years, village Damraun Kala, District Shivpuri 21. JayShree d/o Vijayram, 12 years, village Damraun Kala District Shivpuri 22. Kanchan d/o Hariram, 12 years, village Kalauthara, District Shivpuri 23. Sanjay s/o Raghuveer, Shivpuri
