Axing Of The National Nutrition Monitoring Bureau: Dismantling India ?

By Shah Alam Khan

01 November, 2015
Countercurrents.org

Every single day we are woken up by new news. Whether it is the lynching of minorities and dalits or the re-structuring of key institutions of India’s socialist and democratic commitment (how so little!). Today came the news of axing of the National Nutrition Monitoring Bureau (NNMB) of the country. This was the national agency collecting data on nutrition status among the marginalized population of the country. Being affiliated with the expert committee on Tribal Health in the NNMB, I was witness to the realistic data and equally realistic guidelines, which the NNMB proposed. In fact the best papers in nutritional crisis & management in this country came through the database of the NNMB. For the current government this was no reason to continue with the apex body or may be, this was the reason to dismantle the NNMB? The fascists never want to see the mirror!

I am reminded of the story of the crazy Serbian zoo tiger that started to chew on its own paws following the carpet bombing by allied forces (as told by Arundhati Roy). It appears that we are getting to the point where the present government is beginning to chew its own paws in the excitement of dismantling the concept of India.

Dr. Shah Alam Khan, AIIMS, New Delhi