Places in News: Melghat, Amravati & Korku Tribe
Context:
The Bombay High Court pulled up the Maharashtra and Union governments for an extremely casual approach to the high number of infant deaths due to malnutrition in the tribal-dominated region of Melghat in Amravati.
Melghat:
It is a tribal-dominated region located in the Amravati district of Maharashtra.
The region has a persistent issue of infant and maternal deaths due to malnutrition and lack of maternal healthcare.
Key Health Indicators:
The region has a significant number of children in the Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) category.
The Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) in Melghat is 16.5, which is higher than Maharashtra's state IMR of 15 (as per SRS data of 2024-25).
Challenges:
Lack of proper roads
Inadequate electricity supply
Absence of primary healthcare centres
High absconding rate of doctors (paediatricians, gynaecologists)
And the major issue of intergenerational malnutrition (where anaemic, underweight women give birth to low-birth-weight babies).
Korku Tribe
They are the tribal communities who primarily inhabit the Melghat region.
The word 'Korku' is believed to mean 'members of men' or 'people' in their language.
They are traditionally forest-dwellers and cultivators.
Their language, also called Korku, belongs to the Munda family of languages.
The issue of infant and maternal deaths in Melghat directly impacts the Korku tribal communities.