We don’t know the value of food until we feel hungry. Not many people in today’s world get three meals a day. People are dying because they couldn’t fill their empty stomachs. In a bid to battle starvation, they eat something which is not good for health only to fill their stomachs for time being. Take a look at the eastern Uttar Pradesh wherein a tribe of rat-catchers called the ‘Musahars’ are diminishing slowly owing to extreme hunger in Rakba Dulma Patti village.
Not a long ago, two sons of Sonwa Devi starved to death on September 14. It was in the same month when the government celebrated September as ‘National Nutrition month’ to mark India’s battle against malnutrition. In yet another case of starvation, a man, identified as Virendra Musahar lost his 30-year-old wife, Sangeeta and six year old, Shyam because they died due to lack of food on September 6.
These unfortunate deaths which are being reported recently to be due to extreme starvation are not getting noticed because the Mahadalit community relies on rats, snails as their main source of food with no option left, the Times Of India reported. Virendra, who is daily wage labour told TOI, “We survive on anything that is eatable.” He hardly got any work since he sold his wooden cart a couple of months ago to feed his family.
Young Musahar children don’t have money to go to school but rather they look for rodents or snails that will be their food. When they fall sick, they either have rats or medicines as they are just left with no other option.
