BANDA : Thanks to an all-familiar power cut in the evening, it’s pitch dark in Jhandupurva village. A few torch lights from smart phones pierce through the darkness and illuminate the shape of an eight-year-old boy.
Thin, frail, head tilted a little to the side, he can barely speak when asked his name. Sandip is so weak that he stutters and pauses between words.
The boy has already finished dinner, his mother Vidya said. Boiled rice with milk: about half a litre of milk for the six-member family, including four children.
A rice gruel with more water than milk, and salt added to taste. No wonder Sandip is suffering from what nutritionists term “wasting"—a sign of acute malnutrition and chronic hunger.