By LS Herdenia
Over the past one month or so, at least 30 children from the Baiga Adivasi community have died in the Balaghat district of Madhya Pradesh. More than 50 children are admitted to the hospitals in the district, which shares its borders with Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra and is about 460 km from capital Bhopal.
Madhya Pradesh is the home to the biggest Adivasi population in the country. Around 15 per cent of the Adivasis in the country reside in Madhya Pradesh. The total Adivasi population of the state is around 1.5 crore (2011 census) and they form about 21 per cent of the state’s total population. That means every fifth resident of the state is an Adivasi.
Around 46 Adivasi tribes inhabit Madhya Pradesh with Bhil, Gond, Kol, Korku, Sahariya, and Baiga forming the biggest chunk. Three Adivasi tribes of the states have been classified as Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) – Baiga, Sahariya and Bhariya.
The Baigas practice shifting cultivation and are traditional healers, specialising in locating medicinal plants in the forests. They are mainly concentrated in Madhya Pradesh, with a small population residing in Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand.
After the children’s deaths in Balaghat drew media attention, the chief minister Mohan Yadav flew to Balaghat and on his orders, a special team of doctors was dispatched to Balaghat. The Leader of Opposition in the Vidhan Sabha Umang Singar – himself an Adivasi – requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to immediately intervention regarding the deaths. In a letter, Singhar stated that approximately 30 Baiga children have died due to treatable illnesses like malaria and measles, coupled with malnutrition, contaminated drinking water, and inadequate medical infrastructure. Singhar also accused the ruling BJP government of the state of trying to conceal the true number of fatalities.
The Cockroach Janata Party chief Abhijeet Dipke also reached Balaghat to meet the families of tribal children who have died. However, he was heckled by some social media influencers and was forced to turn back.
While the exact cause of the death of Baiga children is still unknown, what is a fact is that Madhya Pradesh is known for widespread malnourishment among children.
The percentage of underweight and wasted children in Madhya Pradesh is more than double of the national average. And over the past one year, the percentage of stunted children has grown while that of underweight children has remained unchanged in the state.
In August 2026, 7% of children in the 0-5 years age group in the state were wasted. This is more than double the national average of 3%. Similarly, while 23% of children in the state were underweight, the national average was 11%. The all-India percentage of stunted children was 28 while the corresponding figure for MP was 39.
More alarmingly, the percentage of stunted children (too short for their age) in the state has grown from 35% to 39% over the past year. In the same period, the percentage of underweight children remained steady at 23% while that of wasted children (too thin for their age) dropped slightly from 8% to 7%.
Even in capital Bhopal, 30% of children are stunted, 4% are wasted and 15% are underweight. In Indore, 31% children are stunted, 4% are wasted and 17% are underweight. In both cities, the percentage of stunted children has increased over the past year – from 24% to 30% in Bhopal and from 26% to 31% in Indore. In Ujjain, the percentage of wasted children went up from 31% to 35% and of underweight from 22% to 23%.
In at least three districts, nearly half of the children are shorter in height than they should be for their age. In Sheopur, 51% of the children are stunted. The corresponding figures for Shivpuri and Ashoknagar are 48% and 47% respectively.
In Balaghat, 36% children were stunted, 32% were underweight and 15% were wasted. The corresponding figures for another tribal district Dindori were 38%, 24% and 6% respectively.
The government has launched an intensive health drive in Balaghat. Survey teams are going from house-to-house to conduct health checks on children. Around 21,000 children have been vaccinated.
The million-dollar question, however, is whether such knee-jerk reactions can resolve the systemic problems afflicting the health and child care structure in the state. (IPA Service)
