Shocking for Odisha as the State by 2026, 10 years hence, would apparently turn more grey, villages with only fewer girls and rural men more addicted to drinking!
Because during the last decade (2004-05- 2015-16), not only the State’s population below 15 years has shrunk by a whopping around 6 per cent, but the sex ratio at birth has drastically fallen by 30 points in the last half decade. And villages have now only 927 female babies per 1,000 male babies born. Odisha, as whole, thus, with 933 girl children per 1,000 male children has fared poorer than Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh among the so-called BIMARU States.
In this context, the emerging despairing fact that would be haunting Odisha more is only 8.5 per cent of newborns (6-23 months) has adequate food to eat. This would simply spell disaster for the girl children born in villages.
According to the recently-released social and nutritional profile of Odisha by the NFHS (National Family Health Survey)-4, in the last decade, population below 15 years age in the State have shown a dip by around 6 per cent to 26.6 per cent, which is the lowest proportion of population below 15 years among the BIMARU (Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh) States.
Though the reason behind such drastic fall in Odisha is attributed to a near- achievement of population stabilisation goals, the revelation that not even 1 in 10 newborns getting adequate food reflects the huge deprivation in Odisha that bodes ill of the future progeny.
The grim fact of prevalence of diarrhoea among children in Odisha higher than Chhattisgarh, MP, Rajasthan, and almost on par with Bihar indicates a poor future when Malkangiri-type encephalitis epidemics and Nagada infant deaths would be more glaring by 2026. NFHS finds almost 10 in 100 children below 5 years in rural Odisha afflicted with this water-borne disease. Significantly, not even a quarter (23 per cent) of the rural population has access to better sanitation, finds the survey.
More glaring facts about Odisha’s youth and working population: Over half (52 per cent) of the females in the age group of 15-49 years are anaemic in the State and around one-third (31 per cent) of all men are anaemic. In this significant parameter, Odisha fared poorer than Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan but remained ahead of Bihar, MP and UP.
An emerging health warning for Odisha is the State’s youth and working class (15-49yrs) is growing diabetic than their BIMARU counterparts. Odisha with 10.7 per cent and 7.3 per cent diabetic prevalence, respectively, among men and women tops the BIMARU chart, finds the NFHS-4. Also, Odisha has the second highest prevalence of hypertension after Rajasthan.
However, a significant indicator that in Odisha men finished second among BIMARU, after Chhattisgarh, in consuming alcohol when there is an increasing demand for total prohibition like in Bihar (where only 29 per cent men consume liquor) assumes significance.