Sunita Gautam, a 26-year-old domestic help, wonders if she will be able to provide her 11-month-old infant boy the nutrition he requires. “My child is mainly dependent on breastmilk. At times, I give him porridge, but that’s not every day as he takes time to eat and is more habituated to breastmilk. My daily routine is very busy. If I don’t earn money, how I provide a better life to my child?” Ms. Gautam, who belongs to a Scheduled Caste (SC) community and works in Lucknow’s Vishal Khand area, said.
Ms. Gautam’s baby, called Babu as is customary across the Hindi belt, is likely to be one of millions of ‘zero food’ children aged six months to 23 months in Uttar Pradesh. These infants have not eaten any food of substantial calorific content — semi-solid/ solid/ soft/ mushy foods, infant formula or fresh milk — for 24-hours.
