Posted by Yvonne MacPherson under
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The BBC Election Train pulled into Patna station in the early hours of the hottest day of the season. It was 42.8 degrees Celsius. Despite the heat, I was looking forward to meeting some of our project partners and understanding what more can be done in Bihar, one of the poorest states in the country.
According to India’s National Family Health Survey, 42% of children nationally are underweight. However, in Bihar it is even higher at 58%. Fewer than 20% of births are delivered in a health facility in Bihar (again, considerably worse than the national average). There is a lot of scope for mass media campaigns that can inform mothers about the best feeding and birthing practices and challenge socially accepted practices which mean women and girls have poorer access to food, health services and education.
Former Chief Minister of Bihar Laloo Prasad Yadav passing out ice cream to BBC journalists at his home in Patna
I met up with former Chief Minister of Bihar and current national railways Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav at his home in Patna. Considering the poor maternal and child health indicators in his state, I asked him what he believed to be the greatest need in this area and how did it could be met. He responded by saying that when he headed the state government, he concentrated on immunization, sanitation and education. His view was that local government bodies should have the power to prepare their own budgets and the funds to implement their programmes directly.
During this election time, he was keen to leave a good impression on the visiting BBC journalists. He arranged to have an ice cream cart enter his compound, and personally served each of us a cup of ice cream. His welcome was a clear signal of his aim to woo us at a time when his political popularity in the state is not what it was. (more…)