Nutritional Status of Three Tribal Populations of Jharkhand State in Relation to Environmental Conditions

Abstract

The present study was carried out to find out the nutritional status  of three tribal populations- Santhal,  Ho and Bhumij,  inhabiting  in  different   environmental   conditions  i.e.  industrialized   and  dense  forested   regions  of Jharkhand State. The Population inbabiting in industrialized  region  have  least  calorific intake (Santhal-  1967.&#x0D; 25 K.Cal: Ho- 2003.20 K.Cal. and Bhumij-1942. 11   K.Cal) than the population of dense forested  region (2553.&#x0D; 30   K.Cal.  Ho-2426.86   K.Cal.  and  Bhumij   2008.18  K.Cal.}.   No  doubt,  industrialization  provides    better opportunities to earn money but its major portion is wasted  on the elevation  of so called standard of living and the Theka  (Wine shop)  besides,  immigration  among  tribal  also  resulted   in  changed  nutritional  as  well  as calorific intake.  The  diet of these  tribal populations is inadequate as  per Indian standards.  The deficiency  in diet  is  both  qualitative  and  quantitative,  as  a  result  population suffers  from  a large  number  of  nutritional disorders  like anemia, night blindness, bigot spot etc. on the basis of the study it is suggested that a short term training programme should be launched at Panchayat level  to provide  knowledge of balanced  diet or essential nutrients  of the food as per requirements of Men, Women and children.</jats:p