ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic brought health emergency for everyone, but it became severe for the children. Even among the children, the Adivasi – the humans living in the forests since ancient times – children of the Melghat region were more prone to exposure to numerous economic, social, and political crises along with health concerns because of their marginalised status in the community. They experienced acute shortages of food and challenges to secure livelihood, income, and social protection. The pandemic brought acute malnutrition for the Korku children as the Integrated Child Development Services stopped working, due to the lockdown in the state. Besides this, the Korku children experienced issues of health, sanitation, and safe drinking water and psychosocial issues. Therefore, the chapter attempts to critically examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Korku Adivasi children of Melghat Tiger Reserve (MTR), Maharashtra. This chapter is based on the empirical evidence from the core and buffer forest zone inhabited by villagers of MTR.
