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eflection of the lower enrollment rate In the older age groups, there were Ch,ldren fron:
the nelghborlng vlllages also and thls perhaps was reflected In the near equal or tli(,tii-.r
proport~on of ch~ldren examlned when compared w~th the village populat~on
(b) Cohort
Thts group of chlldren Included 96 g~rls and 119 boys from 100 famllles
Six months
after startlng the study, 3 gtrls and 3 boys ranging In age from 10-17 years, were
declared as dropouts Of these, 5 (1 boy and 1 girl from the same famlly) lefl the village
to work elsewhere and 1 boy left for hlgher studles The age and gender spectflc
dlstrlbutlon of the cohort IS glven tn Table 5.9 The age and gender d~stnbut~on of the
cohort has been compared wlth that of all chlldren In the correspond~ng age group In
the vlllage ~n Figure. 5.2 It was observed that the proport~on of chlldren examlned ~n
different age groups was slm~lar to that ~n the village populat~on
5.4.2 Nutrition
(i) Ethnographic methods
Durlng the study penod, the lnvestlgator observed that the staple dlet of the villagers
was rice Cooked rice was usually taken along wlth l~qu~d concoctions Ilke, "rasam",
"samba? or "katakozhambu" made from tamannd water
Sometimes vegetable llke
drumstick, brlfljal or carrot were added Green leaves were also tncluded The other
main dlet was "koozh" or porrldge made from rag1 wh~ch was generally taken by people
who could not afford to buy rlce The key Informant observed, " When we don't have
money to buy rice, we make ragi koozh. It is quite tasty. One doesn't feel hungry