India's PM Calls Malnutrition a ‘National Shame’

A new report has found that at least 40 percent of all Indian children below the age of five are underweight.

Hunger studies from India are not uncommon, but this one comes in stark contrast to the country’s high economic growth in the past two decades. The study serves as a reminder of continuing problems of poverty and hunger in the world’s largest democracy.

“The problem of malnutrition is a matter of national shame,” said Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. “Despite impressive growth in our G.D.P., the level of undernutrition in the country is unacceptably high.”

The survey measured children from 73,000 households in over 3,000 villages across India, and focused on key issues relating to malnutrition, including poverty, sanitation, and education and health of mothers.

Although India has continuously faced hunger issues for decades despite governmental programs to combat them, the prime minister’s comments indicate a new push to link India’s many issues—hunger, lack of basic health education, bad sanitation and dirty drinking water—to combat the larger problem of malnutrition.

Despite high economic growth, hunger persists

	Some students receive meals at school in India, but 40 percent of Indian children are still malnourished.

India’s economic progress in recent years can be largely attributed to its huge population of youth. But with so many young people underweight and malnourished, the nation may not be able to reach its full potential.

Poor health and nutrition can harm a child’s ability to learn, the study notes, signaling a large setback in the country’s advancement.

When compared to much poorer areas of the world, the high rate of malnourished children in India is even more striking. In sub-Saharan Africa, the rate of children under five that face malnutrition is 24 percent, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund. In China, a growing superpower alongside India, that number is only six percent.

The survey does, however, note some good news. While the level of malnutrition in India is still embarrassingly high, it has decreased from 53 percent in the past seven years, showing slow, but notable progress.

New approaches to tackle the problem

	India's parliament is debating a food security bill that would direct billions of dollars toward programs that help the poor.

The study was organized by a group of young politicians, artists, directors, social activists and policymakers called Citizens’ Alliance Against Malnutrition. They have been asked to come up with a new approach to tackling malnutrition that would be included in India’s next five-year plan.

Parliament is also debating a food security bill that would direct billions of dollars towards programs to help the poor.

Their task will be difficult: food security legislation in India has been marred by corruption and a lack of focus in the past. 

But the Alliance Against Malnutrition hopes that the stark numbers will embarrass the country at a time when it is trying to establish itself as a world economic and political powerhouse.