The Stats (from here and here):
One in every three malnourished children in the world lives in India.
In India, around 46 per cent of all children below the age of three are too small for their age, 47 per cent are underweight and at least 16 per cent are wasted. Many of these children are severely malnourished.
Malnutrition in early childhood has serious, long-term consequences because it impedes motor, sensory, cognitive, social and emotional development. Malnourished children are less likely to perform well in school and more likely to grow into malnourished adults, at greater risk of disease and early death.
Vitamin and mineral deficiencies also affect children’s survival and development. Anaemia affects 74 per cent of children under the age of three, more than 90 per cent of adolescent girls and 50 per cent of women.
Furthermore, an obscene proportion of food is wasted in India – agriculture minister Sharad Pawar recently told Parliament that agriculture produce to the tune of Rs. 50,000 crore—40% of the total produce—was wasted every year in the country.
anantjani.com 