Children of hungry India

India may well be `Shining' to the world at large but when it comes to its children's health the picture is far from glossy. The recently released National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3), the third pan-India survey conducted since 1992 (covering 200,000 people from 15-54 years), highlights some sobering facts on this front.

• According to the survey, conducted between December 2005 and August 2006, a whopping 45.9 per cent of India's under-three kids are underweight,39 per cent are stunted, 20 per cent severely malnourished,80 per cent anemic while infant mortality hovers at 67 per 1,000.More than 6,000 Indian children below five years die everyday due to malnourishment or lack of basic micronutrients like Vitamin A, iron, iodine, zinc or folic acid. Overall, India hosts 57 million - or more than a third - of the world's 146 million undernourished children.

• Shockingly, even sub-Saharan Africa has a better record of child malnourishment at 30 per cent while China records eight per cent and Pakistan 37 per cent.