The case for state intervention

In India, the problems of chronic hunger and malnutrition persist on a massive scale. The prevalence of malnutrition is one of the highest in the world, higher than in some very poor countries of sub-Saharan Africa. According to the 2007 Progress for Children Statistical Review by the United Nations Children’s Fund, the proportion of underweight children below the age of five—an indication of malnutrition— was 28 per cent in sub-Saharan Africa and 42 per cent in South Asia (43 per cent in India). The Report on State of Food Insecurity in the World 2006, by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, confirms that no country comes close to India in terms of the sheer number of people living in chronic hunger.