"Despite
impressive growth in our GDP, the level of under-nutrition in the country is
unacceptably high. We have also not succeeded in reducing this rate fast
enough," the 79-year-old prime minister added.
Dr Singh said
the findings of the report by an alliance of non-government organisations were
both "worrying and encouraging" for India – a fast-growing country of
1.2 billion people with the highest number of children worldwide.
The research
found the proportion of under-fives who are underweight had declined 11
percentage points in seven years, but Dr Singh said it remained
"unacceptably high" at 42 per cent.
"We
cannot hope for a healthy future with a large number of malnourished
children," he said.
Data from UNICEF shows that one in
three malnourished children worldwide is found in India,
with 47 per cent of under-threes underweight.
One of the
findings in the new research was that malnourished children in India were
rarely hungry, merely badly fed due to widespread ignorance about nutrition
among Indian parents.
As well as
malnourishment, the survey of more than 100,000 children and 73,000 mothers
measured stunting, when children are short in height for their age.
A total of 58
per cent of children under five surveyed were stunted, the survey found, a
result of inadequate nutrition for the mother during pregnancy and the child in
its early years.
Food prices
have soared in India over the last six years, causing increased hardship for
the 455 million people estimated by the World Bank to live below the poverty
line.
Last month,
the Indian cabinet approved the Food Security Bill, a landmark piece of
legislation that would provide subsidised food for up to 64 per cent of India's
population if passed by parliament.