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Forty-two pct of Indian kids malnourished, says PM

NEW DELHI, Jan 10 (KUNA) -- Nearly 42 per cent of the children in India aged below six years are malnourished and underweight, said the country's Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh while citing the findings of the 'Hunger and Malnutrition Report'.
Releasing the report, the PM further stated that the current scenario of poor children health was "a matter of national shame." According to the report, one in three malnourished children in the world is an Indian, and only one in five Indian children has acceptable levels of nutrition. The report also revealed that malnutrition is extremely severe in 73,000 households in 112 districts in seven of the poorest states of the country.
"The problem of malnutrition is a national shame. Despite impressive growth in our GDP, the level of malnutrition is unacceptably high. What concerns me is that 42 per cent of our children are still underweight. This is an unacceptably high occurrence," the Prime Minister said while releasing the first-ever citizens' report on child malnutrition.
On the occasion, the PM also called for the civil society, entrepreneurs and business communities to bring malnutrition to acceptable levels. (end) py.sd KUNA 101605 Jan 12NNNN