Limits to economic growth: why direct investments are needed to address child undernutrition in India

About two of every five undernourished young children of the world live
in India. These high levels of child undernutrition have persisted in India for
several years, even in its relatively well-developed states. Moreover, this
pattern was observed during a period of rapid economic growth. Evidence
from India and other developing countries suggests that economic growth has
little to no impact on reducing child undernutrition. We argue that a growthmediated
strategy is unlikely to be effective in tackling child undernutrition
unless growth is pro-poor and leads to investment in programs addressing the
root causes of this persistent challenge.