India - the booming economy ?

"Sometimes we get work, sometimes we don't. Together with our children we are dying from hunger. What can we poor people do? Nothing."

There are around 10 million children in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh . A decade ago 55% were malnourished. Two years ago the government's own National Family Health Survey put the figure for Madhya Pradesh at around 60%.

"Because of the increase in food prices a mother cannot buy an adequate quantity of milk, fruits and vegetables. So their staple diet has become wheat chapattis," she explains. "A child cannot survive on wheat chapattis alone. About 80% of mothers and children are anaemic because they can't get good quality food."

The problem of malnutrition is getting worse, not better.