Children in the village of Unsar, a scattering of thatched huts in the flood-prone Muzaffarpur district of Bihar, have one thing in common. They all display tell-tale signs of malnutrition: wasted and stunted frames and discoloured patches of unkempt and wiry hair. Nearly 55 per cent of under-fives in this north Indian state are chronically underweight. They are in the frontline of India’s struggle to lower a malnutrition rate that is nearly double that of sub-Saharan Africa.

Malnutrition afflicts 60m children in India, imposing social and economic costs that are hard to overstate. In a report released last week, the World Bank urged the government to overhaul its flagging child welfare programme, the Integrated Child Development Services scheme, the largest in the world. “Progress in reducing the proportion of undernourished children in India has been modest and slower than what has been achieved in other countries with comparable socio-economic indicators,” it said.