Exhibit A:
Among 1.5 million children aged 0 to 2 years in communities where the program is implemented, the proportion of those who are underweight has fallen from 30 percent in January 2009 to 20 percent in March 2010. The average decline in the four participating regions … is a strong eight percentage points a year.
Exhibit B:
The ICDS and MDMS are the world’s largest nutrition supplement programs. These apart, 160 million families are given food grains at highly subsidized rates. With about half-a million fair price shops, India’s public distribution system (PDS) is rated as the world’s largest food subsidy program. But, the evidence shows that all these welfare measures have not made a difference.
There’s more to be had from these two reports, on Ethiopia and India respectively but the bottom-line observation, as the Times of India points out, is clear.
India is the world’s 10th largest economy with a GDP of $3.57 trillion and $3,100 as per capita income. Sub-Saharan Ethiopia has the 79th largest economy, with $900 as per capita income. It’s far behind India. Yet, Ethiopia and a handful of other sub-Saharan nations beat India in one of the most critical social indices.