India's economy, a paragon of development, has more than tripled over the past 20 years, fueling a growing middle class that has helped turn the world's largest democracy into an engine of the world economy and raised millions out of poverty. It is behind only China, in terms of population.

But there is one shocking statistic India's economic miracle has not been able to improve: the number of children that are severely malnourished.

Some 3,000 children die daily due to illnesses related to poor diets. Forty-two percent of children under the age of five are underweight, according to a recent government survey.

It is a national shame. Child nutrition is a marker of the many things that are not going right for the poor of India, Purnima Menon, a research fellow on poverty, health and nutrition at the International Food Policy Research Institute, recently told Reuters.

Yet, some hope remains. At village clinics, like the one in the slideshow below, in Shivpuri, the sick are tended, the hungry are fed and nutrition is taught to parents.

Unless the issue, however, is addressed at the national level, experts in the field believe India's malnourished children will grow up anemic and stunted, paying for the hardship of their youth with decreased levels of productivity later in life... if they even make it to adulthood.

This isn't a quick-fix that we're looking at here, Jasmine Whitbread, CEO of Save the Children International, told Reuters. It's not a magic bullet.

Four month-old Vishakha, who weighs less than 5 pounds, is carried into a clinic in central India
Four month-old Vishakha, who weighs less than 5 pounds, is carried into a clinic in central India Reuters
Women of the Sahariya tribe in northwestern India bring their malnourished children to a local clinic
Women of the Sahariya tribe in northwestern India bring their malnourished children to a local clinic Reuters
2 year-old Rajni, who is severely malnourished, is weighed at a clinic in central India
2 year-old Rajni, who is severely malnourished, is weighed at a clinic in central India Reuters
Rajni waits with her mother at the clinic in central India
Rajni waits with her mother at the clinic in central India Reuters
A child is fed with a special formula at a clinic in central India
A child is fed with a special formula at a clinic in central India Reuters
A woman holds her 1-year old granddaughter, who is severely malnourished and weighs 8 pounds, at a clinic in central India
A woman holds her 1-year old granddaughter, who is severely malnourished and weighs 8 pounds, at a clinic in central India Reuters
An underweight newborn lies in a tray inside a hospital delivery room in northwestern India
An underweight newborn lies in a tray inside a hospital delivery room in northwestern India Reuters
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