NEW DELHI: Despite India having an annual economic growth rate of 8.5 per cent, six per cent of the babies in this country die before their first birthday and nearly half of all children are undernourished, a new report has said.

Fifty per cent of toddlers are facing malnutrition and a whole generation of Indian children is suffering due to poor health, low skills and poverty, according to the "Focus on Children Under Six" (FOCUS) report that was released by Prof. Amartya Sen earlier this week.

"More than half of Indian children suffer from anaemia and a similar proportion escapes full immunisation. Few countries in the world have such poor indicators of child well-being," it said.

Alluding to the latest Human Development findings, the FOCUS report observed that India had the "highest proportion" of undernourished children in the world along with Bangladesh, Ethiopia and Nepal.

"India has the lowest child immunisation rates in South Asia. For instance, the proportion of children without BCG vaccine in India is twice as high as in Nepal, more than five times as high as in Bangladesh, and almost 30 times as high as in Sri Lanka."

"Despite its sophisticated medical system and vast army of doctors, India has not been able to achieve higher rates of child survival than any of it neighbours except Pakistan," the report claimed.

The report, which has been compiled by a non-government organisation, "Citizens' Initiative for the Rights of Children Under Six", is based on a field survey of the Integrated Child Development Service (ICDS) -- the only major national programme that addresses the needs on children under the age of six years.

The survey was conducted in May-June 2004 in six Indian states.

According to the report, one of the reasons for this sorry state of Indian children is that there are not enough childcare programmes and policies for them in their formative years.

"Most of them (Indian children) are left to their own devices until the age of six years, when they are finally herded into school. The first six years of life, especially the first two years, have a decisive and lasting influence on a child's health, well-being, aptitudes and opportunities. Scientists say that 90 per cent of the brain develops by the age of five."

However, the average Indian child gets a rather poor start in life.

Owing to under-nutrition, poor health care systems and poverty, the kids are condemned to stumble right from the time of their birth, the report said.

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