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flight of fancy, originally uploaded by Sayantan Bera.

In the Naya Palpur village in Madhya Pradesh's Sheopur district, children play in front of a closed Anganwadi.

Anganwadi's are conceived to provide supplementary nutrition to children in the age group of 0-6. But in most cases supplies are irregular. For this particular village the anganwadi had not received any supplies for the last three months. The mid may meal scheme for school going children was irregular when I had visited in october 2008.

According to the UNICEF, 2.1 million deaths occur every year in India of children who are under five, half of which are due to under nourishment. Thirty percent of new born in India are born with low birth weight.On October 14, 2008, the first-ever India Hunger Index was released along with the global Hunger Index by International Food Policy and Research Institute (IFPRI). It found that India ranked 66 among 88 countries in the index where Madhya Pradesh had the most severe level of hunger in the country, placing India between Ethiopia and Chad. A team from the Supreme Court of India on a stock-taking visit to Sheopur described it as the 'hunger hotspot' of the world.