Banyan : The Indian exception | The Economist

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  • Banyan: The Indian exception - Many Indians eat poorly. Would a “right to food” help? | The Economist
    http://www.economist.com/node/18485871?fsrc=scn/tw/te/ar/indianexception

    But that cannot be the whole story. Astonishingly, a third of the wealthiest 20% of Indian children are malnourished, too, and they are neither poor nor excluded. Bad practice plays some part—notably a reluctance to breastfeed babies. There may also be an element of choice. Long ago, a study in Maharashtra showed that people spend only two-thirds of their extra income on food—and this is true whether they are middle-income or dirt-poor. That may seem perverse. But a mobile phone may be more useful to the poor than better food, since the phone may generate income during the next harvest failure, and good food will not.

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