India has claims to many firsts, some on the wrong side; one being the highest proportion of malnourished children in the world, higher than several of the poorer Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries. Panagariya (2013) hypothesises that it is the flawed measurement methodology which is responsible for the reported high prevalence of malnutrition in Indian children (p 98). He further avers that Indian children may never attain the goals as per the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) standards as their genetic potential to grow is limited. We argue here that his conclusions are unwarranted as they are based on inappropriate comparisons and a lack of appreciation of the determinants of child growth.
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