India, which claims to be the world's fastest growing major economy, is also home to the largest number of stunted children in volume terms in the world, much ahead of smaller economies like Nigeria, Pakistan and Ethiopia.

Globally, around 159 million children under the age of 5, or one in every four children in this age group, are stunted and the major cause of this is repeated instances of diarrhea caused by unclean water. "Diarrhea diseases caused by dirty water and poor sanitation are the second biggest killer of children under five after pneumonia, taking 315,000 young lives ...