The chest-thumping around the vision of a $5 trillion economy for India has no meaning if it doesn’t touch the poorest and the deprived in a positive way (OpEd page, “The malaise of malnutrition”, July 10) The grim fact that only 16% of funds allocated under POSHAN Abhiyaan was used by governments betrays the sheer insensitivity of the authorities towards the malnutrition-afflicted. The cascading tendency of a transmission of poverty from mother to children continues, which is proof enough that the government’s efforts have had only peripheral impact.

Ayyasseri Raveendranath,

Aranmula, Kerala

The inherited dehumanising poverty explains the persistence of malnutrition on a large scale. Children born in impecunious circumstances suffer the most from malnutrition. It is all the more reason for governments to intervene to provide adequate nutrition to all. Funds for food to all yield great returns and help in unlocking the full potential of citizens besides strengthening the workforce. Governance can be termed ‘good’ only when it banishes hunger and starvation. The poor must also be valued like the rest of the population since attaching less value to their lives is one unstated reason why their nutritional needs are not taken care of as they should be.

G. David Milton,

Maruthancode, Tamil Nadu