40 million children in India under the age of 5 are stunted. This, despite having the largest health-spending program in the world. A recent study found that despite stunting going down marginally, it is not in line with the amount the Indian government spends on healthcare. Experts say it is lack of coordination that has led to this dismal situation and a healthy India should now be the Indian government’s top priority.

Indian children’s health is not improving fast enough. A recent shows dismal figures. 38.7 percent children under the age of 5 are stunted in India, 19.8 per cent are either underweight or short and 42.4 per cent are underweight.

India Health Report for Nutrition security 2015 done by Public Health Foundation of India shows that though the figures have marginally improved, it is nowhere close to the money spent.

Doctor Sutapa Agrawal from the public health foundation of India says, India needs to take care of its children at a war footing.

"Just focus on nutrition good nutrition and healthy hygiene practices - these two are the basic things, leave aside development, everything is going on fine but you are not giving proper nutrition during pregnancy and proper nutrition to the child for so many factors," Dr. Sutapa Agrawal, epidemiologist of Public Health Foundation of India, said.

India has a 40-year-old national child health programme that has seen a massive 200 per cent increase in it’s budget in the last one decade.

The reason for the bad health of India’s children is not just lack of nutrition, its also hygiene – for instance sanitation, clean drinking water are other reasons why children catch so many diseases.

The study also analyses cultural practices and high prices, which have contributed to bad nutrition. But one of the major reasons is many ministries and departments and lack of coordination between them.

Child and women development, health ministry and many other departments are responsible for the schemes, leading to lack of accountability and coordination.

"We allocated a huge amount of money for different departments and then they go in their own directions, I think what exactly we are trying and aspiring to deliver, we will not be able to deliver. So it actually requires introspection first and then based on that observations and findings. If we can set up a kind of coordination mechanism and make each concerned department accountable to what they are supposed to deliver, we can see a remarkable change in the scenario," Manav Ray, convenor of Save The Children India, said.

India’s health program called Integrated Child Development Scheme is one of the largest in the world….and it had impacted the lives of millions of children. In 2013, a larger scheme called the National Health Mission was launched. Though the money in the scheme has gone up, India’s children are far from healthy.

Adding to the troubles are issues like adolescent mothers, lack of proper nutrition of mothers and anaemia, which has become a major health challenge.

Policy makers and experts say, for a young country like India, building India’s future means, first making sure its children are healthy. an area it needs to pay attention to, at the earliest.