Aid Scam Sees Indian Children Go Hungry

Widespread abuse of India's food aid programme, which is meant to be a lifeline for the country's poor, has been uncovered by an exclusive Sky News investigation.

Ration packs for millions of undernourished children are being systematically stolen and sold on the black market as animal feed.

A man we tracked down, who was supposed to deliver the aid, claimed that villages do not want the food - and so he stole the vital supplies he was supposed to hand out to the most needy.

He also claimed officials in the state of Maharashtra were involved in the illegal practice, but the police did nothing.

The man, Nasru, told me: "It is not only us who are involved in this - even the officials running the programmes are selling the food."

India has one of the biggest food aid programmes in the world.

The country also has more malnourished children than sub-Saharan Africa, according to Unicef, and it has a devastating effect on the population.

Almost two million children die every year due to the wasting effects of malnourishment and more than one third of the world's undernourished children live in India.

The children who are worst affected live in rural areas.

We travelled to one village where malnourishment has claimed many lives.

Nawal and his wife Parwati's three-year-old son died after lack of food left him weak, he says. He blames the government.

India has a fast-developing economy, but its new-found wealth is not benefiting the poor.

Some 43% of Indian children under the age of five are underweight and 48%, which amounts to 61 million children, are stunted due to chronic under-nutrition.

That means India accounts for more than three out of every 10 stunted children in the world.

The fact food aid is being stolen when it is so badly needed is infuriating medical workers.

Dr Ashish Satav runs a clinic near Dhani for the rural poor.

Many of his patients do not live beyond childhood.

"There is huge government corruption in the distribution system," he says.

"The food which is supposed to be given at concessional rates to the poor families is being stolen.

"It is being diverted and sold in open markets by the people (who are) supposed to distribute it to the poor families."

India can easily afford to feed its people.

Its economy has grown by 8-10% every year for the last decade but widespread corruption means many of its people remain underfed.

Earlier this year the British government decided to continue giving £280m a year in aid money to India until 2015 , despite criticism that India's own government spends larges sums on projects such as a space programme.