KOLKATA, 12 JAN: A day after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh released a survey report which put 42 per cent of India's children under 5 years as malnourished; the principal advisor to the Planning Commission, Mr Pronab Sen, today said that poverty was not the sole reason for this “national shame”. “Malnourishment among children in the country is not due to only poverty. There are a sizeable number of malnourished children among the middle class and among those living in the urban areas,” Mr Sen said, while speaking at an interactive session organised by the Bharat Chamber of Commerce in Kolkata today. “This may be because what the mother-in-law asks her daughter-in-law to feed the children is wrong. There is lack of adequate information about nutritious food that should be served to children,” Mr Sen said. He said of the 42 per cent malnourished children that India presently has, at least 30 per cent would be from the urban middle class families. Referring to food inflation, which is now in the negative zone for the first time after several months, the Planning Commission's principal advisor said that by March-April, food inflation in the country will rise again. “My take is, by March-April the food inflation will again hover around 7 to 8 per cent. But this should not be a cause for worry as long as it does not spiral over to non-food inflation,” he said. To check food inflation, steps should be taken on the supply-side management and the logistics for food items should be augmented, Mr Sen said.