The government of India and the Unicef today launched a five-year (2008-2012) action plan to help India combat the challenges of excessive malnutrition, high infant and maternal mortality rates, lack of quality education, safe water and sanitation. With seven years to go for the realisation of millennium development goals (MDGs), India is way off in terms of eradicating extreme hunger and poverty with 34.3 per cent of its people still live on less than one dollar a day. Disturbing also is the persistently high percentage of underweight children under three. The numbers fell by only one per cent from 47 in 1998-99 to 45.9 in 2005-2006 - a significant distance to the MDG target of 25.8 per cent. Small surprise that child malnutrition found a prominent mention today from Karin Hulshof, representative, Unicef India, who said: "India's responsibility - with one-fifth of the world's children - is special. Today