India is a land of strange contrasts. To the international community it presents an image of a go-ahead country, with a successful and growing middle class; huge wealth; world-class hospitals, schools and universities; a massive and well-equipped military; its own space programme; a huge software industry; and no need of outside help.

Yet, beneath this success story, there is another India: 400 million people live below the official poverty line with 200 million exist in extreme poverty.

India now has a higher incidence of childhood malnutrition than sub-Saharan Africa – indeed, there are more malnourished children in India than the rest of the world put together. Caste and religious discrimination – although illegal – remain. Often government help intended for the poor never reaches them.