New Delhi, Mar 5 (PTI) CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury on Tuesday slammed the Centre over a study that said India's prevalence of "zero-food children" who have not eaten anything over a 24-hour period, assessed through snapshot surveys, is comparable to the situation in some African nations.

The CPI(M) leader also accused the Centre of "propaganda of poverty reduction".

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"Such is the pathetic heart-rending reality of our children! This nails the lie of Modi propaganda of poverty reduction and economic prosperity," Yechury said in a post on X, sharing a news report on the study.

"Indeed a shame to rank marginally above only two countries in the world -- Guinea and Mali. Pakistan and Bangladesh way above India," he said.

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According to a news report, a study that used data from the Union Health Ministry's National Family Health Survey for 2019-2021 estimated India's prevalence of "zero-food children" at 19.3 per cent -- the third highest after Guinea's 21.8 per cent and Mali's 20.5 per cent.

The report put the prevalence of "zero-food children" at 9.2 per cent in Pakistan and 5.6 per cent in Bangladesh.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)