I feel greatly honoured to be here with you today for the Dedication of the Nutrition Foundation of India to the nation.  This dedication is in recognition and appreciation of the important role that the Nutrition Foundation has played and is playing for the promotion of the welfare of our people.   

Dr.  Gopalan has been a pioneer in this field and is one of our most distinguished scientists.  His valuable contributions have been widely recognised, nationally and internationally.  He has not only significantly contributed to the advancement of science but has also distinguished himself as a great institution‑builder, as is shown by his dedicated work at the National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad, at the Indian Council of Medical Research, Delhi and now at the Nutrition Foundation of India for the last 15 years.   

May I, first of all, congratulate Dr.  Gopalan and his colleagues for the contribution they have made to the health of our nation.  When we look back at our history we will realize how enormous an achievement this has been.   

According to historical records during the first quarter of British rule in India, there were 5 famines in the country; during the next quarter there were 6 famines with an estimated loss of 5 million lives; during the last quarter there were 18 famines with an estimated loss of about 15 million lives.   

When we compare these earlier experiences with our present record of achieving self‑sufficiency in foodgrains, it would be realised what a revolutionary change had come about in India after Independence.  Of course, we still have nutritional deprivation among sections of our population due to unequal distribution of food grains, and lack of purchasing power in the hands of the poor.  If this was not the case, the slogan:  "Two rupees for a kilogram of rice" would not have had such an impact.   

While we have achieved self‑sufficiency with respect to food grains, the nutritional standards of our people stand in need of improvement.  What we now need after the successful Green Revolution is a 'Nutrition Revolution' to make our people healthy and happy.  It is towards this revolution that Dr. Gopalan and his colleagues, with other scientists in the field of health care, have been striving with dedication.   

When we talk about nutrition, we tend to forget that nutrition is not merely a matter of food, nor even just a matter of nutrients.  In fact, nutrition is the key to national development.  Good nutrition is a reflection of good socio‑economic development.  It is on the basis of this broad concept that our scientists, particularly nutrition scientists, have been working in our country.   

The task of achieving nutritional adequacy is particularly important with respect to our women and children.  We now know that malnutrition in expectant mothers has an important influence on the health of infant.  It has been established on the basis of scientific studies that malnutrition in expectant mothers could result in far‑reaching effects including degenerative diseases in children later in adult life.  Ensuring the health of mothers and children is of the utmost importance.  It is sad that as per some reports two‑thirds of our women are undernourished and one out of every three preschool children suffer from severe malnutrition.  The nutritional status of our women is very low and this is an unacceptable situation.  Traditionally, women in our country have been less well‑fed than our men folk.  It is high time that we give special attention to this disturbing factor.   

The integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) programme in our country is the largest child welfare programme in the world.  However, there are several missing links with regard to the implementation of this major programme.  I know that people's participation is one of the important elements that is absent.  Perhaps, mothers in our villages feel that allowing their children to go to the anganwadi by itself amounts to "participation". But what we really need is a more active participation by the community.   

Community participation is not an easy thing to achieve.  Communities, people in a village or in a small town or even in an individual slum, are often bound socially and grouped on the basis of caste, religion and region. Therefore, to organise and to mobilise communities to participate in the nutrition programmes becomes a major challenge in our country.  Successful mobilisation of the community would necessarily call for social changes which will break current barriers between the communities.  In this task of bringing about desirable social change and changes in attitudes voluntary organisations have an important role to play.   

We often refer to the 'public sector' and the 'private sector' There is also a third sector which is emerging in importance in the world of today namely, the 'social sector'.  Nutrition, health, education and programmes related to human development, all belong to this 'social sector'.  Education and health of women are the key to social development in any country.  In Kerala, it has been found, that given the same levels of family income, children of families wherein the mothers are educated are better off from the point of view of their health and nutrition than those of families wherein mothers are uneducated.  Apparently, educated mothers manage to give more nutritious food to their children than uneducated mothers with the same level of income.  Infant mortality rates in families with educated mothers are low. Education of mothers has thus a far reaching effect on the family and society.   

Women's education, health and nutrition are interrelated and must receive top priority.  In every crisis, in every war, those who suffer most are women and children.  It is this group that stands in need of special protection.   

I am sure that the Nutrition Foundation of India will continue its good work, and indeed will further intensify its efforts towards the improvement of the health of our people and towards overcoming the problems of malnutrition in our country.  We look to this Foundation for important scientific and practical ideas to combat the problems of undernutrition and ill health from which our people suffer, and to act as the spearhead of a National Nutrition Movement.  I am confident that the Foundation's contributions will prove most valuable to our people.   

In dedicating this Institution to the nation, today, I wish the Foundation every success in the great tasks that lie ahead.   

Thank you.