Babies and the battle for the future: What India offers

Scaling India’s success stories nationally requires a coherent framework, and a willingness to be measured through independent evaluations

- PATRALEKHA CHATTERJEE

Amid soaring talk of Viksit Bharat—a developed, future-ready India—one critical truth is often overlooked: babies are at the heart of the battle for India’s future. Early childhood, especially the first thousand days of a child’ life, is a once-in-a-lifetime window. What happens in that time—what a baby eats, hears, sees, and feels—shapes the rest of his/her life. Nutrition, health care, protection from harm, a sense of safety, and rich interactions—talking, singing, playing—are not luxuries. They are the bedrock of physical growth and brain development.

Miss that window, and the consequences are lifelong. “When children miss out on this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” as UNICEF warns, “they pay the price in lost potential—dying before they have a chance to grow up, or going through life with poor physical and mental health, struggling to learn and, later, to earn a living” And when that happens, the country pays too.

A 2025 UNDP report, A Synthesis of Evidence on Early Childhood Development in India: Key Challenges and Pathways Forward, finds India’s early childhood development (ECD) services—covering children aged 0-6 years—have expanded in reach. However, major deficits remain: public spending is extremely low (e.g., crèche schemes take less than 1% of ministry budgets), and weak monitoring drags down service quality. Expanding access is necessary but not sufficient. Unless quality, equity, and financing are addressed, the promise of ECD will not be realised. Quality early childhood education increases high school graduation rates by 25% and bachelor’s degree completion fourfold, says the UN.

If India wants to compete, it must start where the future begins—with its youngest citizens.