Having done relief work in southern India, I can tell you flat out that this scholar is leaving out a big part of the picture. Huge portions of the population of the Indian subcontinent are living in extreme poverty, with little to no sanitation, poor medical facilities, an almost complete absence of natal and pre-natal care, and the prevalence of a number of devastating tropical diseases, including malaria among others.To blame the inability of children to thrive in this environment completely upon vegetarian diet is incomplete science at best.