India, Sept. 4 -- India has begun to say the right things about early childhood. Earlier this year, the ministry of women and child development called Early Childhood Care and Education a "foundational pillar" of Viksit Bharat @2047. But our budgets still tell a different story.

India spends less than 0.1% of its GDP on early childhood care and education. In this restricted budget, the country continues to offer poor quality early childcare, losing millions of under five children to compromised developmental potential from poverty and stunting. As India targets a $5 trillion economy, its most critical infrastructure gap is not physical or digital. It is human capital. And human capital is built, or lost, in the first 1,000 days of life....