This is a consistent effort to taint India’s image as a Nation that does not fulfill the food security and nutritional requirements of its population. Misinformation seems to be the hallmark of the annually released Global Hunger Index.
India scored rank of 111 out of 125 countries in the Global Hunger Index 2023, while it ranked 107 out of 121 countries in 2022. The report is compiled by Welthungerhilfe and Concern Worldwide. India has scored 28.7 in 2023 lower than the 2022 score of 29.1, a level of hunger that is serious.
Indicator used to calculate score:
Undernourishment: the share of the population with insufficient caloric intake.
Child stunting: the share of children under age five who have low height for their age, reflecting chronic undernutrition.
Child wasting: the share of children under age five who have low weight for their height, reflecting acute undernutrition.
Child mortality: the share of children who die before their fifth birthday, partly reflecting the fatal mix of inadequate nutrition and unhealthy environments.
Error and Issue in the Index:
Three out of the four indicators used for calculation of the index are related to health of Children and cannot be representative of the entire population. Calculating hunger based on mainly indicators relating to health indicators of children is neither scientific nor rational.
The fourth and most important indicator estimate of Proportion of Undernourished (PoU) population is based on an opinion poll conducted on a very small sample size of 3000. It is too small to represent India's 1.3 billion population.
For example, GHI claims that 18.7% of kids under are wasted. But the Poshan Tracker app shows it's actually 6.3%.Renowned global organisations like UNICEF, WHO, and the World Bank have lauded the Poshan Tracker as a nutrition game-changer.
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GHI claims India's hunger score has worsened since 2014, but data from Food & Agriculture Organization of the United Nations shows India's hunger score has actually improved since 2014.
Some of the questions asked to the respondent are:
“During the last 12 months, was there a time when, because of lack of money or other resources: You were worried you would not have enough food to eat? You ate less than you thought you should?
It is evident such questions do not search for facts based on relevant information about the delivery of nutritional support and assurance of food security by the Government.
The per capita dietary energy supply in India, as estimated by FAO from the Food Balance Sheets, has been increasing year-on-year owing to enhanced production of major agricultural commodities in the country over the years and there is absolutely no reason why the country’s undernourishment levels should increase.
Outdated data: GHI report deployed outdated data sourced from international agencies and did not rely on latest data available in the country.
FAO has further ignored fact that the Indian government distributed free food grains to 80 crore National Food Security Act beneficiaries under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojna.
Progress under following schemes have also been ignored:
𝗣𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗰 𝗗𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗯𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗦𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺: PDS provides subsidized food to millions. In 2022-23, 1121 lakh metric tonnes of foodgrains allocated to States/UTs.
𝗠𝗶𝗱-𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝗠𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗦𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗺𝗲: It provides free meals to school children, covered over 12.2 crore children.
𝗣𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗶 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝗿𝘂 𝗩𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗻𝗮 𝗬𝗼𝗷𝗮𝗻𝗮 (𝗣𝗠𝗠𝗩𝗬): This scheme provides cash incentives to pregnant women and new mothers. In 2022-23, over 2.3 crore women benefited from the PMMVY.
Shockingly, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka, have improved on this indicator during the triennium period 2018-20, while India was shown with a low score. The GHI's ranking of India is unfair and inaccurate. It is based on a flawed methodology, a small sample size, and outdated data. It is also misleading because it does not take into account India's progress in reducing hunger in recent years. Thus, the assessment made by FAO does not reflect the ground reality and is not worthy of consideration.
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