Rising hunger

The Modi government cries foul as the Global Hunger Index report shows India slipping from last year’s ranking of 101 to 107 among 121 countries.

THE GLOBAL HUNGER INDEX report of 2022, published in mid October, shows India’s place to have fallen to 107 from the previous year’s 101, out of 121 countries. Once again, the Government of India has questioned the survey’s methodology and sample size and accused the authors, Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe, of bias. In a statement almost identical to that of last year, the Women and Child Development Ministry alleged that a consistent effort was on to tarnish India’s image.

GHI calculations are based on four indicators: undernourishment in adult and child populations, under-five mortality, stunting (low height for age), and wasting. Undernourishment, measured against adequacy of food access, was used as a lead indicator of international hunger eradication targets, including the

Sustainable Development Goal number 2. Child stunting and wasting went beyond adequate calorie availability and were used as indicators for child nutrition. Child mortality reflected the most serious consequence of hunger. Critics of the report argued that there was no concrete evidence to establish the connection between hunger and these four indicators.

For the 2022 report, data from 136 countries were analysed. There were sufficient data from 121 countries to calculate GHI scores and rank them. India was ranked 107 with a GHI score of 29.1, considered as “serious”. In South Asia, India was ahead of only Afghanistan (109).

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) describes undernourishment as the consumption of fewer calories than what an individual needs for a healthy and productive life. Taken together, the four parameters—undernourishment, child mortality, stunting, and wasting—reflect inadequate consumption of calories and micronutrient deficiencies. According to the authors of the report, the hunger index is meant to raise awareness and understanding of the problem and find ways to address it.

BIASED, SAYS GOVERNMENT

According to the Union government stunting, wasting, and under-five mortality are related to the health of children rather than that of the entire population. It also alleges that prevalence of undernourishment (POU) is calculated on the basis of an opinion poll with a very small sample size of 3,000.

The FAO estimates POU on the basis of the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES) Survey Module. The Women and Child Development Ministry says that given India’s size, the minuscule sample size used by the FIES is unacceptable and shows bias. The other three indicators, it says, are outcomes of complex interactions of factors apart from hunger: drinking water, sanitation, genetics, environment, and utilisation of food intake. Calculating hunger on the basis of indicators relating to the

A LITTLE GIRL eating an apple at a traffic signal in New Delhi in February 2015. India was at 55th position in the Global Hunger Index in 2015; it has slipped to 107th.