Jacob Peenikaparambil – Article: According to the Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2021, India has slipped from 94th position to 101st position among 116 countries for which the report is prepared. In 2020, India was ranked 94th out of 107 countries. This year’s report shows that India is in the “alarming” category along with its neighbours Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal. Only 15 countries fared worse than India this year. India’s GHI score also decelerated from 38.8 in 2000 to the range of 28.8-27.5 between 2012 and 2021.
The report is prepared jointly by Irish aid agency Concern Worldwide and German organisation Welt Hunger Hilfe. The GHI score is calculated based on four indicators: undernourishment, child wasting (the share of children under the age of five who have low weight for their height, reflecting acute undernutrition), child stunting (children under the age of five who have low height for their age, reflecting chronic undernutrition and child mortality (the mortality rate of children under the age of five). The report has said that People have been severely hit by Covid 19 and by pandemic related restrictions in India.
Reacting to the report, the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development said on Friday, 15th November, that the report is “devoid of ground reality”.
Governments in most of the countries, irrespective of the party in power, have a tendency to play down or even hide their deficiencies and failures and highlight mainly their success. No government will be happy to admit its poor performance in the areas of poverty and unemployment reduction. At the same time, progress of any country depends on accepting facts revealed through collection and analysis of data periodically, in view of identifying governance deficiencies and finding suitable solutions.
Annual reports published by international and multilateral agencies like World Bank, IMF, UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) Oxfam, etc, are to be viewed by countries as showing the mirror to them so that they take appropriate action. The findings Global Hunger Index (GHI) published every year is to be considered by India from this perspective.
It is a paradox that a food surplus country like India comes under the “alarming” category with regard to hunger. In addition to surplus in food grains, India has been implementing for years flagship schemes like Public Distribution System (PDS) for which India spent 2.43 lakh core rupees in 2020-21, Mid Day Meal scheme (rechristened as PM POSHAN) with an annual spending of Rs. 24,400 crore rupees and Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS).
Instead of remaining in a denial mode, the government of India has to investigate whether the schemes meant for ending hunger are being implemented properly and whether the food materials are reaching the targeted groups. Implementation of these schemes needs strict monitoring and periodic evaluation in order to achieve the avowed goals. Putting the old wine in the new wineskins cannot be a substitute for effective delivery of the schemes.
Publication of the GHI 2021 is an occasion for the political parties ruling different states of India, especially for the BJP that has been in power at the centre since 2014, to introspect whether their policies are leading to the betterment of the life situation of the ordinary people. In any country there are many interest groups that compete among themselves to influence the government and access maximum resources and privileges. India has a law, National Food Security Act 2013, which ensures access to adequate quantities of food at affordable prices to people to live a life with dignity. Existence of a large number of people, around 14% of the Indian population, who are undernourished shows that India has failed in its responsibility to avail adequate food to all its citizens.
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