How hungry is India?
This post has been authored by Shwetha Vincent and Anjan Kumar, Research Analyst Interns at Arthashastra Intelligence
The recent Global hunger index report 2021 is making headlines in media. So, why is everyone talking about it? Why has the report become a point of contention in India?
In the midst of the pandemic and rising gap between the wealthy and poor, the government faltered in a major component of economic development — “Hunger of poor”. The recent Global Hunger Index report 2021 confirms this. India was placed at 101 out of 116 countries in the report (below its South East Asian neighbors). It stated India\’s position as “serious”. So, what did the report actually say? Does India really have a serious hunger problem? Let\’s see the big picture with data.
Global Hunger Index report considers three factors — Child under-nutrition, Inadequate food supply, Child mortality. Every factor contributes one-third part of the index marking. The countries are then categorized into low (<9.9), moderate(10.0-19.9), serious (20-34.9), alarming (35.0-49.9) and extremely alarming (>50) as per their markings. The country which does the worst in the given parameters (in this case Somalia) is considered as a base index and the other countries are ranked accordingly. India has now been placed in the serious category with a score of 27.5. The peer reviewed report is jointly published by Concern Worldwide and Welt Hunger Hilfe, a well reputed and most trusted institutions.
The report suggests India\’s child wasting index(17.3) has been the highest among the nations and child stunting index(34.7) portraying a threat to future generations. India has substantially progressed towards a decline in the proportion of child stunting (54.2 in 1998-1999) but an index of 34.7 in today\’s world is considered as a high. Recent survey by National Nutritional Monitoring Bureau (NNMB) and the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) confirmed the decrease in average height of adults in India and stated it as alarming. In comparison with our neighbors, Bhutan and Bangladesh, India has performed poorly in these areas. The report also painted a picture on the whole of South Asia’s inadequacies in the indices of child wasting and child stunting. It stated half and one-third of the children were under-weight and under-height. The Union Ministry of Women and Child development of India has called the report as “unscientific”. They stated that the report didn’t consider the per-capita availability of food during the lockdown period, which is true. The report considered the past data of UNICEF, WHO, World Bank, FAO, UNIGME and author\’s estimates. The resources so used didn\’t consider the effects that COVID-19 had in the previous two years.
In our opinion, the report is a little harsh and doesn’t show the ground reality. It does not consider the statewide disparities of the components in India. Food supply, hunger, nutrition food and healthcare vary sharply from region to region. Without a comprehensive survey, the ranking may not show a true picture. Furthermore, the rank ratio, when compared with previous year’s (2020) rank ratio, has not changed. This shows us two possibilities: either there was no improvement at all, or the COVID-19 has aggravated the decline of improvement made in the year. Unfortunately, the report doesn’t state any of this. But what it shows is the lack of required proteins and vitamins in Indian genetics, i.e. iron, zinc, vitamin B12,D etc.
HCL technologies founder-chairman Shiv Nadar in an RSS event spoke about the voluntary inclusion of protein food, i.e. meat in midday meal scheme for children. If implemented, India could see an improvement in the quality of index. Moreover, the report depicts the decline in the economy and its effects on household incomes (mostly those who work in informal and unorganized sector) which has a multiplier effect on poverty and hunger. With such grimy picture, the government should get to the root of the issue and implement sustainable, big budget policies for the needy and poor.