In the 17th edition of Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2022, released by Concern Worldwide and Welt Hunger Hilfe, non-government organisations (NGOs) from Ireland and Germany, respectively, on October 12, 2022, India stood at 107th position among 121 countries in the world with a score of 29.1 (on a scale from 0 to 100). Pakistan (99), Bangladesh (84), Nepal (81), and Sri Lanka (64) have all ranked better than India in the GHI. Afghanistan with a rank of 109 is the only country in South Asia behind India. With a score of 29.1, hunger situation in India has been labelled as ‘serious’. In 2021, India had been ranked 101 out of 116 countries while in 2020 the country was placed at 94th position.
However, the Government of India (GoI) rejected the GHI Report 2022 alleging it to be a deliberate attempt to taint the image of India, globally as the food security situation is significantly improving in India on account of a number of social sector interventions by the government. The government said that the publishing agencies of the report had not done their due diligence before releasing the report and there are certain concerns about the methodology used. The GoI had also rejected the GHI Report 2021 last year.
Understanding Hunger
Hunger is a condition of distress associated with the inability of a person to have enough food to meet the bodily requirement of sufficient calories intake every day to live a normal and healthy life. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations defines hunger or food deprivation or under-nourishment as the habitual (or chronic) consumption of too few calories to provide the minimum dietary energy requirement of an individual to live a healthy and productive life, given that person’s sex, age, stature, and physical activity level. At its most extreme, hunger can lead to starvation and famine. However, the understanding of hunger is not always limited to a mere lack of calories nor is it always deadly. There can be a phenomenon called hidden hunger as well which refers to a lack of essential vitamins and minerals in our food intake which is required by the human body. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), hidden hunger occurs when the quality of food people eat does not meet their essential nutrient requirements, so the food is deficient in micronutrients such as the vitamins and minerals that they need for their growth and development.
Hunger is one of the world’s major problems and, therefore, one of its most important challenges. According to the WHO, hunger and undernourishment form a vicious circle, which is often ‘passed on’ from generation to generation. The children of impoverished parents are often born underweight and are less resistant to disease; they grow up under conditions that impair their intellectual capacity for their whole lives.
Purpose of GHI
The GHI has been designed as a tool to comprehensively measure and track hunger and malnutrition at global, regional, and national levels. It is designed to raise awareness and understanding of the fight against hunger, and call attention to those areas of the world where hunger levels are highest and where the need for additional efforts to eliminate hunger is greatest.
Methodology
The GHI report bases its index on four parameters or component indicators of hunger, which are as follows:
- 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 five years of age 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.
- Undernourishment This indicator covers the share of the population with insufficient food intake due to a number of deprivations. In other words, it is the proportion of population which faces chronic deficiency of dietary energy intake.
Based on the values of the four indicators, a GHI score is calculated on a 100-point scale reflecting the severity of hunger in a country, where 0 is the best possible score (a case of no hunger) and 100 is the worst. Each country’s GHI score is classified by the degree of severity, from low to extremely alarming. A country with a GHI score of £9.9 is considered to have low severity of hunger. Similarly, GHI score of 10–19.9 is considered moderate, GHI score of 20–34.9 is considered serious, GHI score of 35–49.9 is considered alarming, and GHI score of ³50 is considered extremely alarming.
Taken together, the component indicators reflect deficiencies in calories intake as well as in the intake of micronutrients required by the human body. The report argues that these may result from a range of underlying factors, including household food insecurity; inadequate maternal health or childcare practices; or inadequate access to health services, safe water, and sanitation.
Regarding why the GHI uses three child-specific indicators (child mortality, child wasting, and child stunting) out of the four to calculate hunger for a country’s population, the website of the GHI explains, “By combining the proportion of undernourished in the population (with a one-third weightage in the GHI score) and three indicators relating to children (with the remaining two-third weightage), the GHI ensures that both the food supply situation of the population as a whole and the effects of inadequate nutrition within a particularly vulnerable subset of the population are captured.”
Key Findings of the Report
Global Scenario
- The global GHI score is 18.2, which is moderate but is slightly down from 19.1 of 2014 GHI. It appears that after decades of global hunger reduction, progress has nearly come to a standstill.
- At least 46 countries would fail to achieve even low hunger by 2030. All the three key drivers of hungers, i.e., climate change, violent conflict, and economic downturns, are worsening. The world faces a series of overlapping chronic and acute crises which expose vulnerabilities in the global food system and undermines progress in abolishing hunger.
- Climate change is a key factor that will prevent the world from achieving the second sustainable development goal (SDG-2) of ‘zero hunger’ by 2030.
- The COVID-19 pandemic worsened the economic plight of low-and middle-income countries, which slowed down economic growth, drove up prices for goods and services, and increased projected global poverty rates.
- Regionally, South Asia (with a score of 27.4) has the highest child stunting rate and the greatest child wasting rate, as per regional indicator values of GHI, 2022.
- Africa South of the Sahara has the second highest score of 27.
- West Asia and North Africa each has a score of 11.4.
- Latin America and Caribbean each has a GHI score of 8.8.
- East and Southeast Asia each has the score of 8.2.
- Europe and Central Asia each has the lowest score of 6.3.
Indian Scenario
The GHI Report 2022 has ranked India at 107 among 121 countries. Indian government rejected the findings of the report and stated that three out of the four indicators used for calculation of the index are related to health of children and thus do not represent the entire population of the country. The fourth and most important indicator, estimate of proportion of undernourished population, is based on Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES) survey module, an opinion poll conducted on a very small sample size of 3,000 respondents. For a country of India’s size, such a small sample is wrong and unethical. Some of the questions asked to the respondents were: “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 or you ate less than you thought you should? 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 to its population, rather, they are based on motivated objectives. The report seems not only disconnected from ground reality but also chooses to deliberately ignore efforts made by the Indian government to ensure food security for the population especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Food security programmes such as the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013, Public Distribution System (PDS), and PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (launched for ensuring food security of the vulnerable population amid COVID-19 pandemic) have been hailed as transformational initiatives in the direction of eliminating hunger in the country.
Apart from the indicator ‘undernourished population’, the three other indicators relate primarily to children, viz., stunting, wasting and under-five mortality. These indicators are outcomes of complex interactions of various other factors such as the availability of clean drinking water, sanitation facilities, genetics, surrounding environment and utilisation of food intake apart from hunger, which has been taken as the causative/outcome factor for stunting and wasting in children in India in the GHI Report. Estimating hunger situation for the entire population based on mainly indicators relating to health indicators of children is neither scientific nor rational.
The government also argued that a consistent effort is yet again visible to taint India’s image as a nation that does not fulfil the food security and nutritional requirements of its population. Misinformation seems to be the hallmark of the annually released GHI.
The government also said that given the unemployment problem in the economy as well as inflationary scenario prevailing simultaneously and stagnant wage-levels, people were able to consume what they should have. The COVID-19 pandemic-induced stress further added to the problem. As a result, hunger and malnutrition still remains a concern in the country.
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