India at 101/116 in Global Hunger Index; method flawed, says Smriti Irani
The Index is based on four indicators - Undernourishment, Child Stunting, Child Wasting and Child Mortality; of these, only undernourishment is directly related to hunger, said the Union Minister
India’s ranking of 101 among 116 countries in the Global Hunger lndex 2021 report has been completely debunked by Smriti Irani Union Minister of Women and Child Development. She termed the Global Hunger Index (GHI) report, in which India’s score was a low 27.5, as “flawed” and hit out at their method and quoted National Family Health Survey (NFHS) results to drive home her point.
Replying to a question in Parliament on the ‘Position of India in the Global Hunger Index’, Irani slammed the GHI as being a flawed measure of ‘Hunger’ and not reflecting India’s true picture.
“It should not be taken at face value as it is neither appropriate nor representative of hunger prevalent in a country,” she added, questioning the method followed by ‘Welthungerhilfe’ and ‘Concern Worldwide’ while preparing the GHI report.
The GHI is based on four indicators – Undernourishment, Child Stunting, Child Wasting and Child Mortality. Out of its four indicators, only one indicator, i.e., undernourishment, is directly related to hunger, she said.
“The two other indicators, namely, Stunting and Wasting, are outcomes of complex interactions of various other factors like sanitation, genetics, environment and utilisation of food intake apart from hunger, which is taken as the causative/outcome factor for stunting and wasting in the GHI,” the Minister pointed out in a written reply to a query in the Lok Sabha raised by another MP, Mahesh Sahoo. There is hardly any evidence the fourth indicator, namely, Child Mortality, is an outcome of hunger, she added.
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Not backed by recent data
Secondly, Irani, said the GHI report deployed outdated data sourced from international agencies and did not rely on latest data available in the country.
The Minister quoted the case of the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), which has depended on the results of an opinion poll conducted telephonically for compiling data for the indicator ‘Prevalence of Undernourishment’. Moreover, she said, the FAO has further ignored the fact that the Indian government distributed free food grains to 80 crore National Food Security Act beneficiaries under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojna.
Instead, the FAO has given an “unacceptable estimate” for India for the triennium period 2018-20. Though India did not encounter any major challenges in food production and supply in the recent past, which would adversely affect the ‘Prevalence of Undernourished’ score, she argued.
Irani was surprised that 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. This seemed to signify that these countries did not suffer at all by COVID-19 pandemic induced loss of job/business and reduction in income levels.
“These are counterintuitive in view of higher mortality rates due to COVID-19 in two countries during 2020. Thus, the assessment made by FAO does not reflect the ground reality and is not worthy of consideration,” she said, dismissing the FAO’s estimates.
NFHS data shows a decline
The minister turned to the Centre-collated NFHS data, which draws an entirely different picture. In her view, the figures were showing a decrease in these indicators.
As per the latest report of NFHS, i.e., NFHS-5 (2019-21), child stunting in the country has decreased from 38.4 per cent (NFHS-4, 2015-16) to 35.5 per cent (NFHS-5, 2019-21) and child wasting has dropped from 21.0 per cent (NFHS-4, 2015-16) to 19.3 per cent (NFHS-5, 2019-21). Also, the percentage of under-weight children has also gone down from 35.8 per cent (NFHS-4, 2015-16) to 32.1 per cent (NFHS-5, 2019-21), she quoted.
Govt tackles malnutrition in women and children
To the other questions raised by Sahoo on what action the government has taken to tackle the issue of under nourishment of women and children and check malnourishment deaths in the country, Irani listed out several schemes like Anganwadi Services, Scheme for Adolescent Girls and the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY).
According to her, children with severe acute malnutrition (SAM) are treated at the Health Ministry-run Nutrition Rehabilitation Centres.
Further, POSHAN Abhiyaan, an initiative launched on March 8, 2018, aims to reduce malnutrition in the country in a phased manner. Steps have been taken to improve nutritional quality and testing in accredited labs, strengthen delivery and leverage technology under Poshan Tracker to improve governance, she said, pointing out that states/UTs have been advised to promote use of AYUSH systems to prevent malnutrition and related diseases.
Malnutrition not a direct cause of death
In her view, malnutrition is not a direct cause of death among children under five years of age. However, she agreed that it can increase morbidity and mortality by reducing resistance to infections. “Malnourished children are more vulnerable to any infection than normal children. However, the overall under five child mortality rate has reduced from 49.7 (according to NFHS-4, 2015-16) to 41.9 (in NFHS-5, 2019-21),” Smriti Irani said pulling out NFHS data to prove her point.