Global Hunger Index 'faulty', prepared to 'defame India': RSS body

The Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM), an affiliate of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) on Sunday (October 16) termed the 2022 Global Hunger Index report “irresponsible and mischievous” and urged the Union government to take action against its publishers for “defaming” India.

India was ranked 107 out of 121 countries in the Global Hunger Index 2022, much behind its South Asia neighbours, with the child wasting rate at 19.3%, the highest in the world.

The report was recently released by Concern Worldwide and Welt Hunger Hilfe, non-government organisations from Ireland and Germany respectively.

Also read: India’s poor GHI score: What is Global Hunger Index and how is it calculated?

“The German non-governmental organization Welt Hunger Hilfe has once again released the ranking of 121 countries based on the World Hunger Index, prepared in a very irresponsible way to defame India,” the SJM said, reacting to the report.

“Far from reality, this report is not only faulty but also ridiculous not only from the point of view of data, but also from the point of view of analysis and methodology. Earlier in October last year, India was ranked 101 in the list of 116 countries,” it added.

The SJM asserted that India had firmly opposed Global Hunger Index released last year in October, and had questioned the data and methodology used in the evaluation of the country.

Also read: Global Hunger Index method flawed, says Smriti Irani

“The World Food Organization (FAO) had then said these errors would be corrected. But once again using the same wrong data and methodology, this year’s report has been released,” it said.

The 2022 Global Hunger Index makes malafide intention of its publishers clear, it charged.

“Swadeshi Jagran Manch once again expresses its anguish against this report and urges upon the government to reject this report and take appropriate action against the organisations, which is defaming India by spreading falsehood about India’s food security,” SJM said in a statement.

What Centre said

On Saturday, the Centre rejected the report’s findings, alleging it is an effort to taint the country’s image and the index suffers from serious methodological issues and is an “erroneous measure” of hunger.

“A consistent effort is yet again visible to taint India’s image as a Nation that does not fulfill the food security and nutritional requirements of its population. Misinformation seems to be the hallmark of the annually released Global Hunger Index,” the government said in a statement.

“The index is an erroneous measure of hunger and suffers from serious methodological issues. Three out of the four indicators used for calculation of the index are related to health of Children and cannot be representative of the entire population. The fourth and most important indicator estimate of Proportion of Undernourished (PoU) population is based on an opinion poll conducted on a very small sample size of 3,000,” it added.

Further, the government said, “The report is not only disconnected from ground reality but also chooses to deliberately ignore efforts made by the Government to ensure food Security for the population, especially during the Covid Pandemic.”