According to the Global Hunger Index Report released on October 12, India is ranked 111 out of 125 countries in the Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2023.
The GHI ranked Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka at 102, 81, 69, and 60, respectively. In 2022, India’s rank was 107 out of 121.
However, the Ministry of Child and Women Development said in a statement that, “GHI continues to be a flawed measure of hunger and does not reflect India’s true position. The index is an erroneous measure of hunger and suffers from serious methodological issues. Three out of the four indicators used for the calculation of the index are related to the health of children and cannot be representative of the entire population. The fourth and most important indicator Proportion of Undernourished population (PoU) is based on an opinion poll conducted on a very small sample size of 3,000”.
The GHI is a tool for comprehensively tracking down hunger at global, regional, and national levels. According to the GHI, south Asia and sub-saharan Africa have the highest hunger levels.
Also Read: India ranked lowest in South Asia in the Global Hunger Index
The 2023 GHI also showed that despite extensive efforts the fight against hunger continues. As the demand for food increases, UN officials say that up to 783 million people, one in 10 of the world’s population, go to bed hungry every night.
More than 345 million people are facing high levels of food insecurity this year. There is an increase of almost 200 million people from early 2021 before the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Indian government continues to prioritise nutrition initiatives. Over 1.39 million Anganwadi centres have joined the Poshan Tracker ICT application, assisting more than 100.3 million beneficiaries. The app uses the World Health Organisation’s tables to monitor child health metrics. Anganwadi workers have been trained nationwide on these growth measures, according to the official statement.
India introduced the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana in light of the pandemic-led economic disruptions, providing over 111.8 million tonnes of food grains in 28 months to nearly 800 million beneficiaries.
