Context:

• India ranked 111th out of 125 countries in the Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2023.

More on News:

• According to the report, the compounding impacts of climate change, conflicts, economic shocks, the global pandemic, and the Russia-Ukraine war have exacerbated social and economic inequalities and slowed or reversed previous progress in reducing hunger in many countries.
• The 2023 GHI score for the world is 18.3, which is considered moderate.

About Global Hunger Index 2023:

• Objective: To comprehensively measure and track global, regional, and national hunger.
• Published by: Concern Worldwide and Welt Hunger Hilfe
• Significance: The report attempts to “raise awareness of United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 2 (SDG 2) that endeavors to achieve ‘Zero Hunger’ by 2030.
• Scores: The GHI score is calculated on a 100-point scale reflecting the severity of hunger, where zero is the best score (no hunger) and 100 is the worst.

Key Findings: India Specific

• India has a score of 28.7, indicating a serious level of hunger. 
• India came after neighboring countries Pakistan (102nd), Bangladesh (81st), Nepal (69th) and Sri Lanka (60th). 
  • However, India fared better than South Asia and Africa South of the Sahara, which recorded a score of 27 each.

• Performance on Various Parameters:
  • Rate of undernourishment: 16.6 percent 
  • Under-five mortality:  3.1 percent,
  • Prevalence of anemia in women aged between 15 and 24 years: 58.1 percen
  • Child wasting rate in the world: 18.7
  • India made significant progress  between 2000 and 2015, with its score improving from 38.4 in 2000 to 35.5 in 2008 and 29.2 in 2015, over the past eight years, the country has advanced on the GHI by only 0.5 points.

Government initiatives to Combat hunger:

• Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY):The Central Government launched PMGKAY with the specific purpose of ameliorating the hardships faced by the poor and needy due to economic disruptions caused by the COVID-19.
• National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013: The Act provides for coverage of upto 75% of the rural population and upto 50% of the urban population for receiving subsidized foodgrains under Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS), thus covering about two-thirds of the population.
• Mission Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0:  It is an Integrated Nutrition Support Programme to address the challenges of malnutrition in children, adolescent girls, pregnant women and lactating mothers.
• The Zero Hunger Programme: It aims to decrease child stunting for children 2 years and younger,Ensure access to food all year round and Create stable food systems.
• Eat Right India Movement: The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India started the Eat Right India movement to ensure that the Indian population has access to healthy and safe food.

Critique of Global Hunger Index:

The Ministry of Women and Child Development not only dismissed the GHI but also questioned the intent of its authors. An official statement has described the report as part of a “consistent effort’’ to “taint India’s image”.

• Methodological Issues: Three of the four indicators used for calculating the index are related to children’s health and cannot be representative of the entire population. 
• Limited Sample Size: The fourth and most important indicator ‘Proportion of Undernourished (PoU) population’ is based on an opinion poll conducted on a very small sample size of 3,000.
• Source of Data: Data used in the Global Hunger Index report are sourced from international agencies which are not updated as per the latest data available in the country.
  • For Example The percentage of child wasting, as seen on the Poshan Tracker, has been consistently below 7.2%, month-on-month, as compared to the value of 18.7% used for child wasting in the Global Hunger Index 2023.
• Inconsistent Evidence: There is hardly any evidence that child mortality (one of four indicators) results from hunger.
• Variations: The experts also claim that in India children and adults have more petite body frames, which is why overweight and obesity classification is different (lower cut-off for Asians). The same argument would also apply to children.

Way Forward:

• Consensus on a definition of Hunger and parameters: a new Index could be developed following consensus on a definition of hunger and objectives. 
  • The following four indicators may be used to construct the Hunger Index: percent food insecure population; percent undernourishment population; dietary intake of major food commodities.
• Improved Methodology: Various statistical techniques are available to finalize weights. Empirical studies should be conducted to assign appropriate weights to different indicators. 
• Inclusive Governance: Put inclusive governance and accountability at the center of efforts to transform food systems.
  • For Example: Improve  public distribution and civil supplies network especially the local rationing system. People should have the option to at least take a minimum amount of wheat, rice, salt and other requisite items without Aadhaar also.
• Scale up resources to address pressing humanitarian needs, while transforming food systems to make them resilient to shocks.
• Improved Implementation of Social Welfare Schemes: India has demonstrated significant political will to transform the food and nutrition landscape. Some examples are the National Food Security Act, Poshan Abhiyan (National Nutrition Mission), PM Garib Kalyan Yojna and National Mission for Natural Farming. However, there is still room for improvement.
• Real-time Data and Trackers: Efforts should be channelized to make data available in real-time through The Poshan Tracker, known as the ICDS-CAS (Integrated Child Development Services-Common Application Software to ensure the nutritional management of beneficiaries.

Conclusion:

• We should think about the ultimate goal of nutrition security rather than just food security.
• Nutrition security pertains to the individual, we must recognise that there are multiple factors that influence how we achieve it — and the responsibility for taking action spans jurisdictional levels from the community, to the nation, to the world.  

News Source: The Hindu

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