Global Hunger Index Ranks India at 101 out of 116 countries, ‘Unscientific Methodology’ Centre

The Global Hunger Index 2021 was launched on Thursday, October 14, 2021, and India was ranked at 101 positions among the 116 countries! India is also one of the 31 countries where the hunger crisis is serious. India’s rank last year was 94 among the 107 countries in the Global Hunger Index (GHI) released in 2020.

However, on Friday, October 15, 2021, the Indian government challenged and questioning the methodology used to rank the countries and called this procedure without any facts.

"Unscientific Methodology": Centre On India Slipping In #GlobalHungerIndex

Read more: https://t.co/AKHdRjanD7

NDTV's Anurag Dwary and Meher Pandey report pic.twitter.com/3JEJTZqecC

— NDTV (@ndtv) October 16, 2021

In a press statement by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, they said that the methodology used by the Global Hunger Report, Concern Worldwide, and Welt Hunger Hilfe, is unscientific. They further added that the results declared were based on an opinion poll conducted telephonically by Gallup. The opinion poll does not consist of a single question on the support provided by the government or some other sources.

According to the Global Hunger Index, there are only fifteen countries with lower ranks than India. In addition, India is behind its neighboring countries as well. Pakistan is ranked 92, Sri Lanka at 65, and Nepal, Bangladesh at 76.

FAO Reports

It is the FAO report, which is used to assess the undernourishment, which the government questioned. According to the FAO report, the prevalence of undernourishment in a country is calculated through habitual dietary energy intake levels, information on the population structure, and median height in each sex and age.

The report is based on different sources. These are-

1. The Undernourishment data is provided by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN
2.  The Child mortality data are sourced from the United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME)
3.  Child wasting and child stunting data are drawn from the joint database of UNICEF, the World Health Organization (WHO), and the World Bank, among others.

   GHI scores are based on the values of four component indicators- undernourishment, child wasting, child stunting, and child mortality. Based on the values of the four indicators. Hence, the GHI determines hunger on a 100-point scale, where zero is denoted as the best possible score (no hunger) and 100 is denoted as the worst. The government has contested the performance of these neighboring countries on the Index.

   World Food Day

   The way we produce, consume & waste food is taking a heavy toll on our planet.

   The power to change is in our hands.

   This is the moment to improve our relationship with food & make healthier choices — for ourselves, and our planet. #WorldFoodDay pic.twitter.com/aqcNsNA3eI

   — António Guterres (@antonioguterres) October 16, 2021

4.  

5. On World Food Day i.e. on October 16, the Secretary-General of the UN, advises everyone to not waste food. He urged everyone to join hands in providing healthy food to everyone.

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