Alarming Hunger or Statistical Artefact?

Context: Low rank on Global Hunger Index (GHI) should push India to look again at its policies and interventions.

Background: India’s poor performance in GHI 2021

• In 2021, GHI, India ranked low: At 101 out of 116 countries for which reliable & comparable data exist.
• India's GHI score has decelerated: From 38.8 in 2000 to 28.8 - 27.5 between 2012 and 2021.
• India now ranked far below some of its neighbouring countries: Like Nepal (76), Bangladesh (76), Myanmar (71) and Pakistan (92).
• Only solace – Fall in child mortality: India’s child mortality rate has been lower compared to Sub-Saharan African countries despite it having higher levels of stunting.
  • This is on back of availability of and access to better health facilities.

Criticisms against GHI methodology

• Data inadequacies: GHI suffers from inherent data limitations such as outdated sources, discrepancies etc.
• Over emphasis on under-nutrition: GHI is largely children-oriented with a higher emphasis on undernutrition than on hunger and its hidden forms, including micronutrient deficiencies.
• Issues with calorie insufficiency component: Lower calorie intake does not necessarily mean deficiency.
  • It may also stem from reduced physical activity, better social infrastructure (road, transport and healthcare) and access to energy-saving appliances at home.
    • ‘Physical disease environment’ at State level also significantly influences calorie intake.
  • Regional imbalances are overlooked: From this vantage point,
    • Overestimation: A large proportion of population in Kerala and Tamil Nadu may get counted as calorie deficient despite them being better in nutritional outcome indicators.
    • Underestimation: Case of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, which have a higher average level of calorie intake, but fares poorly due to high prevalence of communicable diseases and low level of mechanisation in economy, might underestimate the prevalence of calorie deficiency.

India’s continuing poverty and hunger problem

• Dismal performance in child undernutrition: Child stunting in India declined from 54.2% in 1998–2002 to 34.7% in 2016-2020 (Not satisfactory), whereas child wasting remains around 17% throughout the two decades of the 21st century.
• Policy gaps exaggerated amidst pandemic: During pandemic, Integrated Child Development Scheme services were either non-functional or severely disrupted, partly because the staff and services were utilised to attend to COVID-19 emergency.
  • COVID-19 pandemic likely to further exacerbate the numbers.
• Regression in economic prospects: National Sample Survey Office, leaked report of 2019 indicated that consumption expenditure in India declined between 2011-12 and 2017-18 by 4%.
  • In rural India, it was worse at about 10% per annum.

Conclusion: This ranking should prompt us to look at our policy focus and interventions and ensure that they can effectively address the concerns raised by the GHI, especially against pandemic-induced nutrition insecurity.