India experts hit back at government’s hunger report criticism
- Analysts say government seems caught up in the contradiction of a fast-growing economy when malnutrition, food insecurity remain high
- ‘We could debate the methodology’ of the report ‘but calling it misinformation is not factually correct’, said one
The Indian government may have dismissed the country’s poor ranking in a new global hunger report, but experts say the results reflect the malnutrition and food insecurity that continue to reverberate despite the nation’s fast-economic growth.
India ranked 107 among 121 nations in the latest Global Hunger Index (GHI), published each year by non-profits Concern Worldwide from Ireland, and Germany’s Welthungerhilfe. It placed lower than its South Asian neighbours Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
The GHI, which ranks countries by “severity”, gave India a score of 29.1 that fell in the “serious” category out of five levels – low, moderate, serious, alarming and extremely alarming.
“Since 2000, India has made substantial progress, but there are still areas of concern, particularly regarding child nutrition,” the study said.
Dipa Sinha, an assistant professor of economics at Ambedkar University in Delhi and a researcher on food security, said the government’s response could be linked to a decades-long contradiction, with India’s fast-growing economy on the one hand and its prolonged struggle with hunger and food insecurity on the other.