Global Hunger Index 2023 has claimed that India’s situation has worsened. India has been placed at 111th place in the Global Hunger Index of 125 countries globally. Moreover, the highest child wasting rate or child malnutrition has also seen in India, which is 18.7 per cent.
The index has given opposition parties a new chance to attack the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led government in the Centre as India’s rank has slipped from the previous year. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said, “Modi Govt is allergic to any critical Global Data, but even INDIAN data says that our people are going hungry!”
Well, the Ministry of Women and Child Development has rejected this index. The government has called it an inaccurate measure of starvation. The ministry has also said that it does not reflect the actual situation in India. There are many flaws in it. Three of the four indicators used to calculate this index relate to the health of children, so they cannot definitively reflect the health of the entire population.
In response to this Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said, “It is another story that even the Global Hunger Index, which is scrutinised by experts is based on food balance sheets reported by us – India and is even used for UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), but the Modi Govt now does not accept it.”
“Modi Govt can also claim that food grains are being distributed to 80 Cr Indians – but according to experts, even that number is short of a whopping 14 Cr people, because Census 2021 is indefinitely delayed,” said Kharge.
Modi Govt is allergic to any critical Global Data, but even INDIAN data says that our people are going hungry!
Modi Govt can deny that India's rank in the Global Hunger Index slipped from 107th out of 121 countries in 2022 to 111th out of 125 countries in 2023.
But would they… pic.twitter.com/uX3K4iFZli
— Mallikarjun Kharge (@kharge) October 13, 2023
Over BJP government’s claim of launching Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) with the specific purpose of ameliorating the hardships faced by the poor and needy due to economic disruptions caused by the COVID-19 outbreak in the country, Congress President Kharge said: “It was the Congress-UPA which brought in the Food Security Act, 2013 under PM Dr Manmohan Singh and Smt. Sonia Gandhi. The BJP was opposed it.”
Moreover, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav said in social media post on X, “According to the Global Hunger Index-2023 released on Thursday, India is at 111th position among 125 countries of the world. India’s score is 28.7% which puts it in a category where the situation of hunger and starvation is very serious and worrying.”
Lalu Yadav also praised the previous UPA government by saying that the India’s ranking in 2013 was better than it’s today. He said: “India was ranked 63rd in the 2013 Global Hunger Index. Due to the anti-poor policies of the BJP government, India has slipped from 63rd position to 111th position in the hunger index in 10 years.”
गुरुवार को जारी वैश्विक भुखमरी सूचकांक-2023 (Global Hunger Index- 2023) के मुताबिक भारत दुनिया के 125 देशों में 111वें स्थान पर है। भारत का स्कोर 28.7% है जो इसे ऐसी कैटेगरी में लाता है जहां भूख और भुखमरी की स्थिति अति गंभीर और चिंताजनक है।
2013 के ग्लोबल हंगर इंडेक्स में भारत…
— Lalu Prasad Yadav (@laluprasadrjd) October 13, 2023
“Now the Modi government at the Center will habitually call the report and index false and flawed instead of understanding and accepting the report and improving its policies,” said Lalu Yadav.
