The government of India issued a statement on Saturday accusing Global Hunger Index 2022 of spreading "Misinformation," the government stated that "Index is an erroneous measure of hunger & suffers from serious methodological issues."







The Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD) in a press release stated that, "Three out of the four indicators used for calculation of the index are related to health of Children and cannot be representative of the entire population. The fourth and most important indicator estimate of Proportion of Undernourished (PoU) population is based on an opinion poll conducted on a very small sample size of 3000."
 





The Global Hunger Report 2022 released by Concern Worldwide and Welt Hunger Hilfe, Non-Government Organisations from Ireland and Germany respectively, has ranked India at 107 among 121 countries.

 

"A consistent effort is yet again visible to taint India’s image as a Nation that does not fulfill the food security and nutritional requirements of its population," the statement read. 

 

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The report termed the level of hunger in India "serious" while the country was once again ranked below neighbouring nations such as Pakistan (99), Bangladesh (84), and Nepal (81).

 

The ministry said that, "The report is not only disconnected from ground reality but also chooses to deliberately ignore efforts made by the Government to ensure food Security for the population especially during the Covid Pandemic. Taking a one-dimensional view, the report lowers India’s rank based on the estimate of Proportion of Undernourished (PoU) population for India at 16.3%."


According to the Global Hunger Index's official website, seventeen countries, including Belarus, Hungary, China, Turkey, and Kuwait, were at the top of the list.


The government said it is evident such questions do not search for facts based on relevant information about the delivery of nutritional support and assurance of food security by the government.


According to FAO's Food Balance Sheets, India's per capita dietary energy supply has been increasing year on year due to increased production of major agricultural commodities in the country over the years, and there is no reason why the country's undernourishment levels should rise, the Centre said.


"These indicators are outcomes of complex interactions of various other factors like drinking water, sanitation, genetics, environment and utilisation of food intake apart from hunger, which is taken as the causative/outcome factor for stunting and wasting in the GHI. Calculating hunger based on mainly indicators relating to health indicators of children is neither scientific nor rational,” it said. 


India was ranked 101st out of 116 countries in 2021. With 121 countries on the list this year, the country has dropped to 107th place. Between 2014 and 2022, India's GHI score fell from 38.8 in 2000 to a range of 28.2 - 29.1.