Global Hunger Index

Why in news?

The Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2020 has placed India at rank 94 among 107 countries.

What is the GHI?

The GHI has been brought out every year by Welthungerhilfe (lately in partnerships with Concern Worldwide) since 2000.
A low score gets a country a higher ranking which implies a better performance.
The reason for mapping hunger is to ensure that the world achieves “Zero Hunger by 2030” - a Sustainable Development Goals of the UN.
This is why GHI is not calculated for certain high-income countries.

What are the four indicators of GHI?

Undernourishment reflects the inadequate food availability.
It is calculated by the share of the population that is undernourished (i.e., whose caloric intake is insufficient).
Child Wasting reflects acute under nutrition.
It is calculated by the share of children under the age of five who are wasted (i.e., those who have low weight for their height).
Child Stunting reflects chronic under nutrition.
It is calculated by the share of children under the age of five who are stunted (i.e., those who have low height for their age).
Child Mortality reflects both inadequate nutrition and unhealthy environment.

It is calculated by the mortality rate of children under the age of five (in part, a reflection of the fatal mix of inadequate nutrition.

How is the score calculated?

Each country’s data are standardised on a 100-point scale.
A final score is calculated after giving 33.33% weight each to components 1 and 4, and giving 16.66% weight each to components 2 and 3.
As GHI tracks the performance of different countries on four key parameters, it provides a far more comprehensive measure of hunger.

What is India’s position?

What does this position mean?

India’s poor progress on nutritional indices must dismiss the pride surrounding strong economic growth for years.
It turns the national focus on persisting hunger, wasting and stunting among children.

What is the evidence?

The evidence from the National Family Health Survey-4 (NFHS-4) of 2015-16 is not very different.
The national policy has no appetite for a radical transformation in the delivery of adequate nutrition especially to women and children.
It has paid inadequate attention to achieving diet diversity through the PDS.
On the other hand, the country is widely seen as falsely equating energy calories with a diverse diet.
The existing deprivation has been aggravated by the pandemic, with food inflation putting pressure on depleted or meagre incomes and savings.

What did the NFHS-4 find?

These data represent some progress, at a drop of about 10 percentage points in both categories compared to a decade earlier.
But steady economic prosperity should have yielded a far bigger social dividend.
The latest GHI measure reminds us that much work is needed to bring the true benefits of the National Food Security Act to the unreached.
Efforts should be made to not merely mitigate hunger through cereals, but as nourishment through a diverse diet.

What needs to be done?

Strengthening the PDS, with a focus on women’s health, would lead to healthier pregnancies.
Stronger supplemental nutrition under the ICDS scheme would give children a better chance at all-round development.
International Food Policy Research Institute’s recent findings say that three out of four rural Indians cannot afford a balanced, nutritious diet.
This underscores the importance of immediate sustained intervention.
The right to food would be meaningless if it leaves a large section of Indians hungry, stunted and wasted.

Source: The Hindu, The Indian Express