Global Hunger Index (GHI): India’s Rank, Peer Review, History, Flaws

Global Hunger Index

Why is the Global Hunger Index in the news?

The Global Hunger Index (GHI) is a sophisticated measure to track hunger at the international, regional, and national levels. The Global Hunger Index is designed to raise public awareness and understanding of the struggle against food poverty, provide a way to compare the levels of hunger between nations and regions and seek attention to the places of the world in greatest need of food resources to eradicate hunger.

• The Global Hunger Index (GHI) points to a critical hunger situation in a world associated with multiple crises like financial crises, pandemics, climate crises and even protracted conflicts.
• It was decided to accomplish the goal of zero hunger by 2030. However, this goal seems to be running reverse or might have gone stagnant for a while.

The global Hunger Index (GHI) is an important symbol or indicator of the development of a country and is essential for the West Bengal Services Exam. The Global Hunger Index WBPSC Topic comes under the category of Current Affairs.

Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2021- History

Concern Worldwide and Wealth hunger life published the Global Hunger Index (GHI). It was initially published in 2006 and is released yearly in October. The 2021 edition of the Global Hunger Index (GHI) was the 16th edition of the index report. The main target of the Global Hunger Index is to track the hunger or poverty level at international and regional levels in different areas of the world.

The Global Hunger Index (GHI) is calculated based on 4 parameters, which are

• Child mortality
• Under-nourishment
• Child stunting
• Child wasting

The scoring process of nations in the Global Hunger Index (GHI) determines the hunger level of states on a scale of Zero to 100. This ranking process works in reverse order in this GHI index. The states that scored the least numbers, like 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, etc., are considered the best, with the least hunger or low food poverty in their country. Unlike the nations which fall under the category of 80s, ’90s, and ‘100, they fall into the worst category in the GHI index.

The information for preparing the Global Hunger Index (GHI) yearly is collected from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), UNICEF, WHO, the UN Inter-Agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation and the World Bank.

Global Hunger Index Indicators

The Global Hunger Index (GHI) ranking is between 0 and 100. The state holding a score between 0 and 10 is considered the best in the Global Hunger Index (GHI), whereas states ranked between 80 and 100 are considered first in GHI or Global Hunger Index scoring.

The Global Hunger Index (GHI) judges the hunger index of each nation on 4 parameters, namely:

• Undernourishment – Part of the total population with insufficient caloric intake.
• Child stunting – Percentage of children below 5 years of age who have low height for their age, reflecting chronic malnutrition.
• Child wasting – Percentage of children below 5 years of age who have low weight for their height, reflecting acute undernutrition.
• Child mortality – The mortality rate of children under the age of 5 years

Learnings from Global Hunger Index 2021

Based on current Global Hunger Index projections, the world and 47 nations, in particular, will fail to achieve a level of Zero hunger by 2030.

• The report shows current setbacks against poverty and showcases the trouble ahead.
• Although Global Health Index (GHI) scores show that global food poverty has declined since 2000, progress is in static mode.
• Food poverty is considered serious in Africa, South Asia & South of the Sahara. South of the Sahara, Africa has the highest rates of child stunting, undernourishment, and child mortality of any area of the world.
• South Asia’s high poverty level is largely driven by child undernutrition, particularly as measured by child wasting.
• In Europe, Latin America, Central Asia, the Caribbean, East and West Asia, Southeast Asia, and North Africa, hunger levels or poverty are low or moderate.
• Country Somalia suffers from an extremely alarming level of food poverty.
• Hunger is alarming in 5 nations- Chad, Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Yemen and Madagascar and is provisionally categorized as alarming hunger nations.

Global Hunger Index 2021 India Rank

India has made high progress since 2000. However, some children are suffering from malnutrition in our country. In 2000, India’s Global Hunger Index (GHI) score was 38.8 points. This score has been down to 27.5 points in 2021, which is remarkable progress. The mortality rate parameters and under-nourished children are relatively low compared to past times.

On the other hand, child stunting has been marked at 34.7 per cent from 2016 to 2018. Still, it is high in scoring. As per the Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2021 report, India is the nation after which 15 states align with the war condition.

Government of India: GHI 2021 Report

The Government of India has taken unprecedented steps to prove its standing on the Global Hunger Index (GHI). According to the MWCD (Ministry of Women and Child Development), the methodology used by the Food and Agriculture Organization is unscientific. The Government of India also noted that the published Global Hunger Index report and FAO had missed some important facts. These facts included that FAO and GHI assessed the result based on a 4-question opinion poll conducted telephonically.

They raised this question because, scientifically, undernourishment should be calculated using parameters like height and weight. The calculation method used by the Global Hunger Index (GHI) report involved a telephonic poll of the total population. Also, the GHI report presented by the Global Hunger Index contempt the efforts made by India to ensure food security for the public under schemes like the Atma Nirbhar Bharat Scheme and PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana.

Why has India Dismissed the Global Hunger Index 2021 Ranking?

India has completely discarded the Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2021 report and Rankings and came out strongly against the publishers over questioning the credibility of methodology and data sources. Global Hunger Report (GHI) 2021 has lowered the rank of India based on FAO estimation.

India complained that the FAO’s methodology was unscientific. India said that the scientific measurement of undernourishment would need measurement of height and weight. In contrast, the methodology involved here is based on a pure telephonic estimate of the total population. India also said that the GHI report was completely contemptuous of the government’s huge effort to ensure food security of the entire public during the Covid-19 period, with verifiable data available on government websites.

☛ Short Notes on Global Hunger Index: Download PDF

Current Affairs is an essential part of WBCS or other government service exams. If you want to stay updated on current affairs, follow West Bengal Current Affairs.

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