A reminder that India still trails in the hunger fight

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 1

Context:

The recent Global Hunger Report (GHR) 2021 ranks India at 101 out of 116 countries, with the country falling in the category of having a ‘serious’ hunger situation. 

• India is also among the 31 countries where hunger has been identified as serious. 
• India ranked 94 among 107 countries in the Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2020, released last year.
• The ranks are not comparable across years because of various methodological issues and so it is wrong to say that India’s standing has fallen from 94 (out of 107) in 2020. 
• The Government of India refuted the GHI, claiming that it is ‘devoid of ground reality’ and based on ‘unscientific’ methodology. 

Background:

Global Hunger Index (GHI)

• Annual Report: Jointly published by Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe.
• Aim: To comprehensively measure and track hunger at the global, regional, and country levels.
• Calculation: It is calculated on the basis of four indicators
  • Undernourishment (percentage of undernourished in the population (PoU))- it refers to the share of the population of a country that has an insufficient calorie intake. (weight of one-third each)
  • Child wasting – it refers to the share of children under the age of five who have comparatively low weight for their height which reflects acute undernutrition. (one-sixth weightage)
  • Child stunting – refers to the share of children under the age of five who have a low height for their age. This reflects chronic undernutrition among them. (weight of one-third each)
  • Child mortality – it is the mortality rate of children in a country under the age of five. (one-sixth weightage)

Scoring methodology

• The global hunger index determines the score of a country based on the above 4 indicators 100 point scale where zero is the best possible score reflecting no hunger 100 is the worst situation.
• Every country’s GHI score is classified by severity from low to extremely alarming.
• Each indicator is standardised based on thresholds set slightly above the highest country-level values.

Government’s objection

• The Government’s objection to the methodology is that the assessment is based on the results of a ‘four question’ opinion poll, which is not based on facts. 
• But the report is based on the percentage of undernourished in the population -PoU data  of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
  • PoU is an estimate of the proportion of the population whose habitual food consumption is insufficient to provide the dietary energy levels that are required to maintain a normal active and healthy life. 
  • PoU is estimated taking into account a number of factors such as food availability, food consumption patterns, income levels and distribution, population structure, etc. 
• In the absence of food consumption data in most countries, this indicator is an estimate based on a modelling exercise using available data; therefore, there is some margin of error. 
• Most of the criticism of the FAO’s PoU data has been about how it underestimates hunger rather than over. 

Therefore, while there is scope for a valid discussion on the GHI methodology and its limitations, this objection by the Government is not warranted.

Concerns for India

• Slow rate of progress: India shows a worsening in PoU and childhood wasting in comparison with 2012. It is the PoU figure of 15.3% for 2018-20 that the Government is contesting.
  • Comparable values of the index have been given in the report for four years, i.e., 2000, 2006, 2012 and 2021. 
  • While the GHI improved from 37.4 to 28.8 during 2006-12, the improvement is only from 28.8 to 27.5 between 2012-21. 
  • The partial results of the National Family Health Survey-5 (2019-20) also show that stunting and wasting indicators have stagnated or declined for most States for which data is available. 
  • The leaked report of the consumption expenditure survey (2017-18) also showed that rural consumption had fallen between 2012-18 and urban consumption showed a very slight increase.
    • The Survey Collects information on the consumption spending patterns of households across the country, both urban and rural.
    • It is conducted by the National Sample Survey Office – NSSO Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.

COVID-19 impact

• It must also be remembered that all the data are for the period before the COVID-19 pandemic. 
• The situation of food insecurity at the end of the year 2020 was concerning, and things are most likely to have become worse after the second wave. 
• Many of these surveys find that over 60% of the respondents say that they are eating less than before the national lockdown in 2020. 
• Services such as the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) and school mid-day meals continue to be disrupted in most areas, denying crores of children the one nutritious meal a day they earlier had access to. 

• Cuts for schemes: The only substantial measure has been the provision of additional free food grains through the Public Distribution System (PDS). 
  • It leaves out about 40% of the population, many of whom are in need and includes only cereals. 
  • Inflation in other foods, especially edible oils, has also been very high affecting people’s ability to afford healthy diets. 
  • On the one hand, while we need additional investments and greater priority for food, nutrition and social protection schemes, Budget 2021 saw cuts in real terms for schemes such as the ICDS and the mid-day meal.
    • Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) is an Indian government welfare programme that provides food, preschool education, and primary healthcare to children under 6 years of age and their mothers.
    • The Midday meal scheme (under the Ministry of Education) is a centrally sponsored scheme which was launched in 1995.

• It is the world’s largest school meal programme aimed to attain the goal of universalization of primary education.
• The national Mid-Day Meal Scheme in government and aided schools popularly will now be known as PM POSHAN Scheme and will also cover students of balvatikas or pre-primary classes

The argument that the GHI is an indicator of undernutrition and not hunger, is only diverting attention away from more substantial issues. Of course, malnutrition is affected by a number of factors (such as health, sanitation, etc.) other than food consumption alone, but that in no way means those healthy diets are not central. There is no denying that diverse nutritious diets for all Indians still remain a distant dream.

The Hindu Link:

https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/a-reminder-that-india-still-trails-in-the-hunger-fight/article37168319.ece

Question- Write a short note on impact of the pandemic on India’s hunger scenario.