In the Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2020, India is ranked 94 among 107 nations, falling in a serious hunger category.
Experts are blaming the lack of effective monitoring in tackling malnutrition, poor implementation process, and poor performance by large states.
“The national average is affected a lot by the states like UP, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, the states which actually have a combination of high levels of malnutrition and they contribute a lot to the population of the country,” stated Purnima Menon, a senior research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute, New Delhi.
According to reports, 14 percent of Indians are undernourished. The country also recorded a stunning 37.4 percent stunning rate among children under five and the under-five mortality rate is at 3.7 percent.
The hunger index is a tool for measuring and tracking hunger at global, regional, and national levels. The scores are based on the values of four components: child mortality, child stunting (reflecting chronic undernutrition), child wasting (reflecting acute undernutrition), and undernourishment.
Based on the four indicators, the index determines hunger on a 100-point scale. Zero scores are the best possible score and 100 are the worst.
Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Myanmar, India’s neighbouring country are also in the serious category, however, they are ranked higher than India.
Bangladesh is ranked 75 while Myanmar and Pakistan is ranked in the 78th and 88th position respectively.