Lok Sabha Question No. 1985 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-07-30
Subject: Global Hunger Index 2020
Ministry: WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: S. Venkatesan

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.1985

TO BE ANSWERED ON 30.07.2021

## GLOBAL HUNGER INDEX 2020

## 1985.  SHRI S. VENKATESAN

Will the Minister of WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

- (a)      whether it has come to the notice of the Government that India stands at 94th spot among 107 countries on the basis of total under nourished population as per Global Hunger Index 2020 and if so, the details thereof;
- (b)       whether  ministry  of  Women  and  child  welfare  undertakes  study  on  undernourishment of women and children in regular intervals, if so, the details thereof;
- (c)      whether her Ministry has formulated any action plan to tackle the issue of under nourishment of Women and children, if so, the details of progress made during the Financial years starting from 2014 to 2021; and
- (d)      the number of Stunted and Wasted Children in India during the said period also indicating it as a percentage of total number of children in the country?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT (SHRIMATI SMRITI ZUBIN IRANI)

- (a)         As  per  Global  Hunger  lndex  Report  2020  prepared  by  'Welthungerhilfe'  and 'Concern  Worldwide'  India's  score  was  27.2  and  it  has  ranked  94 th among  the  107 countries.

Global Hunger Index (GHI) does not reflect India's true picture as it is a flawed measure of 'Hunger'. It should not be taken at face value as it is neither appropriate nor representative of hunger prevalent in a country. Out of its four components, only one component  i.e,  undernourishment  is  directly  related  to  hunger.  The  two  indicators, namely; Stunting and Wasting are outcomes of complex interactions of various other factors like 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. Also, there is hardly any evidence that the fourth indicator, namely, child mortality is  an  outcome of hunger. Data used in the GHI report are sourced from international agencies which are not updated as per the latest data available in the country.

- (b)       The data on nutritional indicators is captured under the National Family Health Surveys conducted periodically by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare. As per the report  released  by  the  National  Family  Health  Survey-4  (2015-16), 35.7%  children under  5  years  of  age  are  underweight  and  38.4%  are  stunted  indicating  a  reduction from the previous data captured in NFHS - 3, 2005-06, which reported 42.5% children under 5 years of age as underweight and 48% stunted. Moreover, the Comprehensive National Nutrition  Survey (CNNS) 2016-18 (done under the aegis of MoHFW) shows that India has made substantial improvement in two of the parameters used in the GHI. Prevalence of stunting has reduced from 38.4% as per NFHS-4 to 34.7% and wasting has  slashed  down  from  21.0%  to  17.3  %  as  per  the  CNNS  report.  Also,  under-5 mortality as per Sample Registration System (SRS)-2018 is 3.6% whereas, as per the GHI-2020 it is reported as 3.7%.
- (c)       Government is implementing several schemes and programs under the Umbrella Integrated Child  Development Services  Scheme  as  direct  targeted  interventions  to address the problem of malnutrition in the country. All these schemes address one or other aspects related to nutrition and have the potential to improve nutritional outcomes in  the  country.  For  alleviation  of  malnutrition,  Government  has  announced Mission Poshan  2.0 to  strengthen  nutritional  content,  delivery,  outreach  and  outcomes  with focus  on  developing  practices  that  nurture  health,  wellness  and  immunity  to  disease and malnutrition.  Steps  have  been  taken  to  improve  nutritional  quality  and  testing  in accredited labs, strengthen delivery and leverage technology to improve governance.

States/UTs have been advised to promote use of AYUSH systems for prevention of malnutrition and related diseases. A programme to support development of Poshan Vatikas  at  Anganwadi  centres  to  meet  dietary  diversity  gap  leveraging  traditional knowledge in nutritional practices has also been taken up.

- (d)       The trends in stunting and wasting of children under 5 years as reported under the  National  Family  Health  Surveys-3  &  4  (NFHS)  and  Comprehensive  National Nutrition Survey is annexed at Annexure-I.

Annexure-I

Statement  referred  to  in  reply  to  Part  (d)  of  Lok  Sabha  Un-Starred  Question No.1985 for 30.07.2021 by SHRI S. VENKATESAN regarding Global Hunger Index 2020.

Prevalence of stunting and wasting in children under 5 years as per NFHS-3 & 4 and CNNS

|              | Children under 5 years   | Children under 5 years   | Children under 5 years   |
|--------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|
| Indicators   | NFHS-3 (2005-06)         | NFHS-4 (2015-16)         | CNNS (2016-2018)         |
| Stunting (%) | 19.8                     | 21                       | 17.3                     |
| Wasting (%)  | 48                       | 38.4                     | 34.7                     |

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