Lok Sabha Question No. 1269 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-02-09
Subject: Global Hunger Index
Ministry: WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: K. Subbarayan

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.1269

TO BE ANSWERED ON 09.02.2024

## GLOBAL HUNGER INDEX

## 1269.  SHRI SUBBARAYAN K.:

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

- (a) whether the attention of the Government has been drawn to the Global Hunger Index released recently which ranked India 111 out of 125 countries reflecting the  multi-dimensional  nature  of  hunger  after  taking  into  account  factors  like under nourishment, child stunting, child wasting and child mortality;
- (b) if so, the details of the findings in the report; and
- (c) the reaction of the Government thereto?

## ANSWER

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

(a) to (c) As per Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2023 released by Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe, India stands at rank 111 out of 125 countries with a score of 28.7. The 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  indicators,  only  one  indicator,  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 on nutritional indicators in the country are captured periodically under the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) conducted by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.  As  per  the  recent  NFHS-5  (2019-21)  report,  the  nutrition  indicators  for children under 5 years have improved as compared with NFHS-4 (2015-16). Stunting has reduced from 38.4% (2015-16) to 35.5% (2019-21), Wasting has reduced from 21.0% (2015-16) to 19.3% (2019-21) and Underweight prevalence has reduced from 35.8% (2015-16) to 32.1% (2019-21).

Moreover, as per the data of Poshan Tracker for the month of December 2023, around 7.44 crore children under 6 years were measured, out of whom 36% were found to be stunted and 17% were found to be underweight and 6% children under 5 years were found to be wasted. The levels of underweight and wasting are much less than that estimated by NFHS 5.

Government  has  accorded  high  priority  to  the  issue  of  malnutrition  and  is making serious efforts to address this issue. The efforts under the Supplementary Nutrition Programme under Anganwadi Services and POSHAN Abhiyaan have been rejuvenated  and  converged  as  'Saksham  Anganwadi  and  POSHAN  2.0'  (Mission Poshan 2.0). It seeks to address the challenges of malnutrition in children, adolescent girls,  pregnant  women  and  lactating  mothers  through  a  strategic  shift  in  nutrition content  and  delivery  and  by  creation  of  a  convergent  eco-system  to  develop  and promote practices that nurture health, wellness and immunity.

Poshan 2.0 focuses on Maternal Nutrition,  Infant  and  Young  Child  Feeding Norms, Treatment of MAM/SAM and Wellness through AYUSH. It rests on the pillars of Convergence, Governance, and Capacity-building. POSHAN Abhiyaan is the key pillar  for  Outreach  and  covers  innovations  related  to  nutritional  support,  ICT interventions, Media Advocacy and Research, Community Outreach and Jan Andolan. Steps have been taken to improve nutritional quality and testing in accredited labs, strengthen delivery and leverage technology under the 'Poshan Tracker', a robust ICT enabled  platform  to  improve  governance  with  regard  to  real  time  monitoring  of provisioning of supplementary nutrition for prompt supervision and management of services.

Government  released  Streamlined  Guidelines  dated  13.1.2021  for  greater transparency,  accountability  and  quality  in  the  nutrition  support  programme  and service delivery. These guidelines emphasize on ensuring the quality of supplementary nutrition, highlight roles and responsibilities of duty holders, IT enabled data  management  and  monitoring,  leveraging  of  traditional  knowledge  through AYUSH, procurement and convergence for achieving good nutritional outcomes.

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