Lok Sabha Question No. 924 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-12-05
Subject: Global Hunger Index
Ministry: WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Adv. Chandra Shekhar

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 924

TO BE ANSWERED ON 05.12.2025

## GLOBAL HUNGER INDEX

## 924. ADV. CHANDRA SHEKHAR:

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

- (a) whether the Government is aware that India continues to rank a dismal 102 out of 123 countries in the Global Hunger Index 2025 with a 'serious' score of 25.8 including 12% undernourishment and 32.9% child stunting;
- (b) if so, the details of child stunting and undernourishment as per Global Hunger index 2025 along with the reasons for this persistent failure despite repeated assurances thereof State-wise;
- (c) the details of the specific, time-bound interventions launched in 2025-26 to check child stunting and wasting rates; and
- (d) the details of the budgetary allocations made for these interventions and the measurable outcomes targeted by March 2026?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT (SHRIMATI SAVITRI THAKUR)

(a) to (d): Global Hunger Index is published by 3 Non-Government Organizations (viz., Welt Hunger Hilfe of Germany, Concern Worldwide of Ireland and Institute for International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict of Germany). It is a flawed measure of 'Hunger' and does not reflect India's true position. Three out of four of its constituent indicators namely, Stunting, Wasting and Under Five Mortality Rate are actually related to health and nourishment levels of children. They cannot be projected to reflect prevalence of hunger in the overall population. Only one indicator, Prevalence of Undernourishment (PoU), is directly related to hunger, and even this indicator suffers from  significant methodological and data limitations. Owing  to  the probabilistic nature of its estimation and uncertainties in underlying parameters, the precision of PoU estimates is generally low. The other two indicators, viz., stunting and wasting, are not measures of hunger, but outcomes  of multiple complex  factors including sanitation, environmental  conditions,  disease  burden,  maternal  health,  genetics,  and  food  utilisation. Similarly, the fourth indicator, i.e., Under Five Mortality Rate, is influenced by a wide set of determinants such as access to healthcare, immunisation coverage, sanitation and hygiene, safe drinking  water,  and  overall  socio-economic  conditions.  In  view  of  these  shortcomings,  the methodology adopted by GHI is 'flawed' and it cannot be taken to reflect hunger in the overall population.

Various rounds of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) conducted by Ministry of Health &  Family  Welfare  since  1992-93  have  shown  improvement  in  malnutrition  indicators  in children across India. Details of these indicators for children since NFHS-1 to NFHS-5 are given below:

| NFHS Survey                      |   Stunting |   %Underweight |   %Wasting% |
|----------------------------------|------------|----------------|-------------|
| NFHS-1 (1992-93)*                |      52    |          53.4  |       17.5  |
| NFHS-2 (1998-99)**               |      45.5  |          47    |       15.5  |
| NFHS-3 (2005-06)***              |      48    |          42.5  |       19.8  |
| NFHS-4 (2015-16)***              |      38.4  |          35.8  |       21    |
| NFHS-5 (2019-21)***              |      35.5  |          32.1  |       19.3  |
| Poshan Tracker (October 2022)*** |      39.87 |          19.38 |        8.61 |
| Poshan Tracker (October 2025)*** |      33.54 |          14.41 |        5.03 |

* Under 4 years
- ** Under 3 years
- *** Under 5 years

The  analysis  of  the  above  NFHS  data  and  the  Poshan Tracker  data  shows  improvement  in malnutrition  indicators  in  children  across  the  country. The State/UT wise data from Poshan Tracker, on Stunting, wasting and underweight is available at the link: https://www.poshantracker.in/statistics

In the 15 th Finance Commission cycle, various components like Anganwadi services, Poshan Abhiyaan and Scheme for Adolescent girls (of 14-18 years in Aspirational Districts and NorthEastern  region)  have  been  subsumed  under  the  umbrella  Mission  Saksham Anganwadi  and Poshan 2.0 (Mission Poshan 2.0) to address the challenge of malnutrition.  It  is  a Centrally Sponsored Mission, where the responsibility for implementation of various activities lies with the States and UTs. This Mission is a universal self-selecting umbrella scheme where there are no entry barriers for any beneficiary to register and receive services across the country.

IT systems have been leveraged to strengthen and bring about transparency in nutrition delivery support systems at the Anganwadi Centres. 'Poshan Tracker' application is an important digital governance tool under Mission Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 of the Ministry. Poshan Tracker facilitates  monitoring  and  tracking  of Anganwadi  Centres, Anganwadi Workers and beneficiaries on several operational parameters. Number of beneficiaries in Poshan Tracker is 8,87,69,382 (including Pregnant women, Lactating Mothers, Adolescent Girls, and Children-06 years) as in October 2025.

Under Mission Poshan 2.0, a new strategy has been made for reduction in malnutrition and for improved  health,  wellness  and  immunity  through  activities  like  community  engagement, outreach, behavioral change, and advocacy. It focuses on Maternal Nutrition, Infant and Young Child  Feeding  Norms,  treatment  of  Severe  Acute  Malnutrition  (SAM)/  Moderate  Acute Malnutrition (MAM) and wellness through Ayush practices to reduce prevalence of wasting, stunting, anaemia and being underweight. Supplementary Nutrition in the form of Hot Cooked Meal and Take Home Ration is provided to Children (aged 6 months to 6 years), Pregnant

Women & Lactating Mothers (PWLM) and Adolescent Girls registered in Anganwadi centers to beat the intergenerational cycle of malnutrition by adopting a life cycle approach. Under this Mission,  another  major  activity  is  Community  Mobilization  and  Awareness  Advocacy  to educate people on nutritional aspects as adoption of good nutrition habit requires sustained efforts for behavioural change. Community Based Events (CBEs) have served as a significant strategy in changing nutritional practices and all Anganwadi workers are required to conduct two CBEs every month.

Nutrition  goes  beyond  mere  eating  of  food;  it  requires  proper  digestion,  absorption,  and metabolism of nutrients. This process is influenced by factors like sanitation, education and access  to  safe  drinking  water. As  malnutrition  requires  a  multi-sectoral  approach  involving dimensions of food, health, water, sanitation and education, it is crucial to effectively address the issue of malnutrition in a convergent manner. It is being addressed under Mission Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 by establishing cross cutting convergence amongst more than 18 Ministries/Departments.

Ministries of Women & Child Development and Health & Family Welfare have jointly released the  protocol  for  Community  Management  of  Malnutrition  (CMAM)  to  prevent  and  treat severely acute malnutrition in children and for reducing associated morbidity and mortality. The community-based approach involves timely detection and screening of children with severe acute malnutrition in the community, management for those without medical complications with wholesome, local nutritious foods at home and supportive medical care.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is implementing Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child, Adolescent Health and Nutrition (RMNCAH+N) strategy in a life cycle approach under National Health Mission (NHM) which includes interventions to address nutrition concerns among women and children across the country as placed below:

- Nutrition Rehabilitation Centers (NRCs) are set up at public health facilities to provide in-patient medical and nutritional care to children under 5 years suffering from Severe Acute  Malnourishment  (SAM)  with  medical  complications  with  special  focus  on improving  the  skills  of  mothers  and  caregivers  on  timely,  adequate  and  appropriate feeding for children.
- Village Health Sanitation and Nutrition Days (VHSNDs) are observed for provision of maternal and child health services and creating awareness on maternal and child care including nutrition in convergence with Ministry of Women and Child Development.
- Anemia Mukt Bharat (AMB) strategy is implemented to reduce prevalence of anemia among  children  and  women  in  life  cycle  approach  through  implementation  of  six interventions (Prophylactic Iron and Folic Acid supplementation, Deworming, Intensified  behavioral  change  communication  campaign,  Testing  for  anemia  and treatment as per management protocols, Mandatory provision of IFA fortified food in public health programmes and Addressing non nutritional causes of anemia especially malaria, flourosis and hemoglobinopathies) via robust institutional mechanism.
- Under National Deworming Day (NDD) albendazole tablets are administered in a single fixed day approach via schools and Anganwadi centres in two rounds (February and August) to reduce the soil transmitted helminth (STH) infestation among all children and adolescents (1-19 years).

Under  Saksham  Anganwadi  and  POSHAN  2.0,  a  total  outlay  of  ₹21,960  crore  has  been earmarked for FY 2025-26. Percentage of children (aged 6 months to 6 years) measured for height and weight on a monthly and cohort basis out of total children registered on Poshan Tracker; Percentage of Pregnant Women & Lactating Mothers (PWLM) received Supplementary Nutrition on a cohort basis out of total PWLM registered on Poshan Tracker; Percentage reduction in children who are wasted within the same cohort; Percentage reduction in  children  who  are  underweight  within  the  same  cohort  etc.,  are  a  few  measurable output/outcome indicators.

*******