Global Hunger Report 2024 flawed, does not reflect India's true position: Govt

NEW DELHI: The measure of hunger used in the Global Hunger Report-2024 index is "flawed" and doesn't reflect India's true position, govt told LS on Wednesday, while asserting it is making serious efforts to address the issue of malnutrition. India has been ranked 105 out of 127 countries in the study released by Concern Worldwide, Welt Hunger Hilfe and Institute for International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict.

Junior consumer affairs, food and public distribution minister Nimuben Jayantibhai Bambhaniya said, "The Global Hunger Index is a flawed measure of 'hunger' and does not reflect India's true position. Three of the four constituent indicators (stunting, wasting and child mortality) are related to health of children and cannot be taken to reflect hunger in the population."

There has been an "improvement in India's rank in 2024 compared to 2023, which is mainly attributable to improvement in the fourth constituent indicator, namely prevalence of undernourishment (PoU), of the index", she said. India's rank in last year's Global Hunger Report was 111 out of 125 countries.

"The efforts under the supplementary nutrition programme under anganwadi services and Poshan Abhiyan have been rejuvenated and converged as 'Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0'," the minister said.

"It seeks to address the challenges of malnutrition among children, adolescent girls, pregnant women, and lactating mothers through a strategic shift in nutrition content and delivery, and by creation of a convergent ecosystem to develop and promote practices that nurture health, wellness, and immunity," she said.