India's Global Hunger Index ranking reveals colossal failure of Modi govt, says Rahul

After India was ranked a lowly 102nd out of 117 countries in this year's Global Hunger Index (GHI), Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday attacked the Narendra Modi-led Centre saying the country's position reveals a "colossal failure" in the policy of the central government.

"India's #GlobalHungerIndex ranking, falling steadily since 2014, has now crashed to 102/117. This ranking reveals a colossal failure in Govt policy and blows the lid off the PM's hollow "sabka vikas" claim, parroted by Modia," he said in a tweet.

With a score of 30.3, India suffers from a level of hunger that is categorised as "serious", according to the GHI report.

Even other countries in the SAARC region, like Nepal (73rd), Sri Lanka (66th), Bangladesh (88th), Myanmar (69th) and Pakistan (94th) have fared better than India, although the nations also fall in the 'serious' category.

Only Afghanistan (108th) has been ranked below India in the report.

India's child wasting rate is extremely high at 20.8 per cent -- the highest wasting rate of any country. The country's child stunting rate, 37.9 per cent, is also categorised as very high in terms of its public health significance, according to the GHI report.

Just 9.6 per cent of all children in the country aged between 6 and 23 months are fed a "minimum acceptable diet", said the report.

The GHI calculates the levels of global hunger and undernutrition. The four parameters for measuring the index are -- undernourishment, child stunting, child wasting (weight for age) and child mortality.