Govt living in denial: Congress on India's Global Hunger Index ranking

The Congress hit out at the BJP government, saying it is "living in denial" and is suppressing facts, after India was ranked 107 out of 121 countries in the Global Hunger Index 2022

The Congress on Saturday hit out at the BJP government, saying it is "living in denial" and is suppressing facts, after India was ranked 107 out of 121 countries in the Global Hunger Index 2022.

Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said India has slipped in the hunger index yet again, now ranking 107, lagging behind every South Asian country except Afghanistan.

"BJP's living in denial and trying to suppress facts has led India to this massive crisis," he said on Twitter.

"Are there anymore excuses still left, Modi ji," he asked, targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The Congress also put out a tweet alleging that the "Modi government is equal to disaster".

"India ranks 107th in the Hunger Index, out of a list of 121 countries. Till last year the ranking was 101.

"Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sudan, Nigeria, Rwanda. These countries are in a better position than us. Was this 'Acche Din' promised by the fake Vishwaguru," the Congress posted in Hindi on its official Twitter handle.

India ranked 107 out of 121 countries in the Global Hunger Index 2022, much behind its South Asia neighbours, with the child wasting rate at 19.3 per cent, the highest in the world.

The Centre rejected the findings, alleging it is an effort to taint the country's image and the index suffers from serious methodological issues and is an "erroneous measure" of hunger, while opposition leaders said the government must take responsibility for its "failure".

With a score of 29.1, the level of hunger in India has been labelled "serious".

The Women and Child Development ministry, in a statement, said three out of the four indicators used for the calculation of the index are related to the health of children and cannot be representative of the entire population.

The ministry said, "A consistent effort is yet again visible to taint India's image as a nation that does not fulfil the food security and nutritional requirements of its population. Misinformation seems to be the hallmark of the annually released Global Hunger Index."

"The index is an erroneous measure of hunger and suffers from serious methodological issues," the ministry said.

The Global Hunger Index (GHI) is a tool for comprehensively measuring and tracking hunger at global, regional, and national levels. It "is a peer-reviewed annual report" jointly released by Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe, non-government organisations from Ireland and Germany respectively.