Alarming hunger or statistical artefact?
The HinduThis year’s Global Hunger Index did not go down well with the government. Had the GHI been estimated using the latest data on calorie intake, usually provided by the National Sample Survey Office, things might have looked even worse given that the leaked report of 2019 indicated that consumption expenditure in India declined between 2011-12 and 2017-18 by 4%. Tackling wasting and stunting The GHI highlights India’s dismal record in a domain that it can hardly defend, which is child undernutrition. An exception India’s relatively better performance in the other component of GHI — child mortality — merits a mention. India’s child mortality rate has been lower compared to Sub-Saharan African countries despite it having higher levels of stunting.