Improve nutrition delivery and don't bristle at low rank
Live MintThe Global Hunger Index is a report published jointly by Concern Worldwide, an aid and humanitarian agency from Ireland, and Welthungerhilfe, an agency based in Germany. Their point is not wholly semantic, for placing India very low in the “hunger" index globally implies widespread starvation and a crisis of food security in the country. The index has four components, with one third weight each for undernourishment and child mortality, and the remaining one third weight equally divided between child stunting and wasting. The data on child wasting and stunting are taken from India’s own fifth National Family Health Survey, which covered the years from 2019 to 2021. We would do well to give up the quibbling on the ranking, and focus instead on reducing IMR-1 and the rates of stunting as well as wasting among India’s large children population.