In 2023, the organisation, “Global Hunger Index” released a peer reviewed report ranking countries across the world on the basis of malnutrition, medical fallout (such as stunting and mortality from malnutrition), and on caloric consumption. While these reports primarily concern the well-being of children, it has also been used to identify areas of conflict and regions with historic food insecurity. In the context of India, India was at 111th place out of 125 countries researched. The report presents data where the index is decreasing in value in India, especially in the context of undernourishment and child mortality. However, stunting has seen a slight increase for children less than 5 years old since 2015.
Comparing indexes, while the country has seen few improvements, it’s clear that it isn’t developing as fast or reducing its index as quickly when compared with other countries. In the past 20 years, India has been overshadowed by rapid development of other Less Economically Developed Countries (LEDCs). This index was met with widespread criticism from many government officials such as Smriti Irani (Minister for women and child development) who doubted its calculation and engaged in mockery over the ranking. However, critics have termed the response of government officials to the hunger index as deniability to a worsening problem, and how it’s all words and no action. Although this report and the index shouldn’t come as a surprise to many, it should still serve as a warning to rising inequality that affects food quality and consumption across the population. Last year in 2022, the Delhi based think tank, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), published a report where it was estimated that 71% of Indians can’t afford a healthy diet. When considering the varying income inequality based on the GINI coefficient (a global index used to represent the scale of wealth and income inequality), According to a 2019 report by the world bank, India leans to 35.7 on the index.
Recent indexes and reports, not only suggest slow progress in anti-malnutrition efforts, but also point to this decline as a product of worsening inequality. From this evidence, rather than cheap jabs; it is undeniably clear that food security will be the biggest factor in fighting malnutrition. While some experts have proposed methods to prevent wastage such as better infrastructure, and quicker usage of stored crops towards low-income households, it is clear that pricing will be a factor. In May 2023, The Wire reported on communities affected by this hunger crisis, especially workers in mandis, and one of the most notable comments they had, was unaffordability due to wages being criminally low and made worse in times of retail inflation. It is clear that in light of these complications, the hunger index should be taken much more seriously by officials. Not only should it consider how many people have access, but also quantity and affordability. Lastly, for children, the long-term effects of malnutrition on the quality of their lives should also be given some serious attention.
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