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Context:

India was ranked 101 in the Global Hunger Index (GHI) for 2021 from 94 in the previous year, trailing behind its South Asian neighbours Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal.

Report Finding:

• The report termed the level of hunger in India as “alarming".
• The report said that wasting among children in India increased from 17.1% between 1998 and 2002 to 17.3% between 2016 and 2020.
• Though India showed improvement in indicators such as the under-5 mortality rate, prevalence of stunting among children and prevalence of undernourishment owing to inadequate food remained high.
• Worsening conflict, weather extremes associated with global climate change, and the economic and health challenges associated with the covid-19 pandemic are all driving hunger.
• it is difficult to be optimistic in 2021 because the forces driving hunger are overpowering good intentions and lofty goals.

About Global Hunger Index:

• The GHI has been brought out almost every year by Welthungerhilfe (lately in partnerships with Concern Worldwide) since 2000
• The GHI slots countries on a scale ranging from “low” hunger to “moderate”, “serious”, “alarming”, and “extremely alarming”.
• India is one of the 47 countries that have “serious” levels of hunger.
• A low score gets a country a higher ranking and implies a better performance.
• The reason for mapping hunger is to ensure that the world achieves “Zero Hunger by 2030” — one of the Sustainable Development Goals laid out by the United Nations.
• It is for this reason that GHI scores are not calculated for certain high-income countries.
• In a formal sense, GHI is calculated by mapping the level of calorie intake.

Calculation of Global Hunger Index:

• Undernourishment (which reflects inadequate food availability): calculated by the share of the population that is undernourished (that is, whose caloric intake is insufficient).
• Child Wasting (which reflects acute undernutrition): calculated by the share of children under the age of five who are wasted (that is, those who have low weight for their height).
• Child Stunting (which reflects chronic undernutrition): calculated by the share of children under the age of five who are stunted (that is, those who have low height for their age).
• Child Mortality (which reflects both inadequate nutrition and unhealthy environment): calculated by the mortality rate of children under the age of five (in part, a reflection of the fatal mix of inadequate nutrition.

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