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Niti Aayog is in denial about hunger in India - but the problem is worse than the statistics show -Sylvia Karpagam & Veena Shatrugna
-Scroll.in

Instead of accepting that millions of Indians need better nutrition, the organisation’s economists have argued that the Global Hunger Index is flawed.

The Global Hunger Index put out by International Food Policy and Research Institute was released on October 2017 and tracks the state of hunger worldwide. India’s Global Hunger Index score is placed at 100 out of 119 countries.

Instead of reflecting on the state of food security in India, Ramesh Chand and Shivendra Kumar Srivastava, both members of the Niti Aayog, called the Global Hunger Index “a misleading hunger index” in an article of the same name published in The Hindu on December 4. The article is of particular concern, coming as it does from an important arm of the government

Taken by surprise with the Global Hunger Index, the authors are desperately trying to pick holes by tweaking numbers in an attempt to show nutritional standards of Indians in better light. They claim that if child health indicators are not included in the Global Hunger Index, India will move to the 77th spot as though, that number is something for the country to feel proud about. The reality of hunger is much worse than what any number can capture.

Fallacy: Growth rate in food production will reduce hunger significantly over time

The authors claim that per capita food production in India has increased by 26% in the last decade and doubled in the last 50 years, and go on to make a simplistic association that as food production increases, hunger will automatically come down. This shows a poor understanding of how hunger operates and that it is related more to access than to food production. It is important to have a breakdown of how much food is exported, used as cattle feed by the industry, wasted and, importantly, the nature of distribution between groups. Would the two experts believe that the urban rich and urban poor have the same access to food? Do those who depend predominantly on the public distribution system have the same control on access as those who are able to procure it from markets? Is there no gender, caste, religion, regional, and urban/rural variation in access?

The Global Health Index report states that 60% of the world’s hunger is of women, often the result of deep rooted social structures that deny women access to education, healthcare, and resources. It also says that minorities are often victims of discrimination, poverty, and hunger. There is a high possibility that using gender and ethnicity as measures of hunger will show India in an even poorer light.

Fallacy: The Global Hunger Index is neither appropriate nor representative of hunger

The authors state that “closer scrutiny shows that it (GHI) should not be taken at face value as it is neither appropriate nor representative of hunger prevalent in a country….In addition the GHI assigns 70.5% weightage to children below five who constitute only a minor population share and 29.5% weightage to the population above five, which constitutes 81.5% of the total population.”

The reason for a higher weightage to children below 5 years is because their demands for nutrition are two to three times higher than adults. (Adults require about 35-45 calories per kg body weight per day while children need 80-100 calories per kg body weight per day). Children are obviously more vulnerable to undernutrition and its associated morbidity and mortality.

Their statement that “weight and height of children are not solely determined by food intake but are an outcome of a complex interaction of factors related to genetics, the environment, sanitation and utilisation of food intake” must be examined carefully because of its larger implications. The role of genetics in determining adult height comes into play only after two or three generations of plenty, without any constraints to food intake and growth. The case for food cannot be ignored when children have deficits of about 600 calories, while their Required Dietary Allowance is between 1,200 and 1,500 calories.

Adequate food intake provides better immunity and protects a child from infections and mal-absorptions, while an undernourished child falls prey to infections more easily.

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