What's New

Measuring hunger across States.

Relevance

• GS Paper 2 Issues Relating to Poverty & Hunger.
• Tags: #upsc #hunger #GHI #foodsecurity #undernourishment.

Why in the news?

• Despite being a major food producer with extensive food security schemes and the largest public distribution system in the world, India still grapples with significant levels of food insecurity, hunger, and child malnutrition. The Global Hunger Index (GHI), 2022, ranked India 107 among 121 countries, behind Nigeria (103) and Pakistan (99).
• The GHI provides a composite measurement and tracks undernourishment and hunger at the national level across three dimensions: calorie undernourishment, child malnutrition, and under-five mortality.
• According to the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report of 2022, India is home to 224.3 million undernourished people. Disparities are evident among States.
• Leveraging subnational data that encompasses the three dimensions of the GHI enables the development of an India-specific hunger index at the level of States and Union Territories.
• This plays a pivotal role in evaluating the extent of undernourishment at a more localized scale, which is critical for meeting the Sustainable Development Goals of eradicating hunger and malnutrition.

The State Hunger Index

• The GHI is computed using four indicators — the prevalence of calorie undernourishment; and stunting, wasting, and mortality among children below the age of five; and under-five mortality rate.
• The State Hunger Index (SHI) is calculated using the same indicators except calorie undernourishment, which is replaced by body mass index (BMI) undernourishment among the working-age population, as data on calorie undernourishment are not available since 2012.
• Data for stunting, wasting, and mortality among children below the age of five are sourced from the fifth round of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5), while the prevalence of BMI undernourishment is computed using NFHS-5 (2019-21).
• The calculation of the SHI score involves combining the normalized values of the four indicators using the techniques recommended by the GHI.
• The SHI scores range between 0 and 100, with higher scores indicating more hunger. Scores below 10 signify low hunger, 10-20 moderate, 20-30 serious, 30-40 alarming, and 50 or above extremely alarming.
• In the SHI, Bihar, Jharkhand, and Chhattisgarh scored 35, which places them in the ‘alarming’ category.
• Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Tripura, Maharashtra, and West Bengal all scored above the national average (29). The performance of these States resembles that of African nations such as Haiti, Niger, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.
• On the other hand, Chandigarh scored 12, and Sikkim, Puducherry, and Kerala all scored below 16. These States, along with Manipur, Mizoram, Punjab, Delhi, Arunachal Pradesh, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and Tamil Nadu, fall under the ‘moderate hunger’ category.
• All the other States, which scored below the national average and above 20, have a problem of ‘serious hunger’. No State falls under the ‘low hunger’ category.

Facing the reality

• While the GHI has faced significant criticism from experts regarding its conceptualization, indicator selection, and aggregation methods, it does provide critical insight into the state of undernourishment and child nutrition.
• India’s poor performance in the GHI is primarily attributed to its high prevalence of undernourishment and child malnutrition. India ranks unfavorably in child wasting, performing worse than many low-income African nations.
• The NFHS-5 indicated that one-third of children under the age of five are stunted and underweight, while every fifth child suffers from wasting.
• Despite India’s notable progress in alleviating extreme poverty over the last 15 years, as indicated by the recent National Multidimensional Poverty Index, challenges persist in addressing the disparity in food insecurity, hunger, and child malnutrition.

Causes of Hunger

Poverty

• Hunger and the related malnutrition are the result of various associated factors ranging from water, sanitation, access to food items.
• A person’s ‘nutritional quotient’ is also dependent on demographic factors like gender, caste, age, etc.
• For instance, the nutritional needs of girl child and elderly are not adequately addressed in our society.
• Poor implementation of the schemes and policies- The Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) and the National Health Mission (NHM) have not achieved adequate coverage.

Climate Change

• Erratic rainfall and increasing frequency of extreme events have impacted agricultural activities everywhere creating unfavorable conditions for food production.

Micronutrient Deficiency 

• India faces a severe crisis in micronutrient deficiency. Its causes include poor diet, disease, or increased micronutrient needs not met during pregnancy and lactation.

Steps Needed to Address the Problem of Hunger

Need Better Data on Food Consumption

• The deficiency in data related to food and dietary consumption in India highlights the need for a national effort to establish routine dietary and nutritional assessments for the entire population.
• Measuring the availability, accessibility, and affordability of nutritious food, especially for disadvantaged and vulnerable populations such as young children, is crucial for developing evidence-based policies to end hunger and improve nutritional security.

Primary Focus on Young Children

• Access to adequate and affordable nutritious food is essential for young children for healthy development. The government should focus on elevating food intake among young children to be of primary importance rather than just “complementary” in policies and guidelines related to maternal, infant, and young child nutrition.

Government Initiatives

• Eat Right India Movement: An outreach activity organized by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) for citizens to nudge them towards eating right.
• POSHAN Abhiyan: Launched by the Ministry of Women and Child Development in 2018, it targets to reduce stunting, undernutrition, anemia (among young children, women and adolescent girls).
• Mid-day Meal (MDM) scheme: MDM scheme aims to improve nutritional levels among school children which also has a direct and positive impact on enrolment, retention and attendance in schools.
• Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana: A centrally sponsored scheme executed by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, is a maternity benefit programme being implemented in all districts of the country with effect from January 2017.
• Food Fortification: Food Fortification or Food Enrichment is the addition of key vitamins and minerals such as iron, iodine, zinc, Vitamin A & D to staple foods such as rice, milk and salt to improve their nutritional content.
• National Food Security Act, 2013: It legally entitled up to 75% of the rural population and 50% of the urban population to receive subsidized food grains under the Targeted Public Distribution System.
• Mission Indradhanush: It targets children under 2 years of age and pregnant women for immunization against 12 Vaccine-Preventable Diseases (VPD).
• Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Scheme: Launched in 1975, the ICDS Scheme offers a package of six services to children in the age group of 0-6 years, pregnant women and lactating mothers.

Way Forward

• Top Level Initiative Required: India needs a strategic initiative led by the PMO to eliminate food insecurity and ensure affordable access, with a special and immediate focus on young children.
• Robust Monitoring: Zero-food metric should be used to monitor and assess the performance of initiatives such as Mission Poshan 2.0.
• Adoption of Global Practices: Household-level food insecurity modules developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization can be adapted to measure the extent of food insecurity among Indian households.
• Assessment and Awareness: A national effort to establish routine dietary and nutritional assessments for the entire population is necessary to understand food and dietary consumption. Awareness campaign regarding malnutrition at pan India level is the need of the hour.

Source: The Hindu

Mains Question

How hunger and poverty are interlinked? Do you think India’s performance on the Global Hunger Index is a true reflection of status of hunger in India? Critically comment.