NEW DELHI: The centre on Wednesday said the “self-styled” Global Hunger Index (GHI) is a private construct published by three NGOs and is a “deeply flawed measure of hunger’ and “does not reflect India’s true position.”
In a written reply in Rajya Sabha, Minister of State of Women and Child Development (WCD), Savitri Thakur, said three out of four of Global Hunger Index constituent indicators namely - stunting, wasting and Under Five Mortality Rate - are actually related to health and nourishment levels in children.
“They do not reflect prevalence of hunger in the overall population,” said the minister, replying to a question from TMC’s Derek O’ Brien on India’s rank in the Global Hunger Index.
She said only one indicator, Prevalence of Undernourishment (PoU), is related to hunger. However, she said, even this indicator suffers from significant methodological and data limitations.
“In view of these shortcomings, the methodology adopted in the GHI is unreliable and it cannot be taken to reflect hunger in the overall population,” she added.
“It is a deeply flawed measure of 'Hunger’ and does not reflect India’s true position,” she added.
As per the 2025 GHI, which is a peer-reviewed annual report, jointly published by Concern Worldwide, Welthungerhilfe, and the Institute for International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict (IFHV), designed to comprehensively measure and track hunger at the global, regional, and country levels, India ranks 102nd out of the 123 countries.
She said the various rounds of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) have shown improvement in malnutrition indicators like stunting, underweight and wasting among children in India.
Quoting the Poshan Tracker, till June this year, she said stunting affected 29% children, while underweight affected 11% and wasting impacted 3% young children.
This was in comparison to the NFHS-6 (2023-24) which showed that 29.3 children were affected with stunting, 31.8 impacted with underweight and 19.0 impacted with wasting.
Listing out the various initiatives the central government has taken, Thakur said, the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojna (PMGKAY) has been implemented in all the States/UTs, which substantially supplements the food requirements of upto 75% of the rural and upto 50% of the urban population.
Coverage under the PMGKAY is substantially high to ensure that all the vulnerable and needy sections of society get its benefit. While Antyodaya Anna Yojna (AAY) households, which constitute the poorest of the poor, are entitled to 35 Kg of food grains, per household per month, Priority Households (PHH) are entitled to 5 Kg of food grains per person per month free of cost.
At present, 79.09 crores beneficiaries are covered and they are getting free of cost food grains under the scheme.
She also said that the government in partnership with states and UTs have implemented the centrally sponsored scheme - Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman (PM POSHAN).
About 11.20 crore children studying in classes Bal Vatika and I-VIII in 10.36 lakh government and government-aided schools are covered under the scheme during 2024-25.
The PM POSHAN Scheme ensures that hot cooked meals are served to all eligible students on all school days in every school across the country.
The Mission Poshan 2.0 is a centrally sponsored scheme under the WCD ministry to address the challenges of malnutrition in the country.
Under Mission Poshan 2.0, out of 8.54 crore beneficiaries, more than 5.75 crore beneficiaries were provided Supplementary Nutrition Programme (SNP) services for at least 15 days, while more than 5.38 crore beneficiaries were provided SNP services for at least 21 days in June, 2026.
She added that the responsibility for implementation of various activities lies with the states and Union Territories (UTs).
The issue of malnutrition is being addressed under the mission by establishing cross cutting convergence amongst more than 18 ministries and departments.
She said under the Mission Poshan 2.0, significant measures have been taken by the ministry to improve nutritional outcomes, which includes supplementary nutrition in the form of Hot Cooked Meal (HCM) and Take Home Ration (THR) is provided to children (6 months to 6 years), pregnant women, lactating mothers and adolescent girls in accordance with the nutrition norms contained in Schedule-II of the National Food Security Act, 2013.
Additional nutrition is also provided to Severely Acute Malnourished (SAM) children in the form of Take-Home Ration (THR), she added.
