Oppn attack over GHI rank attempt to malign India's image: BJP

New Delhi, Oct 14 (PTI) The BJP today slammed theopposition, saying it was levelling "mischievous" and"baseless" allegations that India's Global Hu...
Updated on: 
2 min read

New Delhi, Oct 14 (PTI) The BJP today slammed theopposition, saying it was levelling "mischievous" and"baseless" allegations that India's Global Hunger Index rankhas slipped to 100th in 2017 from 55th in 2014.

BJP spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao said the Opposition's"allegation" was a "scurrilous attempt" to tarnish the imageof India and that "Rahul Gandhi and Congress party have beenengaged" in this activity for over three years.

"The Opposition's allegation that India's rank in theGlobal Hunger Index 2017 report has slipped to 100th positionfrom 55th in 2014 is mischievous, baseless and representstravesty of truth," he said in a statement.

The BJP totally rejects the allegations and themischievous imputations, he added.

Rao explained that in 2014, India's ranking on this indexwas 55th but at that time only 76 countries were included inthe ranking.

In the Global Hunger Index in 2017, he said, 44 countrieswhich were not part of the index in 2014 and which have alwayshad better development indices compared to India, have beenincluded.

"By deliberately suppressing this fact, Rahul Gandhi andCongress party are guilty of deliberate prevarication andobfuscation," he said.

Rao said the ranking is based on the performance during2012-16, and during this period Congress was in power for 2.5years, preceded by about eight years of their rule.

"Therefore, if the India's score in 2017 reflects anegative trend, the Congress-led UPA government must own upits own failure," Rao said.

The GHI ranks countries on a scale of 100 points with 0(zero) being the best and 100 the worst scores, he said,adding India has improved its score from 35.6 in 2008 to 31.4in 2017.

On all the four parameters of the GHI study, thecountry's position has improved except one parameter'Prevalence of wasting in children under 5 years', he said.

"India's position was improving on this parameters alsofrom 1994 to 2002, but drastically worsened between 2002 and2016, which contains a decade of Congress rule," he added.

Following the GHI report, Congress vice-president RahulGandhi had attacked the government with a couplet by DushyantKumar. "Bhookh hai to sabr kar, roti nahi to kya hua, aajkaldilli mein hai zer-e-behas yeh mudda (if you are hungry, bepatient, what if bread is not available, the issue is beingdiscussed). PTI JTR TIR AKKTIR.

This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.

Related Stories

No stories found.

X
The New Indian Express
www.newindianexpress.com