Govt calls ’Global Hunger Report 2021’ methodology unscientific

The Global Hunger Report 2021 and FAO report on ‘The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2021’ have completely ignored the following facts available in public domain: Govt

The Ministry of Women and Child Development has expressed its concern on the Global Hunger Report 2021, released on 14th October, 2021 by Concern Worldwide and Welt Hunger Hilfe, the publishing agencies.

In the 2021 Global Hunger Index (GHI), India ranks 101st out of the 116 countries with sufficient data to calculate 2021 GHI scores. With a score of 27.5, India has a level of hunger that is serious, according to the report. Based on current GHI projections, the world as a whole, and 47 countries in particular, will fail to achieve a low level of hunger by 2030

“It is shocking to find that the Global Hunger Report 2021 has lowered the rank of India on the basis of FAO estimate on proportion of undernourished population, which is found to be devoid of ground reality and facts and suffers from serious methodological issues. The publishing agencies of the Global Hunger Report, Concern Worldwide and Welt Hunger Hilfe, have not done their due diligence before releasing the report”, the Ministry stated.

“The methodology used by FAO is unscientific. They have based their assessment on the results of a ‘four question’ opinion poll, which was conducted telephonically by Gallup. The scientific measurement of undernourishment would require measurement of weight and height, whereas the methodology involved here is based on Gallup poll based on pure telephonic estimate of the population. The report completely disregards Government’s massive effort to ensure food security of the entire population during the covid period, verifiable data on which are available. The opinion poll does not have a single question on whether the respondent received any food support from the Government or other sources. The representativeness of even this opinion poll is doubtful for India and other countries”, added the Ministry.