The parameters of the Global Hunger Index (GHI) and its system of collecting data have been under constant criticism as it fails to present a real picture of the world in its annual reports.
The GHI score is determined on the basis of only a few metrics such as malnutrition, child mortality rate, get weight and height of children of a particular country in a given year.
Over the years, it has been realized by all concerned that more diverse data is needed to understand the complex aspects of hunger in the world.
The GHI data does not take into account several major economic, social and political factors affecting the hunger index.
In most cases, countries facing crisis are consistently placed above other doing far better than them, causing people not to trust in the report.
A few days ago, Global Hunger Index, 2024 report was released wherein India was ranked 105th in the list of 127 countries.
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The report claimed that the level of hunger in India is serious, and hence it has been ranked so low.
In the list, countries like Nepal, Bangladesh and Myanmar have been placed above India and neighboring country Pakistan, which is roaming around the world begging with a bowl in its hand, is at number 109, just below India.
Even if we look beyond the neighbors, the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is facing violence in Africa and where food crisis is continuously deepening, has also been ranked above India at 96th place.
In this article, with the help of data of the last few years, we will analyze some countries whose situation is consistently better than India in the ‘Global Hunger Index’ even if India is providing all kinds of help to these countries.
Nepal
Nepal, India’s neighboring country which is surrounded by India on three sides, has been facing food issues due to various reasons since the Covid-19 pandemic.
However, in the Global Hunger Index 2024 report, Nepal has been ranked 68th out of 127 countries with a score of 14.7.
The GHI was released on October 10 and just a day before that, on October 9, India had sent more than 20 tones of relief material to Nepal.
Earlier in July 2024, India had made a provision of Rs 700 crore to help Nepal.
Talking about the figures of 2023, the situation was more or less the same even then, in the Global Hunger Index 2023 released in October 2023, India was ranked 111th while Nepal was ranked 69th.
Just a few months before this, i.e. in August 2023, the Nepal government had requested for 10 lakh tones of paddy, 1 lakh tones of rice and 50,000 tones of sugar from India in view of the food crisis. Following which India sent 95,000 tones of rice to Nepal in December.
The Global Hunger Index report of 2022, India was ranked 107th out of 121 countries and Nepal was ranked 81st out of the same number of countries.
According to the GHI data, Nepal’s situation was much better than India but the ground reality was different.
During the financial year 2021-22, Nepal imported a record 1.4 million tones of rice (1.38 million tones of non-basmati and 19,000 tones of basmati rice) from India.
Bangladesh
Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was forced to leave the country after students-led protests, and an interim government led by Mohammad Yunus is currently looking after the administration of Bangladesh.
A report claimed that climate change-related problems and the issue of low income are building pressure on poor people in Bangladesh, and that leads to rapidly increasing food insecurity.
About 14.6 million people (20 percent of the analyzed population) faced acute high levels of food insecurity between February and March 2024.
However, this did not affect the GHI, and in 2024, Bangladesh was ranked 84th, about 20 places above India in the list.
India’s budget for 2024-25 had allocated Rs 120 crore to help Bangladesh.
Apart from this, the food crisis in Bangladesh has worsened so much that India sent 2.31 lakh eggs. Inflation is so high that a large part of Bangladesh population is dependent only on eggs.
In the Global Hunger Index report released in October 2023, India was ranked 111th while Bangladesh was ranked 81st.
In 2023, the Government of India had allocated Rs 200 crore to financially help Bangladesh. In the Global Hunger Index of 2022, Bangladesh was ranked 84th among 121 countries while India was placed at 107th position.
Some two months before the release of the report, India’s Food Secretary had said that India had exported 1.8 billion tones of grains to some nations and Bangladesh was also among them. During the 2022 budget. In the budgetary allocation, India had announced a grant of Rs 300-crore to Bangladesh.
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, an island nation situated to the south of India, is moving forward after battling its worst economic crisis a couple of years ago.
Pictures of long queues for food, water and other goods in Sri Lanka are a thing of the past, but in 2024, Sri Lanka has been ranked 56th in the GHI.
India, which has been ranked 105th in the GHI, has allocated Rs 245 crore to help Sri Lanka during the current financial year.
Sri Lanka was ranked 64th and 60th in 2022 and 2023 respectively, much above India in the list.
