New Delhi: India ranked 94 among 107 nations in the Global Hunger Index 2020 and is in the ‘serious’ hunger category. Experts are blaming poor implementation processes, lack of effective monitoring, siloed approach in tackling malnutrition and poor performance by large states behind the low ranking, The New Indian Express (TNIE) reported.
Last year, India’s rank was 102 out of 117 countries.
Neighbouring Bangladesh, Myanmar and Pakistan too are in the ‘serious’ category but ranked higher than India in this year’s hunger index.
While Bangladesh ranked 75, Myanmar and Pakistan are in the 78th and 88th position.
Nepal in 73rd and Sri Lanka in 64th position are in ‘moderate’ hunger category, the report showed.
Seventeen nations, including China, Belarus, Ukraine, Turkey, Cuba and Kuwait, shared the top rank with GHI scores of less than five, the website of the Global Hunger Index, that tracks hunger and malnutrition reported.
According to the report, 14 per cent of India’s population is undernourished.
It also showed the country recorded a 37.4 per cent stunting rate among children under five and a wasting rate of 17.3 per cent.
The under-five mortality rate is 3.7 per cent.