Dip in India's rank in Global Hunger Index 'shocking', methodology used is 'unscientific': Govt

India slipped to 101st position in the Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2021 of 116 countries, from its 2020 position of 94th. It is now behind its neighbours Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal. 

Reacting sharply to the report, the Women and Child Development Ministry said 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 Hungerhilfe, have not done their due diligence before releasing the report,'' the ministry said in a statement. The methodology used by FAO is ''unscientific'', the ministry claimed.