India's Global Hunger Index Ranking and Economic Inequality: A Review of ModI's Nine-Year Rule

2023-09-04 19:30:00

Tuesday Sep 5, 2023

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made a strange claim that the world no longer sees India as 100 crore hungry stomachs when India remains at the 107th position in the Global Hunger Index, which includes 121 countries. India is one of the most backward countries in the global human development index. India has lagged behind in many global indices during Modi’s nine-year rule. Economic inequality has also increased. In fact, in an interview granted to a news agency, the Prime Minister said that India will become a developed country by 2047. According to the 2022 Global Hunger Index, 23 crore people are hungry in India. According to the report of NITI Aayog, Kerala is the least poverty stricken state in the country. In Asia, only Afghanistan is behind India in terms of hunger. India, which was at 55th position in 2014, has become 107th under the Modi regime. India ranks 132nd in the Human Development Index out of 191 countries. The Human Development Index is prepared on the basis of criteria such as life expectancy, duration of education and national income. Neighboring countries like Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Bangladesh are all ahead of India in the Human Development Index. In 2014, India was ranked 130th in the index. India ranks 123 out of 161 countries on the Economic Inequality Index. Only four countries are behind India, which ranks 157th in health spending. India’s investment in health sector is only 3.64 percent of total expenditure. China and Russia spend 10 percent in the health sector. Nepal spends 7.8 percent and Pakistan 4.3 percent on health. Read on deshabhimani.com