NEW DELHI: Questioning the methodology and data accuracy of the Global Hunger Index (GHI) report, which has placed India at 94th rank (out of 107 countries) in 2020, minister of state for agriculture Parshottam Rupala on Friday said in Parliament that India should not pay heed to hunger reports prepared by NGOs because in this country even street dogs are fed “sheera (sweet dish)” when they give birth.
Rupala was responding to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Sanjay Singh’s comment in Rajya Sabha on India’s poor rank in the GHI report.
“Whenever a street dog gives birth in our village, our women provide them with sheera. Even though at times it bites too, we still give them sheera. So in a country where such tradition exists, and then an NGO comes and gives such a report (regarding hunger index) about our children, we should not be sensitive to such reports,” Rupala said.
The minister said the government had written to NGO Welthungerhilfe, which compiles the report, expressing concerns about their methodology, data accuracy and sample size and was yet to hear from them.
Singh pointed out that despite being in the top 10 food-producing countries in the world, India still ranks poorly in the hunger index. He also pointed out that neighbouring countries like Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have fared much better.
Rupala maintained there is no food shortage in the country as the government has around 529.59 lakh tonnes of buffer stock. “We should have ideally kept 214 lakh tonnes, but we have double the stock. So there is no food shortage at all,” he added. However, Rupala said due to lack of infrastructure, some perishable food gets wasted.