Congress MP and former union minister Shashi Tharoor today took to Twitter to show his disappointment at India’s rank in Global Hunger Index:
India stood a shameful 100th among 119 countries in the Global Hunger Index (GHI). Where are our Govt’s priorities? https://t.co/93rcirDHSy
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) October 12, 2017
The report, which cited Washington-based International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) said that with a global hunger index (GHI) score of 31.4, India is at the high end of the “serious” category. Data from the report showed that India’s rank (100) was lower than all its neighbours—Nepal (72), Myanmar (77), Bangladesh (88), Sri Lanka (84) and China (29)—except Pakistan (106). Even North Korea (93) and Iraq (78) fared better in hunger parameters and GHI rankings.
However, a Twitter user, @WrongDoc provided a comparative analysis on the same to Tharoor, by juxtaposing India’s position with India itself before comparing ourselves with other countries:
From the year 2000 to 2017, India has made improvement on its own hunger problems. pic.twitter.com/f41o1r1HsT
— Be’Havin! (@WrongDoc) October 13, 2017
According to the Twitter user, India has been doing consistently better in fighting hunger over the years:
India has made sustained improvement on all indices over the years. Things were completely shit, they are getting better. pic.twitter.com/BK3CBv3Saw
— Be’Havin! (@WrongDoc) October 13, 2017
He further states that as compared to 2009, India has been doing much better in fighting hunger and malnourishment amongst children under 5 years of age:
2009: 43% of under 5 yr old children in India were wasted.
2016: 15.1% of under 5 yr old children in India are wasted. pic.twitter.com/Hvewbx06Ab— Be’Havin! (@WrongDoc) October 13, 2017
2009: 48% under 5 children in India were stunted.
2016: 38.7% of under 5 children in India are stunted. pic.twitter.com/bbYQ3DvPRt— Be’Havin! (@WrongDoc) October 13, 2017
Amidst all this, some users also took this moment to point out the hypocrisy:
We are dying of poverty and you want Rohingyas to come die with us you monster https://t.co/RpNtU51Lxi
— R (@reviewero) October 13, 2017
Looks like neither Indira’s Garibi Hatao nor Sonia’s NREGA did what they were supposed to do – eradicating poverty and hunger – did they? https://t.co/GwwAdZJpDm
— Mohan Sinha (@Mohansinha) October 13, 2017
How shameless can people be! Ruled for 60 years, gave all kinds of slogans for the poor, & now blame a 3-year old government. https://t.co/6PfRiMg0fY
— Vinayak Jain (@vinayak_jain) October 13, 2017
If only Tharoor took a lesson or two on #KnowYourLegacy, he’d know the decisions and scams and misrule which led to this situation.
UPDATE: Not only Tharoor was harping more on rhetoric than data, even the supposed data (huge fall in ranking) is entirely wrong and result of either propaganda or weak data interpretation and analytical abilities of journalists who wrote the news report. The corrected data was pointed out by yet another Twitter user @Nesenag is:
Have revised the calculation to include footnote
2011:108/122
2012:106/120
2013:105/120
2014:99/120
2015:80/104
2016:97/118
2017:100/119 pic.twitter.com/I9QFw8Dh6u— The Masakadzas (@Nesenag) October 13, 2017
