'Na Khaunga Na Khane Dunga': TMC MP Mahua Moitra mocks PM Modi over India's rank on Global Hunger Index

TMC MP Mahua Moitra commented on India's rank on the Global Hunger Index 2022 in a sarcastic tweet on Saturday.

Pic Credit: File Photo

New Delhi: Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra took a jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi in relation to India's ranking at 107 out of 121 on the Global Hunger Index. Moitra quoted PM Modi's old slogan on corruption - "Na Khaunga Na Khane Dunga.." to the ranking on the Hunger Index. As per the report, India stood at 107 among 121 countries in the Global Hunger Index 2022. The Global Hunger Index (GHI) is a tool for comprehensively measuring and tracking hunger at global, regional, and national levels. India received a score of 29.1 which means that the level of hunger in the country has been labelled as "serious". Neighbouring countries - Pakistan (99), Bangladesh (84), Nepal (81) and Sri Lanka (64) have all fared better than India.

Na Khaunga Na Khane dunga..

Quite literally Modiji’s slogan has ensured India ranks 107/122 in Global Hunger Index.

— Mahua Moitra (@MahuaMoitra) October 15, 2022

India ranked lower on GHI compared to 2021, 2020

In 2021, India ranked 101 out of 116 countries while in 2020 the country was placed at 94th position. South Asia, the region with the world's highest hunger level, has the highest child stunting rate and by far the highest child wasting rate in the world, the report said. "India's child wasting rate, at 19.3 per cent, is the highest of any country in the world and drives up the region's average owing to India's large population," it said.

Centre slams Global Hunger Index report

However, the Indian government disagreed with the ranking and claimed that the index is an "erroneous measure of hunger and suffers from serious methodological issues." The Centre said that this is an effort to taint the country's image as "a nation that does not fulfil the food security and nutritional requirements of its population."

The Women and Child Development Ministry, in a statement, said the matter was taken up with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) not to use such estimates based on FIES (Food Insecurity Experience Scale) survey module data in July 2022 as the statistical output of the same will not be based on merit.

"Though an assurance was forthcoming that there will be further engagement on this issue, the publication of the Global Hunger Index report irrespective of such factual considerations is regrettable," the ministry said.

"The Global Hunger Report 2022 released by Concern Worldwide and Welt Hunger Hilfe, Non-Government Organisations from Ireland and Germany respectively, has ranked India at 107 among 121 countries. The index is an erroneous measure of hunger and suffers from serious methodological issues," the ministry said.

(With agency inputs)