In a pat on the back for the erstwhile UPA Government’s flagship programmes, the Global Hunger Index 2014 (GHI) has noted a significant improvement in the levels of hunger in India, especially among children, between 2005-06 and 2013-14. Overall, however, two billion people in the developing world are still under-nourished and suffer from ‘hidden hunger’, with the situation “alarming” in 14 countries, even as the deadline for the 2015 Millennium Development Goals nears.

This is despite the level of hunger in developing countries falling by 39 per cent since 1990, says a report released on Monday by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Welthungerhilfe, a German non-profit, and Concern Worldwide, an Irish non-profit. India has made a marked improvement in the GHI 2014 and no longer ranks second-to-last in the world on underweight in children. It has moved into the 120th spot among 128 countries, with the prevalence of underweight in children declining by almost 13 percentage points between 2005-2006 and 2013-2014.

“India improved its score following government roll-out and expansion of several programmes that target causes of under nutrition, including the Integrated Child Development Services programme and the National Rural Health Mission. The Supreme Court also appointed a commission to monitor the delivery of food-based programmes,” says the report, which has been measuring global hunger for the past nine years.

Click Here To Read More