‘You are an embarrassment!’: Opposition slams Smriti Irani for Global Hunger Index remarks

The Congress party on Friday lashed out at Union minister Smriti Irani for her comments dismissing the credibility of the Global Hunger Index on which India has fared poorly. The Opposition party said that the BJP leader is ignorant and insensitive. Irani, who is the Union Minister of Women and Child Development in the NDA government, had said that the annual Global Hunger Index report is prepared by “calling 3,000 out of 140 crore people and asking them if they are hungry”.

As per the 2023 Global Hunger Index, India ranked at 111 out of the 125 countries with a score of 28.7, while Pakistan ranked at 102 on the index, with a score of 26.6.

“I don’t know what’s more shameful - your level of ignorance or your insensitivity at display here?” Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said in a social media post. 

“You are the Women and Child Development Minister in the Government of India - it’s appalling to hear you. Frankly, you are an embarrassment! ” she added, pointing out that the annual report is “heavily based” on indicators like undernourishment, child stunting, child wasting and child mortality.

Irani on Friday said: "There are indices which do not project the India story and deliberately so. For instance, Global Hunger Index, which many people say is hogwash. They make the index, here in India, by calling 3,000 people out of 140 crore people and asking them if they are hungry. That index is saying Pakistan is doing better than India, can you imagine?"

Shrinate asked Irani to not “make a mockery of hunger”. “You are an extremely powerful and entitled woman, a minister in the Government of India for heaven’s sake! There are enough and more meals available on the flights you board and the places you visit,” Shrinate said.

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Priyanka Chaturvedi too slammed Irani for her remarks. “Hardly having the time to eat = Hardly having food to eat. If arrogance had a face, it would be Mantriji,” Chaturvedi wrote in a social media post on X.

Besides the hunger data, the index, released on Thursday, also stated that India has the highest child wasting rate in the world at 18.7 per cent, reflecting acute undernutrition. With a score of 28.7 in the Global Hunger Index-2023, India has a level of hunger that is serious, according to a report based on the index. India's neighbouring countries Pakistan (102nd), Bangladesh (81st), Nepal (69th) and Sri Lanka (60th) have fared better than it in the index.