india state hunger index
Post on 30-May-2018
217 Views
Preview:
TRANSCRIPT
-
8/14/2019 India State Hunger Index
1/21
ADVANCECOPYFORDISCUSSION
TheIndiaStateHungerIndex:ComparisonsOfHungerAcrossStates
PurnimaMenon
AnilDeolalikar
AnjorBhaskar
October14,2008
Thisadvancecopyversionisintendedfordiscussionandfeedback.Thereportwill
be revised in response to feedback received from workshop participants at the
releaseof theGlobalHunger Index2008andthe IndiaStateHunger Index2008
onOctober14,2008.
AcknowledgementsThisworkwassupportedbyWeltHungerHilfethroughagranttotheInternationalFoodPolicy
ResearchInstitute.Wearegratefultothefollowingindividualsforvaluablecommentsand
feedback: DorisWiesmann,MarieRuel,KlausvonGrebmerandothercolleaguesatIFPRIand
WeltHungerHilfe.
Abouttheauthors:PurnimaMenonisResearchFellowwiththeFoodConsumptionandNutritionDivisionandthe
NewDelhiOfficeattheInternationalFoodPolicyResearchInstitute(IFPRI). AnilDeolalikaris
ProfessorattheDepartmentofEconomics,UniversityofCalifornia,Riverside.AnjorBhaskarisa
ResearchAnalystattheNewDelhiOfficeatIFPRI.
-
8/14/2019 India State Hunger Index
2/21
KEYFINDINGS
IndiasGHI2008scoreis23.7,whichranksit66thoutof88countries.ThisindicatescontinuedpoorperformanceatreducinghungerinIndia.
TheIndiaStateHungerIndex(ISHI)2008wasconstructedinasimilarfashionastheGHI2008toenablecomparisonsofstateswithinIndia,andtocompareIndian
statestoGHI2008scoresandranksforothercountries.
TheISHI2008scorewasestimatedfor17majorstatesinIndia,coveringmorethan95
percent
of
the
population
of
India.
ISHI2008scoresforIndianstatesrangefrom13.6forPunjabto30.9forMadhyaPradesh,indicatingsubstantialvariabilityamongstatesinIndia.Punjabisranked
34th
whencomparedtotheGHI2008countryrankings,whileMadhyaPradeshis
ranked82nd.
All17stateshaveISHIscoresthatarewellabovethelowandmoderatehungercategories.Twelveofthe17statesfallintothealarmingcategory,and
one MadhyaPradeshintotheextremelyalarmingcategory.
ISHIscoresarecloselyalignedwithpoverty,butthereislittleassociationwithstateleveleconomicgrowth.Highlevelsofhungerareseeneveninstatesthatare
performingwellfromaneconomicperspective.
Inclusiveeconomicgrowthandtargetedstrategiestoensurefoodsufficiency,reducechildmortalityandimprovechildnutritionareurgentprioritiesforall
statesinIndia.
-
8/14/2019 India State Hunger Index
3/21
1
INTRODUCTION
Foodandgoodnutritionarebasichumanneeds,therecognitionofwhichisenshrinedinthe
firstMillenniumDevelopmentGoal(MDG),theeradicationofextremepovertyandhunger.
However,developingsoundwaystomonitorprogresstowardstheeradicationofhungerisvital
tosustainthesalienceofhungeringlobalandnationalpolicydiscussions. TheGlobalHunger
Index(GHI)isoneapproachtomeasuringandtrackingprogressonhungerandenabling
widespreaddiscussionaboutthereasonsfor,andtheconsequencesofhunger.TheGHIwas
developedbytheInternationalFoodPolicyResearchInstitute(IFPRI)in2006(Wiesmannetal.
2006)asameansofcapturingthreeinterlinkeddimensionsofhungerinadequate
consumption,childmalnutrition,andchildmortality.
Althoughhungerismostdirectlymanifestedininadequatefoodintake,overtimeinadequate
foodintakeandlackofaproperdiet,especiallyincombinationwithlowbirthweightsandhigh
ratesof
infections,
can
result
in
stunted
and
underweight
children.
The
most
extreme
manifestationofcontinuedhungerandmalnutritionismortality. TheGlobalHungerIndex
recognizestheinterconnectednessofthesedimensions,andtherefore,capturesperformance
onallthreeoftheminhowitisconstructed. Theindexhasbeenaneffectiveadvocacytool
whichhasbroughttheissueofglobalandnationalhungertotheforeinpolicydebates,
especiallyindevelopingcountries.Therankingofnationsonthebasisoftheirindexscoreshas
beenapowerfultooltohelpfocusattentiononhunger,especiallyforcountrieslikeIndiawhich
underperformonhungerandmalnutritionrelativetotheirincomelevels.
IndiahasconsistentlyrankedpoorlyontheGlobalHungerIndex.TheGlobalHungerIndex2008
(vonGrebmer
et
al.
2008)
reveals
Indias
continued
lackluster
performance
at
eradicating
hunger;Indiaranks66thoutofthe88developingcountriesandcountriesintransitionforwhich
theindexhasbeencalculated. ItranksslightlyaboveBangladeshandbelowallotherSouth
Asiannations.1 ItevenranksbelowseveralcountriesinSubSaharanAfrica,suchasKenya,
Nigeria,Cameroon,andevenCongoandSudan.Thisisinspiteofthefactthatthelevelofper
capitaincomeinthesesubSaharanAfricancountriesismuchlowerthanthatinIndia. Table1
belowshowshowthesecountrieshavemuchlowerhungerindexscorestheirlowerpercapita
incomelevels.
1IndiasslightlybetterperformancerelativetoBangladeshisentirelyduetobetteraccesstofoodinIndia
relativetoBangladesh,whichinturnisaconsequenceofIndiashigheragriculturalproductivity.Onthe
othertwocomponentsoftheGHIchildunderweightandchildmortality,IndiaranksbelowBangladesh.
Indeed,Indiaschildunderweightratesareamongthehighestintheworld.
-
8/14/2019 India State Hunger Index
4/21
2
Table1. GDPpercapitainrelationtoscoresontheGlobalHungerIndex2008
Country GHI2008 GDPperCapita*
Nigeria 18.4 1977
Cameroon 18.7 2124
Kenya 19.9 1535
Sudan
20.5
2088
India 23.7 2753
*GrossDomesticProduct(GDP)dollarestimatesatPurchasingPowerParity(PPP)percapita
Source:WorldDevelopmentIndicators,2007(WorldBank)
AstatelevelhungerindexforIndia
Withover200millionpeoplewhoarefoodinsecure,Indiaishometothelargestnumberof
hungrypeopleintheworld. Whiletherehasbeenattentiontohungerandundernutritionatthe
centrallevel,withinIndiaspoliticalsystem,statesareimportantpoliticalunitswithregardto
theplanning
and
execution
of
development
programs.
Thus,
unpacking
the
hunger
index
at
the
levelofthestateisanimportanttooltobuildawarenessofthelevelsanddisparitiesinhunger
amongstates.Inaddition,thevariabilityintherelativecontributionoftheunderlying
componentsofthehungerindexacrossthedifferentIndianstatescanhelpinformthe
discussionaboutthedriversofhungerindifferentstatecontexts.
TheavailabilityofnationalhouseholdsurveysinIndiathatcapturethethreeunderlying
dimensionsoftheGlobalHungerIndexatthestatelevel enablesustodevelopastatehunger
indexforIndia.Thestatehungerindexiscalculatedusingaprocedurethatissimilartothatused
forcalculatingtheGHIscoresofcountries.ThispermitscomparisonofIndianstatestoother
countriesintermsoftheirperformanceonhungerandmalnutrition.
TheoverallobjectiveofthedevelopmentofanIndiaStateHungerIndexistofocusattentiontotheproblemofhungerandmalnutritionatthestateandcentrallevelsinIndiathroughthedevelopmentofanindexthatenablescomparisonswithinIndia,andglobally.DATAANDMETHODS
TheIndiaStateHungerIndexisbasedonthesameunderlyingvariablesastheGlobalHunger
Index.Theseare:
Theproportionofpopulationthatdoesnotconsumeanadequatelevelofcalories Theproportionofunderweightchildrenunderfiveyearsofage;and, Themortalityrateamongchildrenunderfiveyearsofage,expressedasthepercentageof
childrenbornalivewhodiebeforetheyreachtheageoffive.
-
8/14/2019 India State Hunger Index
5/21
3
WeusetwodatasourcesfortheestimationoftheIndiaStateHungerIndex.Thesearethethird
roundoftheNationalFamilyHealthSurvey(20052006)forIndia(referredtoastheNFHSIII
data)2andthe61stroundoftheNationalSampleSurvey(NSS)datafrom200420053.
TheIndiaStateHungerIndexiscalculatedandpresentedfor17majorstatesinthecountry.
Thesestates
cover
95
percent
of
the
countrys
population,
according
to
the
2001
census
in
India.
WhiletheNFHSIIIhasalargeenoughsamplesizetoyieldrepresentativeestimatesofthechild
underweightandmortalityratesevenforthesmallerstatesandunionterritoriesinthecountry,
thesamplesizeoftheNSS61stroundisinsufficientforestimatingundernourishmentratesin
theseplaces.Therefore,werestrictedoursampletothosestatesforwhichtheNSSyields
precisestatelevelestimates.
Populationundernourishedbasedoncalorieconsumption: Theproportionofthepopulation
undernourishedbasedoncalorieconsumptionwasestimatedusingunitlevelfoodconsumption
datafromthe61stroundoftheNationalSampleSurvey,conductedin200405.TheNSS
obtainedhouseholdconsumptiondataonmorethan225individualfoods;thesewere
convertedtocaloriesusingfoodtocalorieconversionfactorsreportedbyNSSO(2007).
Allowancesforcaloriesfrommealseatenoutsidethehomeweremadeusingtheprocedures
suggestedandfollowedbyNSSO(2007).
TheGHI2008(vonGrebmeret.al,2008)reportsthecaloriebasedundernutritionforIndiatobe
20%,basedontheFAOundernourishmentcutoffof1,820kcalsperperson.4 TheFAOestimate
ofcalorieundernutritionisbasedondataonfoodavailability,collectedfromnationalfood
balancesheets.Assuch,itislikelytodifferfromcalorieundernutritionestimatesthatarebased
2
The
National
Family
Health
Survey
III
is
the
third
one
in
aseries
of
such
surveys.
It
was
conducted
by
the
InternationalInstituteforPopulationSciences(IIPS,Mumbaiwhichactedasthenodalagency.Thesurvey
collecteddataon51,555childrenunder5yearsofage.TechnicalsupportwasprovidedbyMacro
InternationalwhileUSAIDprovidedfinancialassistanceforthestudy.
3TheNationalSampleSurveyOrganisatonconductssurveysonvarioussocioeconomicissuesannually.
The61stroundoftheNationalSampleSurvey(NSS)wasconductedbetweenJuly2004toJune2005.The
HouseholdConsumerExpenditureSurveywasconductedonalargesamplebasisandwastheseventh
quinquennialsurveyonthesubject.Itcoveredasampleof79,298ruraland45,346urbanhouseholdsin
allthestatesandunionterritoriesofIndia.
4ItshouldbenotedthatthecalorienormsforpovertyusedwithinIndiadiffersignificantlyfromtheFAO
recommendednormsforundernourishment.DandekarandRath(1971)usedanormof2,250caloriesper
dayperpersontosetapovertylineforIndia.AtaskforceoftheIndianPlanningCommission
subsequentlyrevisedthesecalorienormsto2,400inruralareasand2,100inurbanareas(thedifference
beingattributedtothelowerratesofphysicalactivityintheurbanareas(GOI1979).Thesearethecalorie
normsthatunderlietheofficialpovertylinecurrentlyinusebytheGovernmentofIndia.Tocomplicate
mattersfurther,theNationalSampleSurveyOrganisation(NSSO)usesadailycalorienormof2,700
caloriesperconsumerunit(notpercapita)(NSSO2007).
-
8/14/2019 India State Hunger Index
6/21
4
onconsumptiondataobtainedfromhouseholdconsumptionexpendituresurveys,suchasthe
NSS(SmithandWeisman,2007).InthecaseofIndia,theuseof1,820kcalsperpersonperday
asthecutoffyieldsacalorieundernutritionrateof34%,whichissubstantiallylargerthanthe
20%reportedbyFAOandusedintheestimationoftheGlobalHungerIndex2008.Sincean
importantgoalofthisstudywastoensurecomparabilityoftheIndiaStateHungerIndexwith
theGlobal
Hunger
Index,
we
use
acalorie
cut
off
that
yields
anational
calorie
undernutrition
rateofexactly20%.Thisleadstoacutoffof1,632kcalsperpersonperday.
Childunderweight: Theproportionofunderweightamongchildrenunderfiveyearsofagewas
estimatedatthestatelevelusingunitleveldatafromtheNFHSIIIdataset(availableat
www.measuredhs.com). WeusedtheWHO2006internationalgrowthreferenceandNFHS
recommendedsamplesurveyweightstoestimatetheproportionofchildrenineachstate
whoseweightforagewaslessthantwostandarddeviationsbelowtheWHOreference.
Childmortality: Weutilizetheunderfivemortalityratesatthestatelevelasreportedinthe
NFHSIIIreport(Table7.4,Chapter7,pp.187)(IIPS,2007).Themortalityrateisexpressedasthe
percentageoflivebornchildrenwhodonotsurvivepastage59months.
TheIndiaStateHungerIndexiscomputedbyaveragingthethreeunderlyingcomponentsofthe
hungerindexviz.,theproportionofunderweightchildren,theunderfivemortalityrate
(expressedasapercentageoflivebirths),andtheprevalenceofcalorieundernutritioninthe
population.
-
8/14/2019 India State Hunger Index
7/21
5
RESULTS
CurrentstatusandrankingofstateswithinIndiaTable2presentstheIndiaStateHungerIndex(ISHI)aswellasitsunderlyingcomponentsforthe
17majorstatesinthecountry.
Table2. UnderlyingcomponentsofIndiaStateHungerIndexandIndiaStateHungerIndex
scores
State
Prevalenceof
calorie
undernourish
ment3
Proportionof
underweight
among
children
-
8/14/2019 India State Hunger Index
8/21
6
TheseverityofhungerisreportedinTable3,whiletherankingofthe17statesbytheIndia
StateHungerIndexisdisplayedbelowinFigure1. Theseverityofhungerisbasedonthe
classificationofcountriesbytheseverityoftheirhungerindexbytheGlobalHungerIndex2008.
WhatisdisconcertingtonoteinTable3isthatnotasinglestateinIndiafallsinthelowhunger
ormoderate
hunger
categories
defined
by
the
GHI
2008.
Instead,
most
states
fall
in
the
alarmingcategory,withonestateMadhyaPradeshfallingintheextremelyalarming
category.FourstatesPunjab,Kerala,AndhraPradeshandAssamfallintheserious
category. ThemapoftheIndiaStateHungerIndexinFigure2depictsthisclearly,andshows
thatthebulkofIndianstatesforwhichthehungerindexwasestimatedareinthealarming
category.
Table3. SeverityofIndianStateHungerIndex,byState.
-
8/14/2019 India State Hunger Index
9/21
7
Figure1. RankingofstateswithinIndiafromlowesttohighestIndiaStateHungerIndexscores.
0.0
5.0
10.0
15.0
20.0
25.0
30.0
35.0
India
Punja
bKerala
Andh
raPrad
esh
Assam
Harya
na
TamilNad
uRajas
than
W
estBen
gal
Uttar
Pradesh
Maharashtra
Karnata
kaOrissa
Gujar
at
Chhatt
isgarh
B
StatesinIndia
IndiaState
HungerIndexscore
-
8/14/2019 India State Hunger Index
10/21
8
Figure2. MapoftheIndiaStateHungerIndex,byseverity5.
5Thismapisintendedtobeaschematicrepresentationofhunger.
-
8/14/2019 India State Hunger Index
11/21
9
Figure3.ContributionofunderlyingcomponentsoftheIndianStateHungerIndextooverallscores
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
India
Punjab
Ke
rala
Andhra
Pradesh
Assam
Ha
ryana
TamilNadu
Raja
sthan
WestBe
ngal
UttarPra
desh
Maharashtra
Karnataka
Orissa
Gujara t
Calorieundernourishment
Childunderweight
Underfivemortalityrate
-
8/14/2019 India State Hunger Index
12/21
10
Table4. ComparisonofIndianstateswithcountriesoutsideIndia,basedontheGHI2008
GHI
Rank Country/State
Hunger
Index
GHI
Rank Country/State HungerIndex
GHI
Rank Country/Sta
Note:ShadedcellsrepresentIndianStates
Argentina
-
8/14/2019 India State Hunger Index
13/21
11
Table4(continued)
GHI
Rank Country/State
Hunger
Index
GHI
Rank Country/State HungerIndex
GHI
Rank Country/Sta
48 Botswana 17.90 Orissa 23.74 86 Burundi
49 Togo 18.17 Maharashtra 23.79 87 Eritrea
50 TimorLeste 18.37 67 Zimbabwe 23.83 88 Congo,Dem
51 Nigeria 18.43 68 Tanzania 24.17
52 Cameroon 18.67 69 Haiti 24.30
53 Korea,Dem.Rep. 18.77 Gujarat 24.69
54 Congo,Rep. 19.13 70 Bangladesh 25.23
Haryana 19.54 71 Tajikistan 25.89
Assam 19.85 72 Mozambique 26.33
55 Kenya 19.87 Chhattisgarh 26.65
AndhraPradesh 20.01 73 Mali 26.93
56 Sudan 20.52 Bihar 27.30
57 Nepal 20.57 74 GuineaBissau 27.45
58 LaoPDR 20.63 75 CentralAfricanRepublic 28.05
59 Djibouti 20.87 Jharkhand 28.67
60 Guinea 20.87 76 Madagascar 28.77
UttarPradesh 20.88 77 Comoros 29.07
TamilNadu 20.99 78 Zambia 29.17
Rajasthan 21.00 79 Angola 29.50
61 Pakistan 21.67 80 Yemen,Rep. 29.77
62 Malawi 21.80 81 Chad 29.93
WestBengal 22.17 MadhyaPradesh 30.90
63 Rwanda 22.33 82 Ethiopia 30.97
Karnataka 22.81 83 Liberia 31.80
64 Cambodia 23.20 84 SierraLeone 32.19
65 BurkinaFaso 23.53 85 Niger 32.40
66 India 23.70
Notes:GHI2008ranksandscoresarefromtheGHI2008report(vonGrebmeretal.,2008);onlycountrieswithGHI>=5areranked..
-
8/14/2019 India State Hunger Index
14/21
12
ComparisonofIndianstateswithothercountriesTable4showsthepositionofthe17IndianstatesrelativetothecountriesforwhichtheGlobalHunger
Index2008isreported.IndiasrankontheGHI2008is66;theranksofthedifferentstatesinrelationto
theGHIrangefrom34forthestateofPunjab(whoseISHIscoreliesplacesitbetweenNicaraguaand
Ghana)to
82
for
Madhya
Pradesh
(whose
ISHI
score
places
it
between
Chad
and
Ethiopia).
Ten
of
the
17
stateshaveanISHIrankthatisaboveIndias(66),whichindicatesthatthesestatesarerelativeout
performers(atleastrelativetotheIndianaverage).Sadly,eventhebestperformingstateinIndia,
Punjab,ranksbelowsuchcountriesasGabon,Honduras,andVietnam.
Itisusefultoexaminetheunderlyingdimensionsonthehungerindextounderstandthecontributions
ofdifferentdimensionstotheoverallhungerindex.ThisisshowninFigure3,andrevealsthatforthe
majorityofstates,childunderweightisresponsibleforthelargestvariabilitybetweenstates.Inaddition,
formoststates,theoverallscoresarehighbecauseofparticularlyhighchildunderweightrates. When
comparedtothemajorityofstates,thecontributionoflowcalorieconsumptionlevelstothehunger
indexishigherforKeralaandTamilNadu,andtoalesserextentinMaharashtraandKarnataka. The
contributionofchildmortalitytothehungerindexscores,however,isrelativelysmallandlessvariable
acrossallthestateswhencomparedtothecontributionsofchildunderweightandcalorie
undernourishment.
TheHungerIndexinrelationtoothersocialandeconomicindicatorsHowdoestheIndiaStateHungerIndex(ISHI)comparetootherindicatorsofeconomicandsocial
progress?Toaddressthisquestion,wepresentinFigure4thesimpleassociationbetweenISHIscores
andlevelsofpovertyatthestatelevel.Theassociationbetweenthehungerindexandthepercentageof
thepopulationbelowthepovertylineisstrong.Thisisexpected,giventhatpovertyisoftentheroot
causeof
insufficient
food
intake,
child
malnutrition,
and
child
mortality.
A
few
states,
however,
deviate
fromthepredictedline.GujaratandMadhyaPradeshareclearnegativeoutliers,meaningthatthey
haveamuchhigherhungerindexthanwouldbeexpectedbasedontheirpovertylevel; Punjab,Orissa
andKerala,ontheotherhand,standoutaspositivedeviantsthatis,theyhavesignificantlylower
hungerindexscoresthanwouldbeexpectedofstateswiththeirlevelofpoverty.
Inadditiontotheabove,Figure5presentsascatterplotofthe17statesbythehungerindexandnet
statedomesticproduct(NSDP)percapita,withthelatterservingasaproxyforpercapitaincomeina
state.Inthiscase,astronginverseassociationisobservedbetweenthetwovariables,withpoorerstates
havingasignificantlyhigherhungerindexthanmoreprosperousstates.However,theassociationisfar
from
perfect,
with
a
number
of
states
appearing
as
outliers.
For
instance,
Madhya
Pradesh
again
stands
outashavingamuchhigherlevelofhungerthanwouldbeexpectedbasedonitspercapitaincome;
JharkhandandChhattisgarharealsonegativeoutliers,asisMaharashtrawhichhasahungerindex
almostashighasthatofOrissa,butaNSDPtwiceaslarge.Severalstatesarealsodoingbetterthan
expectedgiventheireconomiclevel,withPunjabbeinganoticeablepositiveoutlier,and,toasmaller
extent,Kerala,AssamandRajasthan.
-
8/14/2019 India State Hunger Index
15/21
13
Figure4. IndiaStateHungerIndexinrelationtopoverty
12
16
20
24
28
32
5 10 15 20 25 30 35
%ofpopulationbelowpovertyline,200405
IndiaState
HungerIndex
MadhyaP
Punjab
Karnataka
Kerala
Gujarat
Haryana
AndhraPradesh
Jh
Assam
WestBengal
Tamil
Nadu
Maharashtr
UttarPradesh
Chhattisgarh
Bihar
Rajasthan
-
8/14/2019 India State Hunger Index
16/21
-
8/14/2019 India State Hunger Index
17/21
15
Finally,Figure6presentstheassociationbetweenthehungerindexandtherateofeconomicgrowthfor
eachstate.Thefigureshowslittleevidenceofaconsistentrelationshipbetweenthetwovariables.A
statethatexperiencednegativerealgrowth(innetstatedomesticproductpercapita)between1999
2000and200405(e.g.,MadhyaPradesh)hasahighhungerindex,butsodidstateslikeBihar,
JharkhandandChhattisgarhthatexperiencedmuchhigherratesofeconomicgrowthoverthistime
period.Again,
Punjab
stands
out
as
aremarkable
positive
outlier,
with
its
much
lower
hunger
index
thanstatessuchasKerala,AndhraPradeshandHaryanawhoserateofeconomicgrowthwastwo to
threetimeslargerduringthesameperiod (
-
8/14/2019 India State Hunger Index
18/21
16
TrendsacrosstimeSincetheIndiaStateHungerIndexhasnotbeenestimatedovertwopointsintime,itisdifficultto
examinechangesinthevaluesofthestateIndicesovertime.However,thesimilarityinconstructionof
theIndiaStateHungerIndextoastatelevelNutritionIndex6calculatedusingdatafor1994(Wiesmann,
2004)gives
us
the
ability
to
examine,
at
aminimum,
the
changes
in
rankings
of
the
different
states
over
thelast14years.
Table5presentstherankingsofstateswithinIndiausingtheIndiaStateHungerIndexin2008andthe
NutritionIndexin1994.Wenotesomedistinctchangesinrankingovertime. Particularlystrikingisthe
poorperformanceofthestatesofOrissaandMadhyaPradesh.In1994,MadhyaPradeshranked11th
outofthe15states,whileitrankedlast(17th)in2008. Giventhelargecontributionofchildunderweight
totheISHIscores,thedeclineinrankingcouldbeduetothelackofimprovementinchildundernutrition
ratesinMadhyaPradeshoverthelastsevenyears7. Similarly,Orissa,whichranked5thontheNutrition
Indexin1994,nowranks12thontheISHI2008. Haryana,despiteitsimpressiveeconomicperformance,
alsoseemstohaveperformedpoorlyintermsofreductionofhunger;whileitwasaheadofallother
statesin1994,itnowranks5thontheISHI2008.
Thereareafewstateswhichhaveoutperformedothersinenhancingfoodandnutritionsecurity,and
thisisapparentinupwardchangesintheranksbetweentheNIandtheISHI2008.Noteworthyamong
theseistheincreaseinrankingofAssam.Thestatewasoneofthepoorestperformersandranked14th
ontheNutritionIndexin1994butbecameoneofthebestperformersin2008,inspiteofhavinghadthe
lowestgrowthrateofpercapitaincomeoverthepast14yearsamongallstates.TamilNaduisanother
statewhichhasperformedwellandimproveditsrankingfrom12thin1994to6thin2008.
Overall,thechangesinrankingsaresomewhatsobering. Thetrendsinfewstatesthathaveimproved
despitethe
economic
odds
underscore
the
importance
of
investments
in
social
protection,
health
and
nutritionservicestoensureprogressonpovertyandhungeralleviation. Continuedmonitoringoftrends
usingindicatorsliketheIndiaStateHungerIndexisessentialtomonitorprogressandsustainattention
totheissueofhungerandundernutrition.
6The
Nutrition
Index
estimated
by
Wiesmann
(2004)
uses
the
same
variables
as
the
India
State
Hunger
Index,
i.e.,
childnutrition,childmortalityandcalorieundernourishment. TheNutritionIndexdiffersinthatitusesFAO
dietaryenergysupplydataforestimatingcalorieundernourishment,anditusesprevalenceofunderweightamong
childrenunderfouryearsofage,ratherthanchildrenunderfiveyearsofage. Whileindexscorescannotbe
comparedbetweentheNutritionIndexandtheISHI,thecomparisonsarestillvalidfromthepointofviewof
comparingrankingsacrosstime.7AuthorscalculationsbasedontheNFHSdatashowthattheunderweightrateamongchildrenunderthreeyears
ofageincreasedfrom55.1percentin199899to57.7percentin200506.
-
8/14/2019 India State Hunger Index
19/21
17
Table5.ChangesinstaterankingsfromtheNutritionIndex1994totheIndiaStateHungerIndex2008.
NutritionIndex
rank(1994)1
StateIndiaStateHungerIndex
rank(2008)State
1 Haryana 1 Punjab
2 Kerala 2 Kerala
3 Rajasthan 3 AndhraPradesh
4 Punjab 4 Assam
5 Orissa 5 Haryana
6 AndhraPradesh 6 TamilNadu
7 WestBengal 7 Rajasthan
8 UttarPradesh 8 WestBengal
9 Karnataka 9 UttarPradesh
10 Gujarat 10 Maharashtra
11 MadhyaPradesh 11 Karnataka
12 TamilNadu 12 Orissa
13
Maharashtra
13
Gujarat
14 Assam 14 Chhattisgarh
15 Bihar 15 Bihar
16 Jharkhand
17 MadhyaPradesh
1NutritionIndex1994resultsarefromWiesmann(2004).
SUMMARYANDPOLICYIMPLICATIONS
TheIndia
State
Hunger
Index
2008
findings
highlight
the
continued
overall
severity
of
the
hunger
situationinIndia,whilerevealingthevariabilityinhungeracrossstateswithinIndia. Itisindeed
alarmingthatnotasinglestateinIndiaiseitherlowormoderateintermsoftheirhungerindexscores;
moststateshaveaserioushungerproblem,andonestate,MadhyaPradesh, hasanextremely
alarminghungerproblem.
ThepositionsofIndianstatesvisvistheGlobalHungerIndex2008showthateventhoughthereis
variabilityinthescores,andhencetherankingofIndianstatesinrelationtoothercountries,thereare
fewstatesthatperformwellinrelationtotheGHI. EventhebestperformingIndianstate,Punjab,lies
below33otherdevelopingcountriesrankedbyGHI. Evenmorealarmingisthefactthattheworst
performingstatesinIndiaBihar,Jharkhand,andMadhyaPradeshrankmostcloselywithcountries
thatareprecariouslypositionedontheGHI2008rankings.Forinstance,BiharandJharkhandranklower
thanZimbabweandHaiti,whileMadhyaPradeshfallsbetweenEthiopiaandChad.
OuranalysisoftheassociationsbetweentheISHI2008andstateeconomicindicatorsshowsthatthe
relationshipbetweenpovertyandhungerislargelyasexpectedgreaterISHI2008scoresareseenin
poorerstates,withafewexceptions. OutlierslikePunjabandOrissaandKeralaperformbetteronthe
ISHI2008thanmightbeexpectedgiventheirpovertylevels,whileMadhyaPradesh,Gujaratand
-
8/14/2019 India State Hunger Index
20/21
18
Karnatakaperformworse.Acloserexaminationofthepastandcurrentinvestmentsmadebythese
statesinsocialprotection,healthandnutritionprogramscanhelpinformthedebateaboutpolicy
instrumentstoprotectpopulationsagainsthungereveninthefaceofpoverty.
Thelackofaclearrelationshipbetweenstateleveleconomicgrowthandhungerisalarming. The
implicationsof
this,
taken
along
with
the
relationship
between
the
ISHI
2008
and
poverty,
are
that
first,
economicgrowthisnotnecessarilyassociatedwithpovertyreduction.Additionally,evenifthereis
equitableeconomicgrowththatimprovesfoodavailabilityandaccess,thismightnotleadimmediately
toprogressonimprovingchildnutritionandmortality,whichneedmoredirectinvestmentstoenable
rapidreductions.Thus,inadditiontowidescalepovertyalleviation,directinvestmentsinimproving
foodavailabilityandaccessforpoorhouseholdsaswellasdirecttargetednutritionandhealth
interventionstoimprovenutritionandmortalityoutcomesforyoungchildrenwillbeneededtoimpact
theISHIscoresandrankingsofIndianstates.
TheexperiencesofstateswhoserankingsontheNutritionIndexdeterioratedontheISHI2008scoresin
spiteofconsistentpositiveeconomicgrowthisindicativeoftheneedtoinvestsolidlyindirectnutrition
andpovertyalleviationinterventionseveninthefaceofcontinuedeconomicgrowth. Thedesignand
implementationofpoliciesandprogramstoimproveallthreeunderlyingdimensionsoftheISHIwill
needtobestrengthenedandsupportedtoensurethathungerisreducedrapidlyovertime.While
stridesarebeingmadeonthepublichealthfronttoensuresustainedreductionsinchildmortality,
improvementsinchildnutritionarenotsatisfactoryinIndia. Thisislargelybecausenutritionprograms
inIndiaarenoteffectivelydeliveringevidencebasedinterventionsatscaletothosevulnerableage
groupswhichneedtobereachedtoensurerapidreductionsinundernutrition.
Inconclusion,forIndianstatestoprogressalongtheISHI,andtoensurethatISHIscoresforIndianstates
aremorecloselyalignedwithGHIscoresofcountrieswithcomparableeconomicgrowth,investments
willbe
needed
to
strengthen
agriculture,
improve
overall
food
availability
and
access
to
all
population
segments,andtoimprovechildnutritionandmortalityoutcomes.
-
8/14/2019 India State Hunger Index
21/21
REFERENCES
DandekarVM,RathN.(1971).PovertyinIndia.IndianSchoolofPoliticalEconomy,Pune.
GovernmentofIndia,1979.ReportoftheTaskForceonProjectionsofMinimumNeedsandEffective
ConsumptionDemand. PlanningCommission,NewDelhi,mimeo.
IIPS.(2007).NationalFamilyHealthSurvey200506(NFHS3).NationalReport.InternationalInstituteof
PopulationSciences,Mumbai
NationalSampleSurveyOrganisation(NSSO),2007,NutritionalIntakeinIndia200405,Report513
(61/1.0/6),MinistryofStatisticsandProgrammeImplementation,GovernmentofIndia,NewDelhi,
mimeo(May).
Smith,L.C.andD.Wiesmann.(2007).IsfoodinsecuritymoresevereinSouthAsiaorinSubSaharan
Africa?Acomparativeanalysisusinghouseholdexpendituresurveydata.IFPRIDiscussionPaper
712.Washington,D.C.:InternationalFoodPolicyResearchInstitute.
UnitedNations.(2006)TheMillenniumDevelopmentGoalsReport2006.UnitedNations,NewYork.
VonGrebmerK,FritschelH,NestorovaB,OlofinbiyiT,PandyaLorchR,YohannesY. (2008).Global
HungerIndexReport2008.Welthungerhilfe,InternationalFoodPolicyResearchInstitute,Concern.
WeismannD,SostAK,SchoeningerI,DalzellH,KiessL,ArnoldT,CollinsS.(2007)TheChallengeof
Hunger2007:GlobalHungerIndex:Facts,determinants,andtrends.Measuresbeingtakentoreduce
acuteundernourishmentandchronichunger.Welthungerhilfe,InternationalFoodPolicyResearch
Institute,Concern.
WiesmannD,
Weingartner
L,
Schoeninger
I,Schwarte
V.
(2006)The
Challenge
of
Hunger.
Global
Hunger
Index:Facts,determinants,andtrends.CasestudiesinthepostconflictcountriesofAfghanistanand
SierraLeone.Welthungerhilfe,InternationalFoodPolicyResearchInstitute,
WiesmannD.(2004)AnInternationalNutritionIndex:ConceptandAnalysesofFoodInsecurityand
UndernutritionatCountryLevels. DevelopmentEconomicsandPolicySeriesNo.39.PeterLang,
Frankfurta.M.
WFPandMSSRF.(2002)FoodInsecurityAtlasofRuralIndia.WorldFoodProgrammeand
M.S.SwaminathanResearchFoundation
top related