Congress leaders criticised Smriti Irani for making uninformed statements regarding the Global Hunger Index.
Union minister Smriti Irani came under fire from the Congress party on Friday for statements she made denying the legitimacy of the Global Hunger Index, on which India performed poorly. The Congress party accused Irani, a senior in the BJP, of being ignorant and insensitive. On Thursday, Narendra Modi’s minister for women and children, Irani, said that the annual Global Hunger Index report is compiled by contacting people and asking if they are hungry.
“I don’t know what’s more shameful – your level of ignorance or your insensitivity on display here?” Supriya Shrinate, a spokesman for the Congress, made the statement on Twitter.
Your comments as India’s Minister for Women and Child Development are awful. She said, “Frankly, you are an embarrassment!,” noting that indicators like undernourishment, child stunting, child wasting, and child death are “heavily based” on the annual report.
Shrinate emphasised that the four metrics can be used to gauge development in the direction of the SDGs set forth by the United Nations. The Congress leader also cautioned the Union minister from dismissing the seriousness of world hunger, given her position of power.
“And don’t make light of hunger; you’re a minister in the Government of India, for Pete’s sake, and you have a lot of authority and entitlement. She reassured me, “There are plenty of meals available on the flights you take and at the places you visit.
Priyanka Chaturvedi, the leader of the Shiv Sena (UBT), responded to Irani’s comments on social media, writing, “Hardly having the time to eat= Hardly having food to eat.”
Hardly having the time to eat= Hardly having food to eat
If arrogance had a face, it would be Mantriji. pic.twitter.com/QdmzqSYszX— Priyanka Chaturvedi🇮🇳 (@priyankac19) October 20, 2023
They say, “If arrogance had a face, it would be Mantriji.”
Statement made by Smriti Irani
The Union minister said that the Global Hunger Index and other metrics are biassed since they “don’t project the India story.”
“How do they create that ranking system?” Gallup calls three thousand people in a country of 140 million and asks, “Are you hungry?” she said.
“Now believe me, at 4 o’clock this morning I left my home in Delhi. At 5, I boarded a plane bound for Kochi. I flew here at 5 o’clock in the morning after attending a conclave in the area. It will be 10 o’clock before I get to something that might be considered food. Oh yeah, I am, if you had phoned me at any point today and asked if I was hungry.
During a meeting at the Taj Deccan in Hyderabad, Irani addressed the topic of “Future Role of Women in India” at a FICCI event.
Where India falls on the world’s hunger scale
The government of India disregarded the Global Hunger Index-2023, which placed India at #111 out of 125 countries, as inaccurate and motivated by evil. The index, which was released on Thursday, also found that India had the highest child wasting rate in the world at 18.7 percent. A survey using the Global Hunger Index-2023 found that India has a serious level of hunger, with a score of 28.7. Pakistan (ranked 102nd), Bangladesh (ranked 81st), Nepal (ranked 69th), and Sri Lanka (ranked 60th) are all better off than India.
