India hasn’t fared well on the Human Development Index (HDI), and in the Global Hunger Index (GHI) this year, India ranked 94th out of 107 countries. Although India has improved over the last decade, going from the red zone to the yellow zone, we should aim to get into the green zone of the GHI index. Neighbouring Pakistan is faring a bit better, at 24.6 compared to 27.6 of India, though it is in the yellow zone along with India.
China has a score of <5 and is in the green zone. Bangladesh and Afghanistan scored 20.4 and 30 respectively, both in the yellow zone. India must now move away from food security policies to infrastructural improvements to make sure we are able to move from 27.6 to less than 10 in the GHI.
The challenges and hurdles are big as India suffers a lack of basic health facilities, especially when it comes to the nutrition of women during pregnancy and a lack of access to health facilities.
The government’s role will be crucial to make sure we are out of this status of a lower-middle-income country, to a middle-high income country.
Education is also a factor, in which China and Sri Lanka fared well, and pulled themselves out from conflict-ridden zones in the 1970s-80s to Green Zones in GHI. Politics in India has made medical facilities a manifesto-issue of parties rather than a fundamental human development issue.
Though China enjoyed great implementation, possibly due to centralized control of the government, the ruling-BJP’s massive victory in the last two Lok Sabha elections has created a large base of party presence. All this will depend on the implementation of programs of development by the BJP-led NDA government. All implementation will depend on the improvement of the bureaucracy and how careful the government is on this issue.