Hunger: A Hidden Condition Exacerbated Further by COVID-19 Lockdown

India ranked 94th among 117 countries in the Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2020. It continues to be in the severe-hunger category.

Fourteen percent of India’s population is undernourished, according to the GHI.
The data also showed the country recorded a 37.4 percent stunting rate among children under 5 and a wasting rate of 17.3 percent. The under-5 mortality rate stood at 3.7 percent.

The hunger problem has been exacerbated by the pandemic. Hunger is not a disease, but a condition that can lead to different morbidities and subsequent mortalities in the worst conditions. Poverty remains a grave concern in India. Food inadequacy and hard and hazardous work conditions lead to diseases such as tuberculosis and silicosis, often leading to death.

"It is slow starvation when people don’t get enough nutritious food for a long time. Government data call these deaths due to diseases but these are the death by slow starvation,” said Jean Dreze, an economist and social activist.

Indian government claims to be a superpower and is aiming at a $5 trillion economy by 2024, but the ground report, especially from rural India, is disturbing against these claims.