Parshottam Rupala said in Parliament that India should not pay heed to hunger reports prepared by NGOs because in this country even street dogs are fed “sheera (sweet dish)” after they give birth.
Minister of state for agriculture Parshottam Rupala, questioning the methodology and information accuracy of the Global Hunger Index (GHI) report, which has positioned India at 94th rank (out of 107 international locations) in 2020, mentioned in Parliament on Friday that India should not pay heed to hunger reports prepared by NGOs because in this country even street dogs are fed “sheera (sweet dish)” after they give birth.
Rupala was responding to Aam Aadmi party (AAP) MP Sanjay Singh’s comment in the Rajya Sabha on India’s poor rank in the Global Hunger Index 2020.
The minister in his written reply to the matter pointed out that the country’s hunger situation has improved because in 2019 India’s ranking was 102, while in 2020, it has been ranked 94 out of 107 countries, Sanjay Singh said.
The AAP MP said despite being in the top 10 food-processing countries in the world, India still ranks poorly in the hunger index. Singh also noted that neighbouring countries like Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka have fared much better.
In his response, Rupala said the government has already written to NGO Welthungerhilfe, which compiled the report, expressing concerns about their methodology and accuracy of data, and is yet to hear from them.
“Some NGO in the world has done the survey. We have already asked them on what basis have you reached this conclusion? They have not replied yet. But this is a separate matter,” the minister said.
“Whenever a street dog gives birth in our village, our women provide them with sheera. Even though at times it bites too, we still give them sheera. So in a country where such tradition exists, and then an NGO comes and gives such a report (regarding hunger index) about our children, we should not be sensitive to such reports,” Rupala further said.
The Minister stressed that even “hatte-katte (healthy) children are counted in these surveys”.
“As far as these surveys are concerned, even healthy and strong children are also counted. There is a need to create awareness in society and our dynamic minister Smriti Irani ji has started a jan andolan (people’s movement) and under this, 13 crore events have already been done,” he said.
The minister further said there is no food shortage in the country as the government has around 529.59 lakh tonnes of buffer stock.
“We should have ideally kept 214 lakh tonnes, but we have double the stock. So there is no food shortage at all,” Rupala said.
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