AAP’s Atishi Marlena follows Rahul Gandhi’s lead, and defames India at Cambridge primarily based on lies: Here is the reality about HDI, Hunger Index and extra

On Thursday (June 15), Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Minister Atishi Marlena went on an anti-India tirade throughout a convention on ‘India at 100; Towards becoming a global leader’, which was held on the University of Cambridge.

At about 4 minutes and 12 seconds into the occasion, she tried to downplay India’s financial success story. “We are often told that India’s GDP has now crossed the trillion dollar mark. We are told that India is the fastest G20 economy and many other such pieces of information. But, the reality is far more worrying and underwhelming from that,” the AAP chief claimed.

“I think a better indicator, which really tells you about the State of the country, is the human development index…There are some indicators in which 190 countries participate I think. India ranks 132 out of 191. This is India at 75,” she alleged.

Atishi Marlena remarked that whereas India seeks happiness, believing that it’s higher off than its neighbours, international locations resembling Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Pakistan are supposedly ranked greater within the Human Development Index (HDI).

The fact about India’s decline in HDI

In September final 12 months, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) launched its report [pdf] on Human Development Index for 2021-22. At the very onset, it famous that 90% of the international locations listed within the index had witnessed a decline in HDI worth in 2020 or 2021.

India, which ranked 132 on the index out of 191 international locations, was not an exception. First, UNDP itself acknowledged that India’s decline is according to world developments within the face of crises such because the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the Covid-19 pandemic and ‘dangerous planetary changes.’

“Human Development – a measure of a nation’s health, education, and average income – has declined for two years in a row – 2020 and 2021, reversing five years of progress. This is in line with the global decline, indicating that human development across the world has stalled for the first time in 32 years,” it highlighted.

Atishi Marlena had tried to counsel that India was an remoted case when it got here to a decline in HDI worth whereas different international locations have been doing glorious on the entrance.

Second, UNDP conceded that the first cause behind such a worldwide development was a drop in life expectancy. “A large contributor to the Human Development Index’s recent decline is a global drop in life expectancy, down from 72.8 years in 2019 to 71.4 years in 2021,” it identified.

In her speech, the AAP Minister listed varied elements that contribute to HDI. Those included common revenue, well being and schooling. The concept was to insinuate that by some means individuals’s revenue, schooling and well being, as an entire, went for a toss beneath the Modi regime.

Third, UNDP identified, “The last two years have had a devastating impact on billions of people worldwide when crises like COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine hit back-to-back and interacted with sweeping social and economic shifts and dangerous planetary changes.”

It is vital to notice that between 2020 and 2022, the world had been reeling beneath numerous challenges. These embrace however are usually not restricted to the pandemic, conflict in Eastern Europe, rising vitality costs and so forth.

“These intersecting crises have impacted India’s development trajectory just as they have in much of the world,” UNDP emphasised. India, like different international locations, witnessed a drop in life expectancy from 69.7 to 67.2 years.

Fourth, UNDP additionally identified that India’s HDI worth is greater than the typical human improvement in South Asia. “India’s HDI value has been steadily catching up to the world average since 1990 – indicating a faster than the global rate of progress in human development,” it mentioned.

“This is a result of policy choices made by the country over time, including investments made in health and education,” the UN physique added.

While talking in regards to the matter, UNDP Resident Representative in India Shoko Noda mentioned, “India’s decline in human development mirrors this trend – impacted by intersecting crises. But there is good news. Compared to 2019, the impact of inequality on human development is lower. India is bridging the human development gap between men and women faster than the world.”

She underlined, “This development has come at a smaller cost to the environment. India’s growth story reflects the country’s investments in inclusive growth, social protection, gender-responsive policies, and push towards renewables to ensure no one is left behind.”

“Policies that focus on the 3Is (investment, insurance and innovation) will enable people to thrive in the face of uncertainty. India is already a frontrunner in these areas with its push towards renewable energy, boosting social security for the most vulnerable and driving the world’s largest vaccination drive through Co-WIN, supported by UNDP,” Shoko Noda identified.

Fifth, UDNP additionally praised India for lifting 27,10,00,000 crore individuals out of multi-dimensional poverty and offering entry to inexpensive clear vitality, water and sanitation. It acknowledged that the nation boosted entry to social safety for susceptible communities and demonstrated local weather management.

“The world’s largest democracy is also fast-tracking the implementation and monitoring of the SDGs at the national and sub-national levels to meet the ambitious goals,” it concluded. As such, the situation isn’t all grim, as portrayed by Atishi Marlena, at Cambridge University.

Atishi Marlena and her claims about starvation in India

“We are told that India has the largest number of billionaires…which went from 102 to 166 between 2020 and 2022. But there’s another figure which grew from 2020 to 2022 i.e. the number of hungry people in the country i.e. those who do not have enough food,” the AAP MLA claimed.

She additional alleged, “And the number is from the same period when the number of billionaires was going up. It (the number of hungry people) went from 19 crores to 35 crores. India is the second largest producer of food in the world and yet it is the country where the largest number of people are malnourished.”

It have to be talked about that the mentioned Global Hunger Report 2022, which Atishi Marlena cited throughout her anti-India tirade at Cambridge University, was rubbished by the Indian authorities again in October final 12 months.

It had questioned the problematic methodology, undertaken to compile the report, and identified that 3 of the 4 indicators within the index are consultant of kids’s well being (and thus not relevant/ consultant of the whole inhabitants).

Interestingly, the fourth indicator ‘Proportion of Undernourished (PoU)’ inhabitants is predicated upon an opinion ballot, which was carried out on a pattern dimension of solely 3000 individuals.

The individuals have been requested a complete of solely 8 questions, considered one of which included this – During the final 12 months, was there a time when, due to lack of cash or different sources: You have been nervous you wouldn’t have sufficient meals to eat? You ate lower than you thought you need to?

While rebuking the companies for not doing due diligence, the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development mentioned, “The report is not only disconnected from ground reality but also chooses to deliberately ignore efforts made by the Government to ensure food Security for the population, especially during the Covid Pandemic.”

“The data collected from a minuscule sample for a country of India’s size through the ‘Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES)’ Survey Module has been used to compute PoU value for India which is not only wrong & unethical, it also reeks of obvious bias,” it highlighted.

This occurred despite the fact that the Ministry requested the Food and Agriculture Organization (FA) of the United Nations to not use estimates primarily based on FIES knowledge for the reason that ‘statistical output’ is not going to be primarily based on advantage.

“The three other indicators apart from PoU, included in Global Hunger Index relate primarily to children viz. Stunting, Wasting and Under 5 mortality. These indicators are outcomes of complex interactions of various other factors like drinking water, sanitation, genetics, environment and utilisation of food intake apart from hunger, which is taken as the causative/outcome factor for stunting and wasting in the GHI. Calculating hunger based on main indicators relating to health indicators of children is neither scientific nor rational,” the Indian authorities added.

The Ministry additionally laid down measures that it had undertaken to make sure meals safety. This consists of the distribution of rations to 80 crore Indians (the biggest meals safety programme on the planet). It has allotted about 1121 Lakh MT of foodgrains (~ ₹3.91 Lakh Crore in meals subsidy) to States and Union territories.

It additionally praised the State governments for the efficient distribution of ration, supplementing the efforts of the Union authorities by offering edible oils, pulses and condiments to the individuals.

“Under Anganwadi Services, the since Covid-19 pandemic, supplementary nutrition was provided to approximately 7.71 crore chiup ton upto the age of 6 years and to 1.78 crore pregnant women and lactating mothers. 5.3 Million Metric Tonnes of Foodgrains was supplied,” it highlighted.

“Under the Pradhan Mantri Matri Vandana Yojna, more than 1.5 Crore registered women were provided Rs 5000/- on the birth of their first child for wage support and nutritious food during pregnancy and post-delivery period,” the Union authorities added.

It is thus evident that Atishi Marlena tried to defame India on the University of Cambridge primarily based on an irrational, faulty report ‘Global Hunger Index 2022’ revealed by two organisations, one primarily based in Ireland (Concern Worldwide) and one other in Germany (Welt Hunger Hilfe).

Interestingly, the identical report cautions people and organisations to not evaluate scores and rankings over two years (one thing which Atishi did in her sweeping assertion on starvation).

“Global Hunger Index (GHI) scores are comparable within each year’s report, but not between different years’ reports. The current and historical data on which the GHI scores are based are continually being revised and improved by the United Nations agencies that compile them, and each year’s GHI report reflects these changes. Comparing scores between reports may create the impression that hunger has changed positively or negatively from year to year, whereas in some cases the change may partly or fully reflect a data revision,” the report mentioned within the FAQ part

Anti-India rant of Rahul Gandhi on the Cambridge University

On February 28 this 12 months, Rahul Gandhi reiterated the speaking factors of the worldwide Khalistan motion throughout his notorious presentation on the University of Cambridge.

The Congress scion randomly referred to as out a Sikh man from the viewers and claimed that Sikhs have been rendered second-class residents in India by the Narendra Modi authorities.

“I mean I have got a Sikh gentleman sitting here. He is from the Sikh religion. And he comes from India, right? We have got Muslims in India, Christians in India, and we have got different languages in India…They are all India,” Rahul Gandhi had mentioned.

“Mr Narendra Modi says he is not (a real Indian). Mr Narendra Modi says he (the Sikh guy in the room) is a second-class citizen in India. I don’t agree with him,” mentioned Gandhi whereas making outlandish claims in regards to the plight of the Sikh neighborhood in India.

Rahul Gandhi is frightening individuals by repeating lies time and again. 🙄🙄🙄

When did Narendra Modi mentioned that Sikhs, Christians and Muslims Are Second Class Citizens in India? 🧐🧐🧐 pic.twitter.com/McrbKAZnjZ

— Naren Mukherjee (@NMukherjee6) March 8, 2023

Despite being properly conscious that the worldwide Khalistan motion has been attempting to brainwash the Sikh neighborhood, he exploited the chance at Cambridge University to current a distorted picture of India to the world.

During his speak on the University of Cambridge, Rahul Gandhi additionally made a sweeping declare that Muslims in India are additionally ‘second class citizens’ in response to Narendra Modi.

By doing so, the Congress scion performed into the fingers of the Islamists who’ve been hellbent on indoctrinating Muslims en masse that they don’t seem to be protected in India.

The vitriolic narrative had been in movement for a very long time and amplified by a number of folds after the Narendra Modi authorities was voted to energy in 2014.