India’s self-sufficiency myth stands exposed as the Global Hunger Index 2025 ranks it 102nd. Despite high food production, hunger, malnutrition, and inequality persist — proving that self-sufficiency without fair distribution is a hollow claim. Written by Dr. Mohammad Farooque.
Dr. Mohammad Farooque
Kolkata | November 10, 2025
Self-sufficiency — a phrase India’s leaders proudly echo in every speech — now rings hollow against the stark backdrop of hunger. In an era defined by artificial intelligence, automated agriculture, and technological triumph, one of humanity’s oldest curses — hunger — still gnaws at nearly a billion human beings across the world.
The Global Hunger Index 2025 has once again stripped away the rhetoric of progress, revealing that for a large share of humanity, a full stomach remains an unfulfilled dream.
India’s Global Ranking Exposes the Hollow Claim of Food Security
Out of 127 countries, India ranks 102nd with a dangerous score of 25.8, placing it among the “serious hunger” nations. This ranking alone debunks the claim that India has achieved self-sufficiency in food.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi often asserts that India exports food grains worldwide and ranks second in rice and wheat production. But the pressing question remains: if India is truly self-sufficient, why are millions still hungry?
Why are children underweight, women anaemic, and citizens lining up for ration when warehouses overflow with grain?
According to the GHI, 13.7% of India’s population faces undernourishment.
Among children, 35.5% are suffering from wasting, 2.1% die before reaching five years of age, and 27.4% are born underweight. Meanwhile, 53% of women aged 15–49 suffer from anaemia. These are not just numbers — they are the suppressed cries of a nation buried beneath layers of official celebration.
The World’s Hungriest Nations — and India’s Embarrassing Comparison
The top ten hungriest countries — Somalia (42.6), South Sudan (37.5), Democratic Republic of Congo (37.5), Madagascar (35.8), Haiti (35.7), Chad (34.8), Niger (33.9), Central African Republic (33.4), Nigeria (32.8), and Papua New Guinea (31.0) — are all nations ravaged by war, drought, or political chaos.
India, by contrast, faces none of these crises — and yet its hunger levels remain alarmingly high. Even more startling is the fact that Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh — countries once considered weaker — now rank better than India.
This reveals that hunger in India is not merely a problem of poverty or population — it is a symptom of governance failure and misplaced priorities.
Food Wastage and Moral Bankruptcy
India produces more than enough food, yet distribution is unequal and broken.
Policies like the National Food Security Act, Midday Meal Scheme, and Free Ration Program exist — but their impact rarely reaches the marginalized.
Corruption, poor logistics, and administrative apathy hollow out these initiatives.
Adding to the irony, nearly 40% of India’s total food production is wasted.
Grains rot in warehouses, eaten by rats, while millions sleep hungry.
This isn’t just an economic shortcoming — it’s a moral failure.
India’s obsession with production quantity ignores nutrition and quality.
Children are shorter, lighter, and weaker — a generation growing up under the shadow of hunger, incapable of driving the nation forward.
The Political Deception of ‘Self-Sufficiency’
India’s hunger crisis tells not just a story of inequality, but also of political deception.
The slogan of self-sufficiency has been used to bury inconvenient truths.
Exporting food may be an economic achievement, but rising malnutrition rates expose the emptiness behind that narrative. Until food is distributed fairly, nutrition made accessible, and public health prioritized, every claim of progress will remain a hollow boast.
Each “achievement” will continue to be mourned by the very people left hungry beneath its shadow.
A Wake-Up Call for the World’s Fifth-Largest Economy
It is a national shame that India, a nation priding itself as the world’s fifth-largest economy, now finds itself mentioned alongside war-torn countries like Somalia and South Sudan.
Economic growth means little when millions go to bed hungry.
True progress will come only when every Indian child has a book in hand and food in the stomach.
