Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad on Friday slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP government over India’s poor position in the Global Hunger Index 2023 and expressed apprehension that it would label the findings “false and flawed” instead of accepting it and formulating policies for the poor.

The index released on Thursday puts India at the 111th position among 125 countries across the world.

“This is a category where the situation of hunger and famine is extremely serious and concerning. India was ranked 63rd in the Global Hunger Index of 2013. It slipped to 111th position due to the policies of the BJP government in the last 10 years,” Lalu said in a statement.

“The Modi government at the Centre will now likely label the report as false and flawed instead of understanding and accepting the index as a usual practice and making improvements in policies,” Lalu added.

The RJD leader’s statement comes at a time Bihar is witnessing a wide-ranging debate on the recently released caste survey report. There is a growing concern about a large number of castes that could still stand marginalised. Chief minister Nitish Kumar has hinted that the state government could be revisiting reservation in the light of the caste census, once the socio-economic findings of the survey are made public.