NITI Aayog MPI: Even after 75 years of independence, the biggest challenge facing India is poverty. In order to remove a large population of the country from the curse of poverty, continuous efforts have been made at the government level during this period. Despite this, there is still a large section in the country, which is forced to live a life without basic facilities.
Now, from the figures released by NITI Aayog on this front, some relief news has come to the fore. According to this report related to poverty of NITI Aayog, 13.5 crore people have come out of poverty in five years.
135 million people came out of poverty in 5 years
NITI Aayog has released this report on July 17 in the name of ‘National Multidimensional Poverty Index: A Progress Review 2023’. According to this, during the years 2015-16 to 2019-21, 13.5 crore people have been freed from multidimensional poverty. This is the second edition of the National Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) by NITI Aayog. The first such version was released in November 2021.
The number of multidimensional poor in the country is 14.96%
The number of multidimensional poor in India was 24.85% of the total population in the year 2015-16, which decreased to 14.96% in 2019-21. That is, during this period there has been a decline of 9.86% in the number of poverty in proportion to the population. About 15 percent of the population in the country is still multidimensionally poor, this is worrying. Much still remains to be done to bring such a large population out of the category of multidimensional poor.
Poverty index fixed on the basis of 12 parameters
NITI Aayog has determined the Multidimensional Poverty Index keeping in mind 12 parameters related to health, education and standard of living. These standards or scales include indicators related to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. These include nutrition, child and adolescent mortality, maternal health, years of schooling, school attendance, cooking gas, sanitation, drinking water, electricity, housing, assets and bank accounts. NITI Aayog says that there has been significant improvement in the country on all these parameters during this period.
Maximum reduction in terms of numbers in UP
Talking state-wise, the number of poor has decreased the most in Uttar Pradesh. During this period, 3.43 crore people in Uttar Pradesh have come out of the curse of poverty. After this, 2.25 crore people from Bihar and 1.36 crore people from Madhya Pradesh have come out of poverty. NITI Aayog has acknowledged that the fastest reduction in the number of multidimensional poor has been recorded in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and Rajasthan. This report of NITI Aayog provides multidimensional poverty estimates for 707 administrative districts of 36 states and union territories.
Even though maximum poverty has decreased in UP in numbers, but in terms of percentage of population, maximum poverty has decreased in Bihar. In 2015-16, 51.89% of Bihar’s population was forced to bear the brunt of multidimensional poverty, whereas during 2019-21, this figure has improved to 33.76%. This figure was 20.63% for Madhya Pradesh and 22.63% for UP.
Despite this progress, Bihar is still the poorest state in the country in terms of percentage of population. After this comes the number of Jharkhand and Meghalaya. Then there is the number of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. Assam, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Nagaland and Rajasthan are among the 10 poorest states in terms of percentage of population.
Kerala is the least poor state in the country
In terms of percentage of population, Puducherry is the best on the poverty front among states and union territories. On the other hand, Kerala is in the best condition among the states. After that comes the number of Goa and Tamil Nadu. This report of NITI Aayog clarifies that Kerala is still the least poor state in the country, that is, the standard of living of its citizens is the best on an average.
Rapid reduction in poverty in rural areas
Disparities in multidimensional poverty between rural and urban areas still exist. Poverty is more widespread in rural areas. It is a matter of relief that poverty has decreased at a faster pace in rural areas than in urban areas. Poverty in urban areas decreased from 8.65% to 5.27%, while poverty in rural areas decreased from 32.59% to 19.28%. NITI Aayog has also expressed concern about this difference between urban and rural areas.
SDG target will be achieved ahead of time
The MPI value has almost halved from 0.117 to 0.066 in five years. Due to this, the intensity of poverty has decreased from 47% to 44% between 2015-16 to 2019-21. The intensity of poverty measures the average deprivation among the people living in any country. The result is that India is well on its way to achieving SDG target 1.2 (the target of reducing multidimensional poverty by at least half) well ahead of the 2030 deadline.
Major reason for reduction in multidimensional poverty
NITI Aayog has recognized that improvements in nutrition, years of schooling, sanitation and cooking fuel have been instrumental in reducing poverty. Access to electricity, access to bank accounts and access to drinking water facilities to the economically weaker sections is improving the standard of living of a large population.
For the remarkable progress made on the front of Multidimensional Poverty Index, NITI Aayog has called the health programs run by the government, Swachh Bharat Mission and Jal Jeevan Mission important. It states that programs such as Poshan Abhiyaan and Anemia Mukt Bharat have helped in reducing the gaps in health. Initiatives like Swachh Bharat Mission and Jal Jeevan Mission are helping in improving sanitation. Initiatives like Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, Saubhagya, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana and Samagra Shiksha have been considered very important in reducing poverty in the report of NITI Aayog. It has been said that an improvement of 14.6% has been seen in the shortage of cooking gas from PM Ujjwala Yojana.
Multidimensional Poverty Index is such a scale of killing poverty, which is not only related to the income or income of a person. In the 12 MPI indicators through which the report on poverty is prepared, there is a focus on quantity as well as quality.
Difference between multidimensional poor and real poor
In these 5 years, we have seen a lot of improvement on the front of multidimensional poverty. This does not mean that now the problem of poverty in the country will end soon. Actually there is a difference between multidimensional poverty index and actual poverty. Consider this as an example, according to multidimensional poverty, between 2019-21, 11.90% people were poor on the indicator of nutrition. This is the censored headcount ratio. But in terms of uncensored headcount ratio, more than 31% of the country’s population was poor on the nutrition indicator. Similarly, there is a significant difference between the two types of headcount ratio in 12 indicators.
UNDP figures are worrying as well as relief
The United Nations Development Program ie UNDP has also released the Global MPI Index recently. In this, the situation described regarding poverty in India is also very positive. It has been said that between 2005 and 2021, about 41.5 crore people have come out of poverty in India. It states that India is one of 25 countries, including Serbia, Vietnam, Morocco, Cambodia, Congo, Honduras, Indonesia, China, which have been successful in halving global MPI values within 15 years.
According to UNDP, poverty in India has come down from 55% in 2005-06 to 16% in 2021. However, according to these figures, still more than 23 crore people are poor in India. In addition to this population, UNDP in 2001 placed 18.7% in the vulnerable category of multidimensional poverty. The number of people falling in this category was more than 26 crores in 2021. These categories are those who are not poor, but are deprived in many of the indicators adopted to measure poverty.
If we combine these two categories of UNDP, then this number in India becomes around 50 crores and this number is a big challenge in the fight against poverty. The country still has a long way to go to meet this challenge.
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