, Raipur. During the last 9 years, 24.82 crore people have come out of various types of poverty. The findings of NITI Aayog’s discussion paper ‘Multidimensional Poverty in India Since 2005-06’ attribute this achievement to important government initiatives to address all types of poverty between 2013-14 and 2022-23. The discussion paper was released today by NITI Aayog member Professor Ramesh Chand in the presence of NITI Aayog CEO BVR Subramaniam. The Oxford Policy and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) provided technical input for this paper.
The Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) is a globally recognized comprehensive measure that reflects poverty across multiple dimensions beyond monetary aspects. The MPI’s global methodology is based on the robust Alkire and Foster (AF) methodology, which identifies people as poor based on a universally accepted metric designed to assess extreme poverty, independent of traditional monetary poverty measures. According to the discussion paper, multidimensional poverty in India has declined from 29.17 percent in 2013-14 to 11.28 percent in 2022-23. That means there has been a decrease of 17.89 percentage points. Uttar Pradesh has recorded the biggest decline in the number of poor in the last nine years with 5.94 crore people moving out of multidimensional poverty, followed by Bihar at 3.77 crore, Madhya Pradesh at 2.30 crore and Rajasthan at 1.87 crore. .
The paper also shows that the pace of decline in the poverty headcount ratio using the sampling method was slower from 2015-16 to 2019-21 (10.66 per cent annual decline rate) compared to the period 2005-06 to 2015-16 (7.69 per cent annual decline rate). ) was very fast. Significant improvement has been recorded in all 12 indicators of MPI during the entire study period. To estimate poverty levels in the year 2013-14 against the current scenario (i.e. for the year 2022-23), approximate estimates have been used due to data limitations for these specific periods.
Important initiatives covering all dimensions of poverty have lifted 24.82 crore people out of multidimensional poverty in the last 9 years. As a result, India is likely to achieve its SDG target of halving multidimensional poverty before 2030. The Government’s continued dedication and strong commitment to improving the lives of the most vulnerable and deprived has played a vital role in this achievement.
The Government of India has made significant progress in improving the lives of people with the aim of reducing all forms of poverty. Notable initiatives like Poshan Abhiyaan and Anemia Mukt Bharat have significantly increased access to health facilities, thereby significantly reducing deprivation. Operating one of the largest food security programs in the world, the targeted public distribution system under the National Food Security Act covers 81.35 crore beneficiaries, providing food grains to rural and urban populations. Recent decisions, such as extending the free food grain distribution under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana for the next five years, exemplify the government’s commitment.
Various programs addressing maternal health, distribution of clean cooking fuel through the Ujjwala scheme, improving electricity coverage through Saubhagya, and transformative campaigns like the Swachh Bharat Mission and Jal Jeevan Mission have collectively improved the living conditions of the people. And overall well-being has improved. Additionally, flagship programs like Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana and PM Awas Yojana have played an important role in financial inclusion and providing safe housing to the underprivileged.
Although state performance varies, some states that traditionally had high poverty have made significant progress in helping people move out of poverty, reducing disparities in multidimensional poverty between the two states. With this, the basic problems related to access to basic services are being resolved rapidly, so that the country can move towards becoming a developed nation i.e. Developed India @2047.
