TAG: GS 3: ECONOMY
THE CONTEXT: The NITI Aayog, in a recent report released on January 15, highlighted a significant positive shift in India’s socioeconomic landscape, revealing that over 24.8 crore individuals successfully moved out of multidimensional poverty over a span of nine years until 2022-23.
EXPLANATION:
- This noteworthy achievement underscores the nation’s progress in areas of health, education, and standard of living.
- The NITI Aayog’s discussion paper measures multidimensional poverty by considering simultaneous improvements in health, education, and standard of living.
- The framework incorporates 12 sustainable development goals-aligned indicators, encompassing nutrition, child and adolescent mortality, maternal health, years of schooling, school attendance, cooking fuel, sanitation, drinking water, electricity, housing, assets, and bank accounts.
National Decline in Multidimensional Poverty:
- From 2013-14 to 2022-23, the national multidimensional poverty rate witnessed a substantial decline, plummeting from 29.17% to 11.28%.
- This translates to 24.82 crore people transcending the multidimensional poverty bracket during this period, reflecting a positive trend in India’s overall socio-economic well-being.
State-wise Progress:
- Uttar Pradesh Leading the Way: Uttar Pradesh emerged as the state with the most significant reduction in multidimensional poverty, with 5.94 crore individuals escaping poverty.
- Bihar and Madhya Pradesh Follow: Bihar and Madhya Pradesh closely followed, with 3.77 crore and 2.30 crore people respectively making strides towards a better quality of life.
Improvement Across All Indicators:
- The report underscores that all 12 indicators of the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) displayed remarkable improvement during the assessed period.
- This improvement highlights a comprehensive and holistic approach to poverty alleviation, encompassing various facets of individual and community well-being.
Government Initiatives:
- Strategic Government Initiatives:
- NITI Aayog attributes the accelerated decline in multidimensional poverty to a plethora of government initiatives and schemes focused on addressing specific deprivation aspects.
- Future Aspirations:
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- The government aims to bring down multidimensional poverty to below 1%, with concerted efforts underway to achieve this ambitious goal.
- The report projects that India is poised to achieve single-digit poverty levels by 2024.
Towards Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):
- Surpassing SDG 1.2:
- The report anticipates India surpassing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 1.2, which aims to reduce multidimensional poverty by at least half before 2030.
- Accelerated Decline:
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- The accelerated decline in multidimensional poverty is attributed to a combination of policy measures and proactive government interventions.
Data Limitations:
- Data Source: The National MPI utilized data from National Family Health Surveys 4 (2015-16) and 5 (2019-21).
- Limitations: Due to data gaps between 2005-06 and 2015-16 and post-2019-21, estimates for poverty incidence were based on compound growth rates, ensuring a comprehensive analysis despite limited data availability.
National Multidimensional Poverty Index:
- NITI Aayog, as the nodal agency for MPI, has been responsible for constructing an indigenised index for monitoring the performance of States and Union Territories (UTs) in addressing multidimensional poverty.
- In order to institutionalise this, NITI Aayog constituted an inter-ministerial MPI Coordination Committee (MPICC) including Ministries and departments pertaining to areas such as health, education, nutrition, rural development, drinking water, sanitation, electricity, and urban development, among others.
- Like the global MPI, India’s national MPI has three equally weighted dimensions – Health, Education, and Standard of living – which are represented by 12 indicators.
Conclusion:
- India’s remarkable progress in reducing multidimensional poverty reflects a holistic approach to development, encompassing health, education, and living standards.
- The report not only celebrates past achievements but also emphasizes the need for sustained efforts to achieve and surpass future socioeconomic goals.
- The transformative journey from multidimensional poverty to single-digit poverty levels exemplifies the nation’s commitment to inclusive and sustainable development.
