Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: The National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog on Monday said over 13.5 crore individuals in the country moved out of multidimensional poverty between 2015-16 and 2019-21.
In its latest report, titled “National Multidimensional Poverty Index: A Progress Review 2023”, the Aayog said India has registered a significant decline of 9.89 percentage points in the number of the country’s multidimensionally poor, from 24.85 percent in 2015-16 to 14.96 percent in 2019-2021.
The report was released on Monday by the Government of India think tank’s Vice-Chairman Suman Bery, in the presence of its members V K Paul and Arvind Virmani, and B V R Subrahmanyam, CEO, NITI Aayog.
According to World Bank, multidimensional poverty is poverty beyond monetary deprivations, including access to education and basic infrastructure.
The report, based on the latest National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) 2019-21, represents India’s progress in reducing multidimensional poverty between the two surveys, NFHS-4 (2015-16) and NFHS-5 (2019-21). The broad methodology followed is in consonance with the global methodology.
The report revealed that the rural areas witnessed the fastest decline in poverty from 32.59 percent to 19.28 percent. During the same period, the urban areas saw a reduction in poverty from 8.65 percent to 5.27 percent.
Uttar Pradesh, India’s largest state with a population of over 23.56 crore or one-sixth of the country’s total, registered the biggest decline in the number of poor with 3.43 crore people escaping multidimensional poverty.
Providing multidimensional poverty estimates for the 36 states and Union Territories and 707 Administrative Districts, the report said the fastest reduction in the proportion of multidimensional poor was observed in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, and Rajasthan.
Between 2015-16 and 2019-21, the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) value has nearly halved from 0.117 to 0.066 and the intensity of poverty has reduced from 47 percent to 44 percent, thus setting India on the path of achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) target 1.2 (of reducing multidimensional poverty by at least half) much ahead of the stipulated timeline of 2030.
“It demonstrates the Government’s strategic focus on ensuring sustainable and equitable development and eradicating poverty by 2030, thereby adhering to its commitment towards the SDGs,” the Aayog said in a release.