Modi-headed NITI Aayog lauds Bihar for fastest poverty cut
By Our Special Correspondent
New Delhi, July 17: Even while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is seeking plot to turn table against Nitish Kumar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NITI Aayog has heaped praise on Bihar for fastest reduction in poverty. Also, the think tank panel has stated in its second multi-dimensional poverty report that the poor in the Communist-ruled Kerala constitutes just 0.55 per cent of its population.
“Bihar, the state with the highest MPI value in NFHS-4 (2015-16), saw the fastest reduction in MPI value in absolute terms with the proportion of multidimensional poor reducing from 51.89 per cent to 33.76 per cent in 2019-21,” said the NITI Aayog in its report.
Bihar still tops the list of the states and the Union Territories with the highest percentage of the population facing multidimensional poverty. “The next fastest reduction in the MPI value was seen in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. The proportion of multidimensional poor in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh in NFHS-5 (2019-21) are 20.63 per cent and 22.93 per cent respectively,” added the think tank panel.
The NITI Aayog, which is headed by Modi as the chairman, also said in the report that in terms of number of MPI poor, Uttar Pradesh topped the list with 3.43 crore people exiting multidimensional poverty in the last five years, followed by Bihar (2.25 crore) and Madhya Pradesh (1.36 crore). “The disaggregated estimates show that the most rapid reduction in the proportion of multidimensionally poor individuals occurred in districts located within the states of Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan,” added the think tank in its report.
The MPI estimates highlight a near-halving of India’s national MPI value and decline in the proportion of population in multidimensional poverty from 24.85 per cent to 14.96 per cent between 2015-16 and 2019-21. This reduction of 9.89 percentage points in multidimensional poverty indicates that, at the level of projected population in 2021, about 135.5 million persons have exited poverty between 2015-16 and 2019-21.
The NITI Aayog claimed that India is on course to achieve the SDG target 1.2 much ahead of 2030. At the same time, the Intensity of Poverty, which measures the average deprivation among the people living in multidimensional poverty also reduced from 47.14 per cent to 44.39 per cent, added the think tank panel.
“The MPI measures simultaneous deprivations across the three dimensions of health and nutrition, education, and standard of living. The district-wise estimation of the national MPI will also prioritise reaching out to the furthest behind first through focused efforts on specific indicators and dimensions,” noted Suman Bery, vice chairman of the think tank panel.
The CEO of the think tank B V R Subrahmanyam said that under the GIRG initiative, reform areas and actions formulated based on the insights from national MPI baseline report are being implemented by Union Ministries and States/UTs. “The insights from this second edition of national MPI report may be utilized to prepare additional reform areas and actions to further accelerate efforts to improve the lives of our people,” he added.
The NITI Aayog also stated that the Government’s focus on investments in critical areas of education, nutrition, water, sanitation, cooking fuel, electricity, and housing has played a pivotal role in driving these positive outcomes. “Key Government schemes such as Swachch Bharat Mission (SBM), Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM), Poshan Abhiyan, Samagra Shiksha, Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana (Saubhagya), Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY), Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) and many more have contributed significantly in driving the tremendous progress presented in this report,” said the think tank.
About The Author
