New Delhi, Jan 15 (FN Bureau) As many as 24.82 crore people came out of ‘multidimensional poverty’ in the last nine years, as per the findings of a NITI Aayog discussion paper released on Monday. “Significant initiatives covering all dimensions of poverty have led to 24.82 crore individuals escaping multidimensional poverty in the last 9 years. As a result, India is likely to achieve its SDG (sustainable development goals) target of halving multidimensional poverty well before 2030,” said NITI Aayog in a media release. The discussion paper titled ‘Multidimensional Poverty in India since 2005-06’ attributed the success to initiatives taken by the central government between 2013-14 to 2022-23. The Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) is a globally recognised comprehensive measure that captures poverty in multiple dimensions beyond monetary aspects.
As per the NITI discussion paper, India has registered a significant decline in multidimensional poverty in India from 29.17% in 2013-14 to 11.28% in 2022-23 i.e. a reduction of 17.89 percentage points. Uttar Pradesh has registered the largest decline in the number of poor with 5.94 crore people escaping multidimensional poverty during the last nine years 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 poverty headcount ratio using the exponential method was much faster between 2015-16 to 2019-21 (10.66% annual rate of decline) compared to period 2005-06 to 2015-16 (7.69% annual rate of decline). “All 12 indicators of MPI have recorded significant improvement during the entire study period. To assess the poverty levels in the year 2013-14 against the current scenario (i.e. for the year 2022-23), projected estimates have been used due to data limitations for these specific periods,” the NITI Aayog said.