Niti Aayog report bursts Gujarat Model bubble

Despite a high economic growth rate, Gujarat has lagged behind in human development indices, with especially high malnutrition and infant mortality rates.

Hyderabad: It has been proved, yet again, that the Gujarat Model is more hype than reality. Despite a high economic growth rate, Gujarat has lagged behind in human development indices, with especially high malnutrition and infant mortality rates, according to the National Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) report, released by Niti Aayog in July this year.

As per the report, a staggering 38 percent of Gujarat’s population is under-nourished, indicating a deep-rooted problem affecting the overall health and well-being of residents across the State. Nearly half of the rural Gujarat population is deprived of nutrition (44.45 per cent), while the figure for urban areas is 28.97 per cent. The MPI report, based on data from 2015-16 and 2019-21, stated that three out of every 100 individuals in Gujarat were suffering from malnutrition during this time period.

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According to the Niti Aayog report, backward States such as Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh have fared comparatively better than Gujarat on the nutrition front. The reports says that 39 percent of children in the State are underweight for their age.

Gujarat ranked second in terms of wasted and underweight children, at 25.1 percent and 39.7 per cent, respectively. In addition to the distressing figures on malnutrition, the report highlights another disheartening fact that more than a third of the rural population in Gujarat lacks adequate housing.

About, 23.30 percent of the population is deprived of housing. Kerala, Punjab and Tamil Nadu have performed better than Gujarat in providing houses to poor. The scenario is worse for rural areas as 35.52 per cent of the rural population is deprived of housing, which is higher than in other major States such as Haryana, Punjab, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

As far as headcount ratio is concerned States such as Telangana (5.88 %) Maharashtra (7.81%), Andhra Pradesh (6.06%), Punjab (4.75%), Tamil Nadu (2.20%), Kerala (0.55%) and Karnataka (7.58%) have performed better than Gujarat(11.66%). The MPI index shows that economic development is scattered in Gujarat and concentrated in urban areas or cities such as Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara and Rajkot.

Though the intensity of poverty has come down in Gujarat, it is still higher than in Haryana, Telangana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh. Dahod in Gujarat has the highest poverty ratio at 38.27 percent, while Navsari has the lowest at 4.84 percent.

In short, the NITI Aayog report suggests that Gujarat’s poor remain poor compared to other major States.