Telangana’s inclusive development reflects in Multidimensional Poverty Index

The percentage of the total population of Telangana, who were multidimensional poverty, has come down from 13.18 per cent in 2015-16 to 5.88 per cent in 2019-21, the NITI Aayog report says

Hyderabad: In an major boost for the State’s efforts towards inclusive development, a crucial 7.3 percentage of the population here have moved out of multidimensional poverty between 2015-16 and 2019-21, as per the NITI Aayog’s ‘National Multidimensional Poverty Index: A Progress Review 2023’. The percentage of the total population of Telangana, who were multidimensional poverty, has come down from 13.18 per cent in 2015-16 to 5.88 per cent in 2019-21, the report says.

With the State government ensuring welfare and development of all sections both in urban and rural areas by according top priority to health, nutrition, education, sanitation and other sectors, Telangana has managed a multidimensional poverty index (MPI) that is much lower than the national average. The national average, which was 24.85 percent in 2015-16, has come down to 14.96 percent.

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When compared to BJP-ruled States too, Telangana has fared much better. For instance, Uttar Pradesh’s percentage is 22.93 per cent, Madhya Pradesh is 20.63 percent, Gujarat is 11.66 percent and Karnataka is 7.58 percent. Bihar has the highest percentage of 33.67 in the country.

The MPI of a State is finalized based on different indicators like maternal health, nutrition, child and adolescent mortality, school attendance, cooking fuel, sanitation, drinking water and others. All these parameters are calculated in terms of percentage contribution to the overall score of 100.

Eradicating poverty by 2030 is a pivotal goal of the Agenda for Sustainable Development. India’s National MPI is the first-of-its-kind index which estimates multiple and simultaneous deprivations at a household level across the three macro dimensions of health, education and living standards.

Accordingly, this index rigorously measures national and sub-national performance to facilitate policy actions, said BVR Subrahmanyam, CEO of National Institution for Transforming India, in the report.