National Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) – A Progress Review 2023 released by the NITI Aayog on Monday has indicated a steep decline in poverty in Telangana to 5.88% during 2019-21 based on the National Family Health Survey-5 with rural areas registering a phenomenal 12% improvement in the living standards. Poverty in the State as per NFHS-4 was 13.18% during 2015-16.
The report released by the policy think-tank has clearly indicated that the rural populace has outclassed their urban counterparts in the improvement of living standards as the multidimensional poverty in the rural areas has come down to 7.51% in 2019-21 from 19.51% — a decline of 12% against just about 2.2% in urban areas. Urban poverty, which was 4.92% in 2015-16, receded to 2.73% in 2019-21.
The NITI Aayog report has mentioned that of the 12 indicators on which the multidimensional poverty index has been measured, the government interventions have an increasingly visible impact on the ground on all indicators such as nutrition, child and adolescent mortality, years of schooling, cooking fuel, sanitation, drinking water, electricity, housing, assets, bank account and maternal health in case of censored headcount — percentage of total population who are multidimensionally poor and are deprived on indicators.
However, in the case of the uncensored headcount — per cent of total population who are deprived on indicators — Telangana has done well on all but one indicator during the 2015-16 and 2019-21 period. The State has registered a negative impact on the indicator of maternal health as the percentage of the population who are deprived in it has increased to 13.17% as per the NFHS-5 conducted in 2019-21 from 10.87% as per NFHS-4 conducted in 2015-16.
Among districts, Kumaram Bheem Asifabad (16.59%), Jogulamba Gadwal (15.37%), Adilabad (14.24%), Vikarabad (12.5%), Kamareddy (11.9%) and Mahabubnagar (10.27%) are the bottom with highest percentage of population who are multidimensionally poor as per NFHS-5. At the top are Peddapalli (2.17%), Hanmakonda (2.41%), Karimnagar (2.5%), Hyderabad (2.52%) and Jangaon (2.91%) districts where the multidimensionally poor are less as per NFHS-5.
The remaining districts have population who are multidimensionally poor in the range of 3.06% (Medchal-Malkajigiri) and 9.34% (Medak) as per NFHS-5. As per NFHS-4 (2015-16), when there were only 10 districts, the percentage of multidimensionally poor among the population were in the range of 4.21% (Hyderabad) and 27.12% (Adilabad).
Highlights of the survey
In the country, the percentage of multidimensionally poor have declined to 14.96% in 2019-21 from 24.85% in 2015-16
Among States, Telangana ranks 8th with low percentage (5.88) multidimensionally poor people, behind Mizoram (5.3), Himachal Pradesh (4.93), Punjab (4.75), Sikkim (2.6), Tamil Nadu (2.2), Goa (0.84%) and Kerala (0.55)
Among Southern States, Telangana ranks 3rd behind Tamil Nadu and Kerala
Andhra Pradesh (6.06%) and Karnataka (7.58%) have higher number of multidimensionally poor people compared to Telangana (5.88%)
Considered among best performing States, Maharashtra (7.81%), Gujarat (11.66%) and West Bengal (11.89%) have higher number of multidimensionally poor people
In Telangana, over 27.61 lakh out of nearly 4.7 crore population are estimated to be multidimensionally poor
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