BENGALURU: The ‘National Multi-dimensional Poverty Index (MPI) Report: A Progressive Review 2023’ has found four districts of Kalyana-Karnataka region — Yadgir, Raichur, Kalaburagi and Koppal — to be the poorest in the state.
The report, released by the Central government on Tuesday, states that although Yadgir improved by 16.3% in change in proportion of multi-dimensionally poor population (a category called ‘Change over time for head count ratio’ in the index) between 2015-16 and 2019-21, it still remained the poorest district in Karnataka; while Kalaburagi — AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge’s home district — did not fare that well in terms of getting people out of poverty. It recorded a fall of 2.47% in poverty.
According to the report, the state’s overall percentage fall in poverty is 7.58% as against 12.77% in 2015-16.
In terms of the intensity of poverty — which measures the average deprivation among the people living in multi-dimensional poverty — the score improved from about 47.14% compared to 44.39% in 2015-16.
The report was prepared and released by NITI Aayog and jointly published by the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
The report said poverty estimation has predominantly relied on income as the sole indicator along with health and education. It complemented income poverty measurements because it measured and compared deprivations directly, while assessing indicators like nutrition, child and adolescent mortality, maternal health, years of schooling, school attendance, cooking fuel, sanitation, drinking water, housing, electricity, assets and bank account.
An official from the Planning Commission, who requested anonymity, explained: “If Bengaluru is left out, many districts in the state need to be improved. There are not just districts which are poor, but taluks in every district needing attention. While the focus now is needed on the Kalyana-Karnataka region, there is also a need to decentralise the methods and focus on aspirational taluks and districts.”
He said districts have been backward for historical, socio-economic and political reasons, while natural resources, too, have not been ideally extended to these regions.
The four prime things that need to be focused on are human resource, natural resource, financial aid and the capacity of the government to absorb people from these regions in jobs.
Officials involved in the survey said North Karnataka districts reflected poorly especially in the nutrition levels.
The Karnataka Human Development Report 2022 has also shown Kalaburagi, Raichur, Yadgir, Koppal, Ballari, Bidar and Gadag showing high incidence of malnutrition.
A source added, “Northern districts of Karnataka are more dependent on agriculture and there are less value-added products. Hence income is very low as the production is not adding value. The economic and education value is also less. The government’s focus is on hard infrastructure and less towards soft infrastructure including education and health care. The low ranking is also because of the large population, low per capita income and poor health.”
BY: Bosky Khanna