BHUBANESWAR: Odisha has witnessed a significant decline of 48 per cent in multi-dimensional poverty between 2015-16 and 2019-21 financial years, reveals a discussion paper on multi-dimensional poverty released by Niti Aayog.
The paper ‘Multidimensional Poverty in India since 2005-06’, based on the data of National Family Health Surveys 4 and 5, was released by the country’s policy think tank on Monday. As per the paper, the fastest reduction in the proportion of multi-dimensional poverty has been observed in five states including Odisha between FY16 and FY21. The other states are Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
The national multi-dimensional poverty measures simultaneous deprivations across three equally weighted dimensions of health, education, and standard of living that are represented by 12 sustainable development goals-aligned indicators. These include nutrition, child and adolescent mortality, maternal health, years of schooling, school attendance, cooking fuel, sanitation, drinking water, electricity, housing, assets, and bank accounts.
As far as the headcount is concerned, the discussion paper has revealed the proportion of multi-dimensionally poor fell by 48 per cent in the last 15 years.
While 15.68 per cent of people in the state were multi-dimensionally poor in 2019-21, the percentage was 29.34 in 2015-16 and a whopping 63.84 in 2005-06. It further points out that only 11.07 per cent of people in the state were multi-dimensionally poor in 2022-23 (extrapolated value) while the percentage was 34.28 (interpolated value) in 2013-14.
And from 2013-14 to 2022-23, 102.78 lakh people escaped multi-dimensional poverty. In the list of states that saw the maximum number of people escaping multi-dimensional poverty, Odisha comes seventh after Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, West Bengal and Maharashtra.
The paper stated the overall decline in the multi-dimensional poverty index (MPI) value can be predominantly attributed to advances in nutrition, years of schooling, sanitation, and cooking fuel, although there remains room for further enhancement. The paper was written by Niti Aayog member Ramesh Chand and its senior advisor Yogesh Suri.