The Niti Aayog claims poverty has been reduced in India, judging by the three dimensions of education, health and quality of life.
According to Niti Aayog’s Multidimensional Poverty Index, around fifteen percent of India’s total population was poor in 2019-21, compared to around twenty-five percent in 2015-16.
Thirteen and a half million people are supposed to be happy with the good news that they have been freed from poverty.
The problem is that various statistics of development from various directions are constantly rushing towards the citizens. Confusion is created.
For example, the Niti Aayog’s ‘Multidimensional Poverty Index’, which measures the rise and fall of poverty, ranks first under malnutrition.
Child malnutrition has reduced, claims Niti Aayog. But the survey on which the index is based, the Fifth National Family Health Survey (2019-21) showed, The picture of child malnutrition in India is quite alarming.
Thirty-five percent of children under five are stunted (stunted) due to malnutrition. It may be slightly less (three percentage points) than before (2015-16), but is that reassuring?
The International Hunger Index (2022) also claimed that India is second only to Afghanistan in terms of malnutrition in South Asian countries.
The Indian government questioned the veracity of the data, but experts pointed out that there was little discrepancy between the data and the official data.
It should also be noted that much of the data from the Fifth National Family Health Survey was collected before the Covid pandemic.
Given the devastating impact of the on India’s poor, it is difficult to expect an improvement in the picture of hunger and malnutrition in 2022.
India is second only to Afghanistan in terms of malnutrition in South Asian countries. The Indian government questioned the veracity of the data, but experts pointed out that there was little discrepancy between the data and the official data.
It should also be noted that much of the data from the Fifth National Family Health Survey was collected before the Covid pandemic.
The Modi government has dismissed many of the studies that would have helped to understand the progress of poverty alleviation.
For example, the results of the National Sample Survey (NSS) Consumer Expenditure Survey (2017-18) have not been officially released.
But the portion of it that was published in the press showed that the rate of spending on various essential items, including food, has decreased, especially in rural areas.
Such a decline in spending power is a sign of rising poverty, so experts expressed concern.
At the same time, the National Sample Survey on Employment and Unemployment showed that unemployment in rural areas was much higher than before.
The central government questioned the data of these two surveys. But the fact that agriculture remains unprofitable, and that food prices have risen faster than wages in rural areas, is hard to deny.
70 percent of India’s people live in villages. And most of them depend on agro-economy.
Therefore, there is bound to be doubt about the possibility of reducing their poverty.
It is also necessary to look at the picture behind the numbers that the government presents with the human development figures that are examples of development.
Even if there is a drinking water pipe, whether water comes through it or not, if there is an electricity connection, how long does the electricity last, if the account in the post office remains zero or not, the real picture of poverty alleviation cannot be drawn without getting the answers.
There is no way to deny the fact that the women enrolled in the Ujjwala project are also burning coal and firewood, children are not learning to read and write despite going to school.
Development indicators were introduced to paint a deeper, more complete picture.
Alas, now they have become a weapon of political upheaval. So other than unadulterated improvement (indicators say India has improved on all twelve measures) no message is consistent.
