Time to think why Kerala fares better

MPI is a good starting point to understand poverty better

The first-ever Multi-dimensional Poverty Index (MPI), prepared by the Niti Aayog, has shown not only the long distance to be covered in the country’s fight against poverty but also the large gap that exists between many regions and states in poverty levels. While 25.01% of the population is identified as poor at the national level, over half the population (51.9%) is poor in Bihar. Kerala has only less than 1% of the people classified as poor. Bihar also has the highest number of malnourished people, followed by Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. Kerala, Goa and Sikkim have the lowest percentage of multi-dimensionally poor persons at 0.71%, 3.76% and 3.82% respectively. Kerala’s Kottayam is the only district in the country where there is no poverty (0%).

The MPI seeks to measure poverty in many dimensions by going beyond the existing method of assessing it on the basis of per capita income only. It takes into consideration three equally weighted dimensions – health, education, and standard of living – which are represented by 12 indicators such as nutrition, school attendance, years of schooling, drinking water, sanitation, housing, bank accounts, among others. So, the index gives a real and more complete idea of the level of poverty. The index is aligned with the target of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. It was based on National Family Health Survey 4 (NFHS-4) of 2015-16 and computed before some flagship welfare schemes were launched. Updated data based on NFHS-5 (2019-20) is expected to give a clearer picture. But it could most likely be worse because the performance on most dimensions deteriorated during the pandemic.

It is not a surprise that northern and central India and the north-east are the worst performers and the southern region has topped the index. Karnataka has 13.16% of its population classified as poor. Within the state, northern Karnataka has fared much worse than the southern region. The state has to strive more to improve its performance in all areas that have a bearing on the making of the index and to give special attention to the backward regions to bring them up. Uneven development within the country and within states has always been a reality and there are several reasons for it. They need to be addressed through effective policies and actions, especially because the most backward states are also the most populous ones. The MPI gives data for 700 districts in the country, and that should facilitate formulation of policies and targeted interventions that contribute towards ensuring that "no one is left behind," as the NITI report says.