'In 9 years, 248mn pulled out of multidimensional poverty'

In the first nine years of the Narendra Modi government, India pulled almost a quarter of a billion people out of poverty, as measured by access to basic services, a new discussion paper from the country's state-run think tank said on Monday.

- Zia Haq and Saptarshi Das

NEW DELHI: 

India's so-called multidimensional poverty fell from 29.17% in 2013-14, when the Modi government assumed power, to 11.28% in 2022-23, which is equivalent to nearly 248 million escaping deprivation, the estimated from NITI Aayog's paper showed, with much of the gains in traditionally high-poverty Hindispeaking states, which account for the largest cuts in the number of people with severe disadvantages. For instance, Uttar Pradesh topped the list of states, with 50.94 million people estimated to have escaped dire living conditions according to the study.

To be sure, to assess deprivation levels in 2013-14 over 2022-23, the authors NITI Aayog member Ramesh Chand and senior adviser Yogesh Suri - used projections of poverty due to data limitations for some specific periods. The NITI Aayog paper used, with technical assistance from the UNDP, the internationally acclaimed Alkire-Foster method of counting the poor. This was developed by the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative's Sabina Alkire and James Foster and is based on the key idea that poverty is not merely a lack of sufficient income, but chronic deprivation of access to adequate healthcare, education and decent living conditions.