FINANCIAL INCLUSION, MATERNAL HEALTH INSTRUMENTAL IN POVERTY REDUCTION

Niti Aayog member Arvind Virmani sees Government proactiveness resonating in financial inclusion. The public sector was told that they must connect to everybody.

- NIVEDITA MUKHERJEE

The global jury may still be out on India’s achievement in poverty reduction and unyielding on factoring in critical yardsticks of measuring decline in India’s poverty but the 24.82 crore people who escaped multidimensional poverty in the last nine years, were lifted out through due to significant initiatives of the Government to address all dimensions of the poverty between 2013-14 to 2022-23. These interestingly, include initiatives which have facilitated better maternal health and financial inclusion, that global commentaries on multi-dimensional poverty remain shy of acknowledging.

There was a steep decline in poverty headcount ratio from 29.17% in 2013-14 to 11.28% in 2022-23 with all 12 MPI indicators show significant signs of improvement and the achievement is crowned by poorer states recording faster decline in poverty—indicating reduction in disparities led by Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh recording largest decline in the number of MPI poor between 2013-14 and 2022-23, according to the second edition of the National Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) representing India’s progress in reducing poverty.

Arvind Virmani, noted economist and full time member of NITI Aayog decodes what sometimes appears to be a dichotomy between India’s emergence as the 5th largest economy in world’s GDP rankings in 2024 driven by diversity and swift growth and studies by multilateral institutions that suggest India is among the most unequal countries in the world, with the top 10% and top 1% of the population holding 57% and 22% of the total national income respectively.