India has witnessed a significant reduction in multidimensional poverty over the past nine years, as reported by the NITI Aayog. The data reveals that from 2013-14 to 2022-23, approximately 24.82 crore individuals have transitioned out of multidimensional poverty.
This remarkable progress is highlighted in the context of India's efforts to address poverty in all its forms, aligning with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG target 1.2, which aims to halve poverty in all dimensions by 2030.
The National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) conducted between 2019-21 showed that the multidimensional poverty rate in India stood at 14.96%, a notable decrease from the 24.85% recorded during the 2015-16 NFHS-4 survey period.
This improvement signifies that 135 million individuals escaped poverty within those five years. Furthermore, the Global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) 2023, released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI), along with the National MPI released by NITI Aayog, serve as important tools for tracking India's progress towards achieving the SDGs.
Despite these advancements, India's rank in the Global Hunger Index 2023 remains a concern, with the country positioned at 111th out of 125 countries. This ranking has been contested by the Indian government, which criticized the index as being erroneous and maliciously intended.
The NITI Aayog's discussion paper also sheds light on the decline in multidimensional poverty across different areas, noting a fall from 32.59% to 19.28% in rural regions and from 8.65% to 5.27% in urban locales between 2015-16 and 2019-21. However, challenges remain, such as intra-household disparities in poverty, which the national MPI may not fully capture due to its reliance on household-level analysis.
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