GS Paper 2
Syllabus: Issues related to poverty
Source: The Hindu
Context: The recent release of National Family Health Survey (NFHS) data for 2019-21 allows a detailed examination of progress in reducing absolute poverty and related variables such as nutrition.
Background:
- The NFHS survey is an attempt to provide estimates of a multidimensional poverty index (MPI).
- Its calculation is based on poverty estimations based on 10 different indicators (see table below).
- The deprivation index for each indication is the percentage of people who are deprived as per that indicator.
The data on poverty reduction:
What does the above data show?
- The pace of decline in poverty accelerated post-2014. For example,
- The MPI declined at a compounded annual average rate of 4.8% per year in 2005-11 and more than double that pace at 10.3% a year during 2011-21.
- The consumption inequality declined during 2011-21. This is consistent with the highly inclusive growth during the same period.
- India makes all of its data public. In contrast, China has not even made data available to the World Bank, a group authorised to publish country-level poverty figures.
Government initiatives taken during 2011-21:
- A major factor behind the inclusive nature of growth is the focus of government policies on each of the individual indicators indicative of a dignified standard of living.
- Under the Swachh Bharat Mission, over 110 million toilets were constructed.
- Saubhagya Yojana managed to electrify every village and household.
- Jan Dhan Yojana made financial inclusion a reality in India, especially for women.
- Ujjwala Yojana nearly halved (from 26 to 14%) deprivation in just five years.
- Awas Yojana: less than 14% are now deprived.
- Jal Jeevan Mission – an ambitious project of ensuring universal access to piped water, rural piped water coverage increased to 54% (from 17% in 2019) and is expected to meet the 100% target by 2024.
- Slow-moving variables like housing, access to cooking fuel, and sanitation, have seen a significant increase as a direct result of this dedicated economic push.
Issues with the above data:
- The aggregation of the 10 indicators into one index involves legitimate issues of weighting.
- The Global Hunger Index (GHI), a recently released poverty indicator, shows a worsening of hunger in India between 2014-21, contradicting the considerable improvement recorded in the NFHS data.
Way ahead:
- A proactive use of fiscal policy combined with effective targeting will ensure that the benefits of growth are more equitably distributed across a wider class of citizens.
- A rights-based approach rather than an entitlements-based approach will help the government in delivering a dignified standard of living to all.
The National Family Health Survey (NFHS):
● It is a multi-round, large-scale survey done in a representative sample of households across India to collect reliable and up-to-date information on fertility, family planning, mortality and maternal and child health.
● The Government of India’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare designated the International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS) as the nodal organisation in charge of providing coordination and technical guidance for the NFHS.
● NFHS was funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
● Fifth Survey (NFHS-5): The NFHS-5 National Report, which began in 2019, documents the transition from NFHS-4 (2015-16) to NFHS-5 (2019-21).
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Q.Why does poverty continue to remain a massive challenge in India? Examine the various measures taken by the government to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 1. (15M)
