MULTIDIMENTIONAL POVERTY INDEX

Context

• In 2010, for the 20^th anniversary edition of the United Nation’s Development Programme’s flagship Human Development Report, the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) developed a new way to estimate poverty, known as the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI).
• This international measure paints a clear picture of people living in poverty within and across countries, regions and the world with respect to education, health and living standards.
• A household is recognized to be ‘multidimensional poor’ if it is deprived in some combination of indicators whose weighted sum exceeds 30% of all deprivations.

Causes

• In developed countries “food waste” happens more in the consumer household level. More is the consumer than the consumed.
• With increasing wealth, India is metaphorically exposed to both food waste and food loss.
• Recently, Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das said that poverty and illiteracy is the root cause of all problem and his government was committed to eradicate it by ensuring development of advises, dalits, deprived and oppressive section of the society.
• Miscellaneous demerits multiply to the number of multidimensional poverty in India. The varied issues are:

1. Climatic conditions: The high temperature of the country reduces the capacity of people especially the rural ones to work. For which production severely suffers.
2. High birth rate: The growth of population exceeds the rate of growth in national income.
3. Ignorance: Lack of guidance, ignorance and motivation as far as education, occupation and socio-political realms are concerned, accounts for the poverty of the common mass.
4. Indebtedness: Indebted poor farmers cannot make themselves free from the clutches of moneylenders. Their poverty is further accelerated because of indebtedness. Such a condition continues to remain under the poverty line for generations because of this debt-trap.
5. Low Agricultural Production: Poverty and real income are correlated. As far as farmers are concerned, they still use conventional methods of cultivations. Hence there is low agricultural productivity resulting in rural poverty.

Measures

• On January 1, 2015, the government came out with a new definition of poverty, with the Niti Aayog likely to set up a panel of experts to formulate a new poverty line which will be different from the existing Tendulkar line and Rangarajan line, will also be based on the latest consumption expenditure survey.
• This initiative sets a target for poverty reduction while preparing its first 15-year vision document and 7-year strategy paper, which has replaced the 5-year plan. Also, to measure the impact of the government’s anti-poverty schemes, reforms in agriculture, reforms in medical education, Digital Payments Movements, Atal Innovation Mission, indices Measuring States’ performance in Health, Education and Water Management, Sub-Group of Chief Ministers on Rationalization of Centrally Sponsored Schemes, Sub-Group of Chief Ministers on Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Sub-Group of Chief Ministers on Skill Development, Task Force on Elimination of Poverty in India, Task Force on Agriculture Development and Transforming India Lecture Series.

Quotes

• The Director of OPHI Sabina Alkire said, “This is a wake-up call to the international community which has adopted the global Sustainable Development Goals and takes seriously Goal 1, the eradication of poverty in all its forms and dimensions.”