Acute poverty in Telangana has shown a sharp decline over the past one decade, the National Multidimensional Poverty Index of Niti Aayog shows.
The headcount of people living in acute poverty is calculated to have dropped to 3.76% by 2022-23. It was 13.18% at the time of formation of the new State.
The data has been extrapolated from the National Family Health Survey information of (2019-21) and shows an overall reduction in multidimensional poverty in India from 29.17% in 2013-14 to 11.28% in 2022-23 with about 24.82 crore people escaping poverty during this period.
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In 2015-16 immediately after Andhra Pradesh was divided, Telangana had 13.18% people who were acutely poor. The residual State of A.P. had 11.77% poor people. The projected data shows a role reversal with Telangana expected to have only 3.76% poor while A.P. will have 4.19% poor.
Among the first to respond to the new data was Bharat Rashtra Samithi leader and former minister K.T. Rama Rao who posted on social media: “Super Proud. Thanks to Niti Aayog for the report on how well Telangana has done over the last decade.”
The national MPI is different from the global MPI as it has used 12 indicators. While the global MPI has 10 indicators, the Indian MPI incorporates two additional indicators, Maternal Health and Bank Accounts.
The fastest reduction in the proportion of multidimensional poor was observed in the States of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, and Rajasthan between 2013-14 and 2022-23. Bihar, Jharkhand, Meghalaya, U.P., M.P. remain the top five poor States with the highest number of poor people. The Niti Aayog paper estimates that: “Poorer states record faster decline in poverty – indicating reduction in disparities.”
A caveat is necessary as the indigenised MPI includes maternal health and bank account. The no-frills Jan Dhan Yojana accounts have increased from 14.72 crore in 2015 to 50.09 crore in 2023. In Telangana, 97% households had a bank or post office account under the NFHS-5.