Current Affairs 2022 : National Multidimensional Poverty Index 2021

By Shubham Singh

National Multidimensional Poverty Index 2021: Methodology and Highlights

Recently, NITI Aayog has launched the National Multidimensional Poverty baseline Index 2021 based on the National Family Health Survey (NFHS). This is the annual report launched by the NITI Aayog. The main objective of this index is to end poverty in all its forms and to know which state is more efficient to be self-reliant. The National Multidimensional Poverty Index measures various aspects, almost similar as the UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) does in their reports. UNDP also used to publish a global multidimensional poverty index in collaboration with the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI).

What is the idea behind this National Multidimensional Poverty Index?

As per the data of the global multidimensional poverty index, the ranking of India is 62 among 107 countries. To address this issue, India decided to launch its state-wise index to easily counter the main reason behind the poor ranking. We often hear the biases about this report and to counter this, the index is created aiming to deconstruct this Global MPI and to create a more detailed yet aligned to global MPI.

NITI Aayog and the Government of India wants to publish an MPI index to boost up the competition among the States and Union Territories.

Methodology of the National Multidimensional Poverty Index

The national MPI has a variety of constraints to measure poverty. The index follows the existing globally acceptable formula which is generated by the  OPHI and UNDP. The main key of this formula is to check poverty at various proportions and provide in-depth studies based on the per capita consumption expenditure of that state or country.

The MPI index compiles the data of three fields in general and 12 indicators related to that field. Those three fields are health, education, and standard of living. If we deep dive into these three fields we know that 12 parameters are being used to compile the data of this index. Some parameters are housing, nutrition, sanitation, school attendance,  average years of schooling, facility of drinking water, having bank accounts or not, electricity, Maternal Health, Child-Adolescent Mortality,

The MPI index widely used the data of the National Family  Health Survey which was conducted in 2015-16. NFHS was conducted to know the ground situation of the country so that it is easy to roll out the various government schemes across the country.

Key Objectives of National Multidimensional Poverty Index

The Government of India decided to launch the National MPI keeping various objectives in mind.

• To compare poverty across the country, states and districts level.
• To track poverty status in the country from time to time.
• To know the intensity of poor people in poverty, using direct information from the set of MPI indicators.
• To provide a handful of data of statistics on smaller levels like districts as well.

National Multidimensional Poverty Index

The National MPI has been generated by the MPI member committee. The member committee includes NITI AAyog, Department of Health and Family Welfare, Ministry of Women and Child Development, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Department of Rural Development, Department of School Education and Literacy and many more.

MPI Score Of India

India’s overall MPI score is 0.118 which is not that good. The MPI score includes the rural weightage that is 0.155 and the urban weightage as well which is 0.04 slightly lower than the national average.

State Wise MPI Score and the percentage  

In the following data, there is an MPI Score on one side and on the other side, there is the percentage of the population which are poor.

State	% Poor of Total Population	MPI Score
Bihar	51.91%	0.265
Jharkhand	42.16%	0.202
Uttar Pradesh	37.79%	0.18
Madhya Pradesh	36.65%	0.173
Meghalaya	32.67%	0.157
Assam	32.67%	0.156
Chhattisgarh	29.91%	0.134
Rajasthan	29.46%	0.14
Odisha	29.35%	0.136
Nagaland	25.23%	0.117
Arunachal Pradesh	24.27%	0.115
West Bengal	21.43%	0.097
Gujarat	18.60%	0.084
Manipur	17.89%	0.08
Uttarakhand	17.72%	0.079
Tripura	16.65%	0.075
Maharashtra	14.85%	0.065
Telangana	13.74%	0.059
Karnataka	13.16%	0.056
Andhra Pradesh	12.31%	0.053
Haryana	12.28%	0.055
Mizoram	9.80%	0.046
Himachal Pradesh	7.62%	0.03
Punjab	5.59%	0.024
Tamil Nadu	4.89%	0.02
Sikkim	3.82%	0.016
Goa	3.76%	0.015
Kerala	0.71%	0.003

Union Territories	% Poor of Total Population	MPI Score
Dadra & Nagar Haveli	27.36%	0.122
Jammu & Kashmir, & Ladakh	12.58%	0.055
Daman & Diu	6.82%	0.03
Chandigarh	5.97%	0.026
Delhi	4.79%	0.021
Andaman & Nicobar Islands	4.30%	0.017
Lakshadweep	1.82%	0.007
Puducherry	1.72%	0.007

Results

Bihar has the poorest percentage in the country followed by Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh while Kerala has the least poor percentage across the country and after that Puducherry, Lakshadweep, Goa and Sikkim are compiled in the MPI.

Electricity

Again, Bihar has the most deprived state in electricity while Daman Diu has the least.

Sanitation

Bihar followed by Jharkhand has the highest percentage of population deprived of sanitation while Lakshadweep has the most advanced sanitation facility.

Nutrition

Again Bihar tops the list of most malnourished people in the state followed by Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh. Sikkim has the best-nourished people across the country.

Drinking-Water

Manipur has the poorest facility for drinking water in the country while Goa and Bihar have the best facility.

Bank Accounts

Nagaland has the least amount of bank accounts and on the other hand, Himachal Pradesh, Andaman & Nicobar Islands have the highest no of bank accounts across the country.

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