Reducing poverty

Real test of success lies in sustainability

India’s first multi-dimensional poverty index (MPI), created under the aegis of the NITI Aayog, did not contain major surprises with Bihar, Jharkhand, and Uttar Pradesh figuring as India’s poorest states. But it is a useful exercise for policymakers and non-governmental organisations to gauge the well-being of Indians on a wider set of indicators other than income, a point that the UN has been making since 2010. India’s first MPI has, in fact, been created with that objective in mind. It is based on the fourth edition of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) for 2015-16, before the Modi government’s mega-schemes