Srinagar- A newly unveiled survey by the NITI Aayog, a public policy think tank of the Government of India, has revealed that 12.58 percent of the total population in Jammu and Kashmir is ‘poor’.
The report, “National Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) Baseline Report” is the debutant report of its kind prepared by the NITI Aayog and was released on November 24.
As per this report, 12.58 percent of the total population in J&K including Ladakh is poor.
Pertinently, as per survey by Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Index 2021, at least 10.35 percent population in Jammu and Kashmir was living below the national poverty line with the rural areas holding more poverty than the urban areas. The figures were revealed by the economic survey report, based on the state-specific poverty lines and estimates of poverty for rural and urban areas of the states.
The MPI report has further revealed that more than 47 percent of the population in J&K is deprived of proper sanitation. As per the report, J&K also has a gruelling number of malnourished people who are deprived of nutritional food.
“The percentage of the total population who are deprived of nutrition in J&K is 25.9 percent,” the report reads.
The report has also stated that in the uncensored headcount category, 12.7 percent of the population in J&K is deprived of maternal health, 45.2 percent of population is deprived of cooking fuel, 29.6 of housing, 16.2 percent of assets, 2.9 percent of electricity, 1.8 percent in child and adolescent Mortality, 6.8 percent of years of school, 14.2 percent of drinking water and 3.9 percent of bank accounts.
As per MPI report, in J&K the highest headcount for poor was recorded in Ramban district where the rate stood at 35.26 percent preceded by Doda (28.92), Rajouri (27.52), Udhampur (26.83) and Kishtwar (24.29). The lowest MPI in J&K was recorded in Srinagar where the percentage was recorded at 1.21 percent. In Ladakh, Kargil and Ladakh recorded an MPI of 19.4 percent and 5.36 percent, respectively.
As per the report, in J&K and Ladakh highest headcount of poor was recorded in Rural J&K and Ladakh where the rate was recorded at 16.39 percent and in Urban J&K and Ladakh the rate was recorded at 3.5 percent.
Notably, the MPI utilises the National Family Health Survey (NFHS), which is conducted under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) coordinated by International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS).
It is pertinent to mention here that the preparation of the given MPI Parameter Dashboard to rank states and UTs, and a State Reform Action Plan (SRAP) has taken into consideration various factors which include the percentage of population deprived of nutrition, maternal health and school education.
The national MPI is constructed directly from each person’s profile of deprivations across each indicator, built from a single household survey that captures the data on all the indicators. The report was compiled in two ways that included analysing the percentage of people who are multidimensionally poor and deprived in each indicator one by one and analysing the weighted contributions of each indicator to the national MPI.
In the Global MPI 2020, India ranked 62nd among 107 countries with an MPI score of 0.123 and 27.91 percent headcount ratio, based on the NFHS-4 (2015-16) data. (Source: Kashmir Observer)