Ranked 5th, Punjab fares better than Haryana on poverty index

Punjab has performed better than Haryana in the National Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), as per the Progress Review Report-2023 of NITI Aayog.

The report, prepared on the basis of the fifth National Family Health Survey (NFHS), has put Haryana in the 10th place. Punjab is five notches above Haryana in the index.

Haryana has 7.07% of people in the category of multidimensional poverty after the NFHS-5 conducted in 2019-21. Released last year, the report stated that the number of people in the MPI had come down from 11.88%, as per NFHS-4 (2015-16).

On the top of the chart is Kerala, best placed with just 0.55% of the total population in the MPI, followed by Goa (0.84%), Tamil Nadu (2.20%), Sikkim (2.60%), Punjab (4.75%) and Himachal (4.93%).

The report stated that the MPI was a globally recognised comprehensive measure that captured poverty in multiple dimensions beyond monetary aspects that identified people as poor based on universally acknowledged metric designed to assess acute poverty, providing a complementary perspective to conventional monetary poverty measures. It covered 12 indicators across three dimensions – health, education and standard of living comprising nutrition, child and adolescent mortality, maternal health, years of schooling, school attendance, cooking fuel, sanitation, drinking water, electricity, housing, assets, bank account.

A PIB release stated that the Centre had made remarkable progress in improving the lives of people, aiming to reduce poverty in all dimensions and mentioned initiatives like Poshan Abhiyan and Anaemia Mukt Bharat had significantly enhanced access to healthcare facilities, leading to a substantial decrease in deprivation. The PIB release also stated that it had been operating one of the world's largest food security programmes — Targeted Public Distribution System under the National Food Security Act — covering 81.35 crore beneficiaries and providing food grains to rural and urban populations.

Multidimensionally poor: Ranked above Haryana

Kerala 0.55% (*percentage of population)

Goa 0.84%

Tamil Nadu 2.20%

Sikkim 2.60%

Punjab 4.75%

Himachal 4.93%

Mizoram 5.30%

Telangana 5.88%

Andhra Pradesh 6.06%

(*As per National Family Health Survey-5)