Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Madhya Pradesh witnessed 1.36 crore people moving out of multidimensional poverty between 2015-16 and 2019-21, reveals a report of NITI Aayog.
The figure is more than double the population of countries like Singapore and Libya. Madhya Pradesh contribution in bringing down the multidimensional poverty load in the country is 10 %, says the NITI Aayog report — 'National Multidimensional Poverty Index: A progress of Review 2023'.
In the last five years, half of the multidimensional poverty population of the country (which is around 13.5 crore) has come out of it. As per MPI 2023, the number of people living as poor in the multidimensional form got reduced to 20.63 % from 36.57 %.
It shows a decline of 15.94 %. Across India, it is in Madhya Pradesh that the highest decline in poverty headcount has been noticed. The highest improvement has been registered in Alirajpur (31.05 %), Barwani (28.08 %), Khandwa (27.38 %), Balaghat (26.48 %) and Tikamgarh (26.33 %).
The report says that the figures related to ward off multidimensional poverty in Madhya Pradesh is not mere a coincidence, rather they are the result of effective implementation of multidimensional policy infrastructure.
Poverty Intensity Down To 47.25 %
The poverty intensity of Madhya Pradesh dropped to 43.70 % from 47.25 %. It is an indicator of how much the living style of the poor population is away from the poverty line.
This report shows that Madhya Pradesh is moving in fast manner to achieve the target of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 1. 2 and it can achieve the target much before 2030.
Urban Poverty Almost Half
The figure of population living below the multidimensional poverty line in rural areas has dipped to 25.32 % from 45.90 %. In urban areas of the state, this figure was reduced to 7.10 % from 13.72 %.
Shedding The BIMARU Tag
Shedding the light on how Madhya Pradesh was successful in coming out from the BIMARU tag, the report says that there has been a significant rise in capital expenditure in the state budget in the last 20 years.
The state budget in 2002-03 was Rs 3,878 crore which increased to Rs 54,464 crore in 2023-24.State succeeded in maintaining the 6.65 % decadal development rate of GSDP. The road length increased to 4,10,000 km in 2023 from 44,000 KM road length of 2001-02.
This helped people’s capacity in taking benefit of markets. The steep decline in poverty is not only due to improvement in the living standard of the citizens but it is also due to more than 45 % improvement in the indexes related to nutrition, maternal health, school education etc.
Poverty Is Declining In State: CM
Poverty has declined in Madhya Pradesh and it is a matter of pride for 9 crore people of the state, said Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan while releasing the second report of Madhya Pradesh State Policy and Planning Commission here at Kushabhau Thakre International Convention Centre on Tuesday.
Once the GSDP of the state was Rs 71,000 crore which now stands at around Rs 15 lakh crore, said the CM. Earlier, the state contribution in the country's GSDP was merely 3 % and now it is 4.8 %, he added.
