BROADCASTS.com

b'A new paper released by the NITI Aayog has claimed that multidimensional poverty (MDI) has declined from 29.17% in 2013-14 to 11.28% in 2022-23, and that 24.82 crore people \\u201cescaped\\u201d from multidimensional poverty during this 9-year period. Titled \\u2018Multidimensional Poverty in India since 2005-06: A Discussion Paper\\u2019, the NITI Aayog report claims that India is well on track to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 1.2) of \\u201chalving multidimensional poverty\\u201d by 2030.\\nThe report also claims that various government initiatives such as Poshan Abhiyan, Anaemia Mukt Bharat and Ujjwala Yojana have played a major role in mitigating different forms of deprivation.\\nOn the face of it, India managing to reduce its poverty head count is a great achievement. But at the same time, development economists have been complaining about the increasing paucity in relevant data. Are Niti Aayog\\u2019s claims based on hard data or are they projections? Does a reduction in multidimensional poverty headcount actually mean a reduction in poverty? And how do these claims square with India\\u2019s worsening rank in the Global Hunger Index, for instance?'