Puducherry government’s poverty estimates at odds with NITI Aayog data, says former MP

Former MP Ramadass urges Puducherry govt. to map poverty with realistic indices. NITI Aayog's MPI shows 14.96% of India in multidimensional poverty, 0.55 in Kerala & 33.76 in Bihar. Puducherry's MPI is 0.003, 2nd lowest after Kerala. RTI reply shows 54% BPL, but per capita income is ₹2.51 lakh. Govt. must identify really poor & help them with welfare schemes.

Stating that the government’s poverty estimates for the Union Territory were completely at odds with the new data released by the NITI Aayog, former Member of Parliament M. Ramadass has urged the government to map poverty with realistic indices, so that uplift programmes can reach deserving segments of the population.

In a statement, Mr. Ramadass said in its recent report ‘National Multi Dimensional Poverty Index: A Progress Review 2023,’ the NITI Aayog’s Multi Dimensional Poverty index (MPI) looked at poverty not from a single parameter of the income of individuals or families, but focused on multifarious factors and determinants of deprivation of individuals and families. The three major dimensions considered are: education, health and standard of living.

The results show that 14.96 per cent of the total population of India was in multi dimensional poverty in 2019-21 and this proportion varied from a low of 0.55 in Kerala to a high of 33.76 in Bihar. The MPI for India was 0.066; for Bihar 0.160 and 0.002 for Kerala.

The proportion for Puducherry was 0.85 as per the report, which means that only less than 1 per cent of the people of the Union Territory are under the ambit of multidimensional poverty. At the all-India level, Puducherry ranks second in low poverty syndrome next only to Kerala. Puducherry is next to Kerala in MPI with 0.003 points. According to the report, Puducherry has registered a significant decline of 50.3 percentage points in the number multidimensionally poor, from 1.71% in 2015-16 to 0.85% in 2019-2021. Rural areas witnessed the fastest decline in poverty from 3.33% to 0.71%.representing a decline of 78.7 per cent.

The former MP pointed out that while it is heartening to note that Puducherry is on the path of zero multidimensional poverty zone, the government seems to be working on the erroneous assumption of a severe magnitude of poverty in the UT. Going by an RTI reply provided by the Department of Civil Supplies (September 2019), 54 per cent of households were below the poverty line which is the ratio of the number of red ration card holders to the total number of households: the number beneficiaries under DBT scheme is 1,81,825 out of and estimated 3,58,644 household. This indicated a ratio of poverty of 50.7, implying that more than half of the population of the Territory is BPL.

Mr. Ramadass wanted to know if the Lt. Governor and the Chief Minister subscribed to this calculus and ask themselves how the UT, with a per capita income of about ₹2.51 lakh and which has provided basic facilities to more than 80 per cent of households, can have more than half of its population below poverty line? It is also incumbent upon the Chief Secretary and Development Commissioner to seriously ponder this critical issue of development, finance and governance, he said.

“The thumb rule of poverty in Puducherry is the number of red ration card holders which is freely supplied to people to sustain vote bank politics and to remain in power at the cost of the public exchequer and borrowing from the market. The government should not commit this public fraud and it should seriously identify the really poor or multi dimensionally poor and help them benefit through welfare schemes,” Mr. Ramadass said.