The Union government’s claim that the number of people living in poverty has significantly reduced in recent years based on multidimensional poverty index (MPI) is highly questionable, political economist Parakala Prabhakar said here on Saturday.
During an interaction with N. Ram, Director, THG Publishing Private Ltd., organised by the Dravidian Professionals Forum, on his new book — The Crooked Timber of New India - Essays on a Republic in Crisis — he said that he saw a “sleight of hand” in the government’s projection of data, based on the MPI.
He referred to the latest report of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), which said that 41.5 crore people moved out of multidimensional poverty between 2005-2006 and 2019-2021. The NITI Aayog recently released a report based on the national MPI, stating that 13.5 crore people moved out of multidimensional poverty between 2015-16 and 2019-21.
