Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Multi-dimensional Poverty Index Captures Depth of Deprivation in India

"India is home to over 340 million destitute people and is the second poorest country in South Asia after war-torn Afghanistan...In South Asia, Afghanistan has the highest level of destitution at 38%. This is followed by India at 28.5%. Bangladesh (17.2%) and Pakistan (20.7%) have much lower levels"  Colin Hunter, Center for Research on Globalization 
Increases in per capita income and human development index are often used as indicators to represent improvements in the lives of ordinary people in developing nations in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Both of these have significant limitations which are addressed by Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI)'s MPI, multi-dimensional poverty index.

The MPI brings together 10 indicators, with equal weighting for education, health and living standards (see table). If you tick a third or more of the boxes, you are counted as poor.

Source: Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative


Eradicating poverty in South Asia requires every person having access to safe drinking water, sanitation, housing, nutrition, health and education.

According to the MPI, out of its 1.2 billion-plus population, India alone is home to over 340 million destitute people and is the second poorest country in South Asia after war-torn Afghanistan, according to Colin Hunter of Canada-based Global Research.

Some 640 million poor people live in India (40% of the world’s poor), mostly in rural areas, meaning an individual is deprived in one-third or more of the ten indicators mentioned above (malnutrition, child deaths, defecating in the open).

 In South Asia, Afghanistan has the highest level of destitution at 38%. This is followed by India at 28.5%. Bangladesh and Pakistan have much lower levels. The study placed Afghanistan as the poorest country in South Asia, followed by India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nepal, according to Hunter.

Afghanistan is the poorest country in South Asia in terms of multi-dimensional poverty with 66% of its people being poor, followed by India with 54%, Bangladesh with 51%, Pakistan and Nepal at 44%, Bhutan at 27%, and Sri Lanka and the Maldives at 5%, according to Oxford researchers. Among 104 countries ranked by OPHI,  Nepal ranks 82, India 74, Bangladesh 73,  Pakistan 70, Sri Lanka 32 in MPI poverty.

Why has India lagged  behind its neighbors in spite of rapid economic growth in recent years? Here's how Hunter explains it: "The ratio between the top and bottom 10% of wage distribution has doubled since the early 1990s, when India opened up it economy. According to the 2011 Organization for Cooperation and Economic Development report ‘Divided we stand’, this has made India one of the worst performers in the category of emerging economies. The poverty alleviation rate is no higher than it was 25 years ago. Up to 300,000 farmers have committed suicide since 1997 due to economic distress and many more have quit farming."

What Colin Hunter hasn't clearly articulated is the fact that India remains home to the world's largest population of poor, hungry and illiterates who lack even basic sanitation 67 years after the nation's independence from British colonial rule.

As the new Hindu Nationalist government under Narendra Modi begins its anti-Muslim and anti-Pakistan campaigns so soon after inauguration, an Indian journalist  Pankaj Mishra reminds Indians  in a recent New York Times Op Ed that that "India’s reputation as a “golden bird” flourished during the long centuries when it was allegedly enslaved by Muslims. A range of esteemed scholars — from Sheldon Pollock to Jonardon Ganeri — have demonstrated beyond doubt that this period before British rule witnessed some of the greatest achievements in Indian philosophy, literature, music, painting and architecture".

It's time for Mr. Modi to shun his bellicose rhetoric (boli nahee goli--India's guns will do the talking) against Pakistan and focus on much more important issues of deep deprivation of his people.

Here's a video on Grinding Poverty in Resurgent India:

Haq's Musings Grinding Poverty in Resurgent India by faizanmaqsood1010
http://youtu.be/84-Qz4vFVHs



Related Links:

Haq's Musings

India Home to World's Largest Population of Poor, Hungry and Illiterates

Grinding Poverty in Resurgent India

An Indian Farmer Commits Suicide Every 30 Minutes

India's Israel Envy: What if Modi Attacks Pakistan?

India Teaching Young Students Akhand Bharat 

Pakistan Army at the Gates of Delhi

India's War Myths

India-Pakistan Military Balance

Pakistan Army Capabilities

Modi's Pakistan Policy

India's Israel Envy

Can India Do a Lebanon in Pakistan?

27 comments:

Mayraj said...

"What are the realistic poverty lines today based on officially accepted nutritional norms? The current poverty lines allowing nutrition norms of 2,200 or 2,100 calories in the rural or urban areas to be met, are at least Rs.1,085 a month (Rs.36 a day) and Rs.1,800 a month (Rs.60 a day) respectively. Since each full-time worker needs to support nearly two dependants, these correspond to a minimum daily wage of Rs.108 and Rs.180 respectively. But this is inadequate: no margin exists for medical emergencies, life cycle ceremonies, or old age. From the 2009-10 NSS data at least 75 per cent of the total population is in poverty on this basis. This high level of deprivation is the rationale for going back to a non-targeted, universal food distribution system, but that will not be enough. The purchasing power of the poor has to be raised at the same time through employment generation schemes. Ironically, there has been a rise in unemployment rates according to the latest surveys."


http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/how-little-can-a-person-live-on/article2497773.ece

Anonymous said...

Contrary to what you think, poverty is not the responsiblility of the state. Equal Opportunity is the only responsibility. If I did not want to work, the govt cannot be responsible. Poor are everywhere and it is their choice.

There is an important distinction between poverty. There is a difference between urban and rural poverty. A house maid in an asian country earns about USD 150 per month working for an hour in four households.

In PPP terms, that translates to about USD 300 - 450 per month for a family of 3.

Skilled workers earn upto 250 per month ie USD 500 per month. Therefore the beggars are so because they choose to be so. For whatever reason, they are a burden on the productive person.

Now the question is how long can you fund such persons. The incentive to work is gone.

The MPI readings are propoganda items used to feed western superiority complex.

The west cannot understand this concept. The buddha was not poor when he gave up his wealth. all People who give up wealth cannot be termed as poor.

Poor are those people who are willing to work but cannot find a job.

Majumdar said...

Prof Riaz ul Haq sb,

I think you need to read the MPI report more carefully, sir. The 28% or so poverty index that has been calculated for India is based on data sourced in 2005-06. The 21% or so index for Pakiland is based on data collected in 2011-12. Please correct me, if I am wrong. Since that date 2005-06, I am sure India has moved on, not although as much as we would have liked. While Pakiland has basically stagnated since 2011. It would be interested if we cud get real time MPI data, it cud be fun reading it.

Meanwhile, let me give you some updated stats. FAO’s Food Insecurity Index rated Pakistan worse than India as does the Global Hunger Index 2014. Looks like Pakistan has slipped below India for the first time. While Pakistan reduced GHI from 21.0 in 2005 to 19.0 in 2013, India reduced it from 24.2 to 17.8 in the same period. India at 55 now outstrips Pak and BD (joint 57). Last time Pakistan was ranked almost 10 notches higher.

Please draw your conclusions......

Regards

Riaz Haq said...

Anon: "Contrary to what you think, poverty is not the responsiblility of the state. Equal Opportunity is the only responsibility. If I did not want to work, the govt cannot be responsible. Poor are everywhere and it is their choice."

I think you have missed the whole concept of multi-dimensional poverty which goes well beyond income poverty. It comprehends education, health care, sanitation, infrastructure, etc which are the responsibility of a modern state.

If the govt does not build schools, hospitals, and fails to build infrastructure for clean water and sanitation, it leads to multi-dimensional poverty of education and health, not just poverty of income.

Riaz Haq said...

Majumdar: "India is based on data sourced in 2005-06"

I think you should read it carefully.

Not all of MPI for India is based on 2005-6, only the income poverty data from 2005-6. The rest is much more current.

Anonymous said...

Over half of India is poor with 46% living on less than a dollar a day, says UNDP.
Contrary to the government’s claims, which put the number of poor people in India to be around 37.5% (as per the Tendulkar committee), the latest report by the United Nations has claimed that 41.6% of Indians live for less than a dollar a day.

The report - Sustainability and Equity: A Better Future for All - said India has the world’s largest number of multi-dimensionally poor — 612 million. The UNDP calculates poverty on a multidimensional vector such as access to health services, clean water, cooking fuels, basic household goods and home construction standards. Which means over half India’s population is abysmally poor.

India also slipped down in the Human Development Index (HDI) ranking announced by the UNDP on Wednesday.

India has come down from its last year ranking of 119 (out of 169 countries) to 134 (out of 187) this year. This despite the fact that life expectancy at birth in the country has increased by 10.1% a year over the last two decades, and mean year of schooling increased by 3.9 years between 1980 and 2011 and expected years of schooling increased by 3.9 years.

The 2011 Global HDI ranks countries on their progress on the three key dimensions of human development - education, health and income. India’s HDI value for 2011 was 0.547 positioning the country in the medium human development category.

And even though between 1980 and 2011, India’s HDI value increased from 0.344 to 0.547 — an increase of 59% or an average annual increase of about 1.5% - when adjusted for inequality, India’s HDI falls to 0.392, that is, a loss of 28.3% due to inequality. This is slightly lower than the average for South Asia (28.4%).

In the Gender Inequality Index (GII), Indian women were found to lag significantly behind men in education, parliamentary representation and labour force participation. India is ranked at an unimpressive 129 out of 146 nations in the GII.

The report released in Denmark points out inequality in the distribution of human development (income, education and health) is more pronounced in India than elsewhere.

This is despite the fact that the Government has been concerned about uneven distribution of the benefits of growth for couple of years. Accordingly 11th Five-Year Plan (2007-12) was based on inclusive growth. 12th Plan is also expected to focus on inequalities.

This is the second year when UNDP calculated HDI after adjusting inequalities. India, with HDI value of 0.547, falls in the category of countries with ‘Medium Human Development’. It falls short of the world average, which is 0.624.

Our record is worse than Bangladesh in mean year of schooling & life expectancy at birth.

The gap between rich & poor is also wider in India as compared to Bangladesh. Even Pakistani children are attending 4.9 years of school as compared to India’s 4.4 years.

Mass of poverty
According to UNDP, income poverty only tells part of the story. The multidimensional poverty is 12.1 percentage points higher than income poverty. This implies that individuals living above the income poverty line may still suffer deprivations in education, health and other living conditions.

As per UNDP report 2011, 53.7% of the population suffer multiple deprivations while an additional 16.4 per cent are vulnerable to multiple deprivations. The Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) of India is 0.283. Bangladesh and Pakistan have MPIs of 0.292 and 0.264 respectively. China has 0.056 MPI which is very less as compared to India.
Program director of NGO Population First, AL Sharda says gender inequality adds up in multidimensional poverty. “A huge population of women is still deprived of education, health and other needs.”


http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-who-said-india-is-not-poor-1606755

Hopewins said...

^^RH: 'Here's how Hunter explains it: "The ratio between the top and bottom 10% of wage distribution has doubled since the early 1990s, when India opened up it economy."
-----------------

Here are the data.....

A) India
http://goo.gl/8A8Zq6

B) China
http://goo.gl/CrpdBi

C) Pakistan
http://goo.gl/9TVkCH

Please inform us of your conclusions once you have had a chance to examine the data.

Riaz Haq said...

15 countries you should be afraid to visit (include India, not Pakistan).

Describes India as "one of the world's most dangerous countries. Crimes in India include arms and drug trafficking, sex crimes, and corruption but is mostly known as one of the most dangerous countries for women."
Here are the names: Colombia, Russia, Mexico, Nigeria, India, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Lebanon, Guinea-Bissau, Yemen, Iraq, Sudan, Central African Republic, North Korea and Syria.

http://www.swifty.com/destinations/5042/15-countries-you-should-be-afraid-to-visit#slide/1

Riaz Haq said...

Excerpt From Op Ed by David Karl in The Diplomat: "3 Reasons Modi is Misguided on Pakistan"

In August, New Delhi abruptly cancelled foreign secretary-level talks on the grounds that the Pakistani ambassador had continued with the longstanding practice of meeting with Kashmiri separatists. This reaction may have been right in principle. But in practical terms, it amounted to a demand that Pakistan – which draws much of its national identity from the Kashmir conflict – make a significant diplomatic concession without receiving anything of importance in return. This was certainly no deal that any civilian government in Islamabad could accept as the price for merely beginning a conversation with Modi’s team, much less one that was then embroiled in a deep political crisis at home and uncertain of the military leadership’s allegiances.
------
Indeed, the Indian government is in danger of becoming captive to its hawkish rhetoric. Defense Minister Jaitley emphasizes that “Of course we can talk to Pakistan, but it is up to Pakistan to create an atmosphere for talks.” Given the turmoil inside Pakistan, it will be difficult to start any sort of meaningful dialogue with Islamabad as long as that condition is strictly insisted upon.

A third problem is even more fundamental. Mr. Modi appears to believe he can revitalize India’s great-power prospects without the trouble of reaching a basic accommodation with Pakistan. Yet New Delhi’s continuous ructions with Islamabad have constantly proven vexatious to its larger ambitions. They sap precious national resources (including the armed forces) and divert the attention of those leaders who prefer to look to larger arenas. They also create a paradox: India yearns for a place in the first ranks of world power and yet cannot establish much sway over its own neighbors. Despite the common civilizational and historical links that permeate South Asia, New Delhi has been unable to integrate the region in the same way that Beijing has economically stitched together the much more culturally diverse and geographically disperse East Asian area.

Ignoring Pakistan may well score short-term political points at home but it is a poor strategy for the longer-term items on Mr. Modi’s agenda.

Crafting the right blend of deterrence credibility and substantive engagement with rival states is a hard task for any government. But so far, the Modi government seems fixated one objective while paying little heed to the other.

http://thediplomat.com/2014/10/3-reasons-modi-is-misguided-on-pakistan/

Majumdar said...

Prof Riaz ul Haq sb,

15 countries you should be afraid to visit

Tell that to tourists. Tourist arrivals in India 6.6 million. Pakiland 1.0 million. Source: World Bank

Country you should be afraid to be a citizen of.

Murder rate- India: 3.5 per 100,000
Murder rate- Pakiland: 7.7 per 100,000

Source: UNODC

Regards

Anonymous said...

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-10-23/samsungs-china-smartphone-problems-come-to-india

Riaz Haq said...

Anon: "http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-10-23/samsungs-china-smartphone-problems-come-to-india "

More Indians have access to cell phones than toilets.


http://www.riazhaq.com/2011/10/india-leads-world-in-open-defecation.html

Anonymous said...

Firstly, as i am old i request you to use the number based authentication instead of two words for posting blogs. It is really difficult to read.(looks like only a robot can scan and recognise the charecters :)

Riaz Haq said " think you have missed the whole concept of multi-dimensional poverty which goes well beyond income poverty. It comprehends education, health care, sanitation, infrastructure, etc which are the responsibility of a modern state.

If the govt does not build schools, hospitals, and fails to build infrastructure for clean water and sanitation, it leads to multi-dimensional poverty of education and health, not just poverty of income."

Response: I have not missed it. I disagree. You can build schools, but that is not the same as getting children to learn. You can construct hospitals but does that mean that you are healthy.

In fact, many people in villages which has less or no hospital compared to cities are healthy.

A limited mind of mathematical researchers who undertake such studies for propoganda purposes cannot understand the vastness of existance. The buddha became richer by giving up his kingdom. Even today, philantropists like buffet and gates understand that the lesser you have the happier you are.

For the sake of westerners who dont understand what i am saying, i summarise as follows: Where there are rich there are bound to be poor. And only a dirty place can be cleaned. If you are clean, you have to become dirty again otherwise you cannot become clean. being dirty is not a sin, it is a personal choice.

Riaz Haq said...

Over 3000 unclaimed, unknown dead bodies every year found in #NewDelhi #India http://nyti.ms/1y9Bpbj

NEW DELHI — The most lost of the lost people of Delhi end up here, in a cold metal-sided room at the Sabzi Mandi mortuary. They are lying on every available surface, including the blood-smeared floor, some with body parts flung out in the position of their death, protruding from the white plastic bags that are used to store them.

The smooth, sharp curve of a man’s naked hip, all bone and no flesh. A jaw, with teeth. Hands folded over an abdomen as if at rest, or extended in some last intercepted expression of feeling.

In a corner, the bodies are crowded together on the floor. The mortuary attendants say it is so difficult to procure supplies as basic as disinfectant from the government that workers bring soap from home so that they can wash their hands after handling the bodies, many of which are infected with tuberculosis. So it would be unrealistic for the unidentified dead to expect a metal shelf of their own.

“You’ll find them one on top of the other,” said the mortuary’s chief doctor, L. C. Gupta. “Where are we supposed to put them?”

On average, the police in this city register the discovery of more than 3,000 unidentifiable bodies a year — unidentifiable not because they are unrecognizable, but because they carry no documents and there is no one who knows them.

It is an extraordinary number. New York City buries as many as 1,500 homeless or poor people in trenches in its potter’s field on Hart Island every year, but of those, according to an official from the medical examiner’s office who recently spoke to the NY1 news channel, the number who remain unidentified averages around 50.

In Delhi, one regularly encounters the unknown dead: By law, photographs of their corpses must be published in newspapers and posted in police stations, under the Dickensian heading “Hue and Cry Notice.” Protocol requires the mortuary to hold each body for 72 hours so that relatives have a chance to spot the announcements and claim the dead, but Dr. Gupta said they rarely do.

“Nobody reads them,” he said. Police officers are also expected to investigate. Asked about this, Dr. Gupta gave a small, dry smile. “They may or may not try,” he said.
-------------

This is no city for the poor. Drive around New Delhi at night, and great numbers of men, women and children can be seen curled up on the sidewalks sleeping, or trying to sleep. These people — “pavement dwellers,” they are called — figure in occasional newspaper articles about drunken drivers whose vehicles jump the curb and plow into a row of sleepers....

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/07/world/asia/the-dead-of-delhi-unknown-and-unclaimed.html?smid=fb-share&_r=0

Riaz Haq said...

An Indian woman has died and 15 others are in hospital after being sterilised at a state-run camp in the state of Chhattisgarh on Monday.

It comes just a day after 13 women, who were sterilised at another camp in the state on Saturday, lost their lives.

More than 60 women remain in hospital, many in a critical condition, following tubectomy operations.

Protests have been held over the deaths, and the state government has ordered an inquiry into the operations.

The latest sterilisations took place in the Gaurela area of Bilaspur district in Chhattisgarh.

The woman who died was from the protected Baiga tribe whose dwindling numbers make it illegal to sterilise them, BBC Hindi's Alok Putul reports from Bilaspur.

Authorities in India have been promoting family planning for several decades, trying to convince people to have smaller families.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-30024588

Anonymous said...

Pakistan has a greater proportion of its population living in multi dimensional poverty and ranks worse than India on GHI 2014. You pakis are famous for having poor reasoning skills.
Nevertheless let me point out that as per this report one out of every three pakistanis live below the poverty line while the World Development Indicators 2013 had determined that there are 60% of the Pakistan’s population that is currently living in below the national poverty line.

go through this article if you like.....http://apecsec.org/pakistan-poverty-statistics/
And as per http://data.worldbank.org/indicator India's poverty headcount ratio is approximately 22%.

Moreover according to world bank the following indicators should also be considered:-
1. Infant mortality rate (indicative of high rates of malnutrition)-the rate is the probability per 1000 that a newborn baby will die before reaching age 5.
India scores 56 while pakistan scores a dismal 86.

2. GDP per capita (m not even going to the total GDP figures) :india: 1503, pakistan: 1257.

3. GNI per capita (or per capita income): india: 1550, pakistan : 1260.

4. Access to electricity: india : 75.3%, pakistan : 68%.

5. Last but not the least : literacy rate : as per federal ministry of education (GoP) it is 57% for pakistan(as on 2012) while 74% for india.
http://www.livemint.com/Politics/UtHyRhLul24cT4TIhgyrQN/India8217s-literacy-rate-rises-to-74-Census.html
http://tribune.com.pk/story/687360/pakistan-education-atlas-2013-education-survey-reveals-mixed-bag-of-results/

consider where you are heading to. The gaps will widen further.

Riaz Haq said...

#Pakistan's new higher #poverty line of Rs. 3,030.32 pm per adult to classify 59m as poor: Planning Commission

http://www.dawn.com/news/1261693/govts-new-poverty-line-to-classify-up-to-59m-as-poor-planning-commission-report

Pakistan has performed exceptionally well in reducing monetary poverty over the past 15 years, down from nearly 35pc of the population in 2001-02 to under 10pc in 2013-14.

--------


As the country’s population is estimated to be around 200 million, the new poverty line set by the government will allow 6.8 to 7.6 million households or 53 to 59 million people to be classified as poor, according to a Planning Commission document.

This demonstrates the government’s commitment to reaching low-income households through its policies and interventions, and to improving the lives of all of Pakistan’s people, the document says.

Read: New poverty line makes a third of Pakistanis poor

The commission says that by resetting the poverty threshold the government is reaffirming its commitment to a sustainable and inclusive development path which is aligned with its policy priorities.

According to poverty rates based on the 2013-14 re-estimation, the new poverty line is Rs3,030.32 per adult equivalent per month, and 29.5 per cent of the population will be considered poor.

Based on the most recent Household Income and Expenditure Survey, conducted in 2013-14, Pakistan’s poverty line was equal to Rs2,259.4 per adult equivalent per month. This number translates into Rs2,502.32 per person per month.

The commission mentioned its commitments on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a robust social protection programme, and the creation of more and better jobs for the poor.

According to the commission, most developing countries revisit their poverty threshold when poverty rates get as low as those seen in Pakistan today.

In light of this, the government has made a decision to raise the bar on which it will consider the poor in Pakistan today.

Pakistan has performed exceptionally well in reducing monetary poverty over the past 15 years, down from nearly 35pc of the population in 2001-02 to under 10pc in 2013-14.

The last time a poverty line was set in Pakistan was in 2001-02. The line used the food energy intake method, with a reference group that included the bottom three quintiles of the distribution of expenditure as the reference group.

It also used a caloric threshold of 2,350 calories per adult equivalent per day — higher than the FAO standard used in much of the region.

In Pakistan, the reduction in poverty led to an increase in dietary diversity for everyone. For the poorest, the share of expenses devoted to milk and milk products, chicken, eggs and fish, as well as vegetables and fruits increased.

In contrast the share of cereals, which provide the cheapest calories, declined steadily between 2001-02 and 2013-14.

Since foods like chicken, eggs, vegetables, fruits and milk and milk products are more expensive than cereals and pulses, and have lower caloric content, this shift in consumption increased the amount that people spend per calorie over time.

The commission’s document says that many secondary and tertiary cities have sprung up in the rural periphery and, with them, the informal economy has burgeoned. This needs to be better captured in national data, including the GDP, and is likely an important source of the reduction in poverty.

An important indicator is the lack of change in the share of the employed in the rural economy combined with the reduction in male participation in agricultural work.

These issues need to be carefully examined in order to understand both the key determinants of the decline in poverty thus far and the prospects for a continued robust decline in poverty.

Riaz Haq said...

India on Friday released figures of what it claims is the world’s biggest census that it hopes will help plug wastage in government welfare schemes, boost tax revenue and define consumers more clearly.
The census had some grim figures for India’s poor and landless.

Nearly 40 per cent of Indian rural households are landless and derive a major part of their income from manual, casual labour.

Only 4.6 per cent of all rural households in the country pay income tax.

Over one-third of Indian population living in rural areas is illiterate and 23.5 per cent of rural households have no literate adults above the age of 25.

Nearly 60 per cent of India’s rural population in 2011 qualify for “deprivation” estimated through the yardstick of seven socio-economic parameters.

Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley released the findings of the “Socio Economic and Caste Census 2011” in New Delhi on Friday.

More than two million census workers covered an estimated 1.2 billion people, defining them in demographic, socio-cultural and economic terms, including such parameters as mobile phone and Internet usage and banking access.

A meager 11.04 per cent of rural households have a refrigerator while 70 per cent own cell phones.

This was also the first socio-economic and caste census in India since 1934 although the caste data has not been made pubic yet and only Indian lawmakers at the Parliament in Delhi will have access to the data.

Caste systems are common in much of south-east Asia. Castes divide people into social groupings; those in the lowest castes are regarded as unclean and are often forced into unpleasant and dangerous work like manual scavenging.

The census findings released on Friday said 180,657 people in rural India are still being forced to clean human excreta from dry toilets and open drains, despite a ban on the discriminatory and undignified practice.

The census in the world’s second-most populous country is held every 10 years. China, with a population of 1.3 billion, also has a census every 10 years.

With about two-thirds of the Indian population in hard-to-reach rural areas, the census is the main source of data for everyone from manufacturers of cars and marketers of toothpaste to government officials planning and implementing key programs.

http://thebricspost.com/nearly-60-of-rural-indian-population-is-deprived-census/#.V8PJQ5MrKqA

Riaz Haq said...

Pakistan's first ever official report on multidimensional poverty launched here on Monday showed a strong decline, with national poverty rates falling from 55 percent to 39 percent from year 2004 to 2015.

However progress across different regions of Pakistan is uneven. Poverty in urban areas is 9.3 percent as compared to 54.6 percent in rural areas. Disparities also exist across provinces.

The report launched by the Ministry of Planning, Development and Reform, details Pakistan's official Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) which was earlier published in the Economic Survey of Pakistan 2015-16.

The report has been complied with technical support from UNDP Pakistan and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI), University of Oxford.

According to the report, nearly 39 percent of Pakistanis live in multidimensional poverty, with the highest rates of poverty in FATA and Balochistan.

The report found that over two-third of people in FATA (73 percent) and Balochistan (71 percent) live in multidimensional poverty. Poverty in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa stands at 49 percent, Gilgit-Baltistan and Sindh at 43 percent, Punjab at 31 percent and Azad jammu and Kashmir at 25 percent.

There are severe difference between districts: Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi have less than 10 percent multidimensional poverty, while Qila Abadullah, Harnai and Barkhan, all in Balochistan, have more than 90 percent poverty.

Deprivation in education contributes the largest share of 43 percent to MPI followed by living standards with contributes nearly 32 percent and health contributing 26 percent. These findings further confirm that social indicators are very weak in Pakistan, even where economic indicators appear healthy.

The report also found that the decrease in multidimensional poverty was slowest in Balochistan, while poverty levels had actually increased in several districts in Balochistan and Sindh during the past decade. The level and composition of multidimensional poverty for each of Pakistan's 114 districts are also covered in this report.

Speaking at the launch, Minister for Planning, Development and Reform, Prof. Ahsan Iqbal, said, Pakistan has set zero poverty goal much before the year 2030, adding,the reduction of multidimensional poverty is one of the core objectives of Pakistan's Vision 2025.

He said, inclusive and balanced growth, which benefits everyone and especially the marginalized communities, is government priority and is essential for promoting harmony in society.

MPI is a useful instrument for inform public policy for targeting, budgeting, resource allocation and inclusion.


Pakistan's MPI establishes baseline not for only Vision 2015, but also for Pakistan's progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, and complements the consumption-based poverty estimates recently released by the government.

UNDP Country Director, Marc Andre Franche said,"We consider this a highly innovative approach because of its multi-faceted nature and the availability of estimates at the sub-national level."

Multidimensional poverty provides useful analysis and information for targeting poverty, and reducing regional inequalities.

Many countries are using MPI to inform government priorities for planning and it is encouraging to see government of Pakistan adopting MPI to complement monetary poverty measure in Pakistan, he added.

Director OPHI, Dr Sabina Alkire congratulated Pakistan on launching the national MPI as an official poverty measure.


http://www.samaa.tv/pakistan/2016/06/pakistans-poverty-rates-fall-from-55pc-to-39pc-from-2004-to-2015-mpi/

http://www.pk.undp.org/content/pakistan/en/home/library/hiv_aids/Multidimensional-Poverty-in-Pakistan.html

Riaz Haq said...

All the SAARC countries lie in different categories. Like Bangladesh, Nepal and India are in high MPI countries, means there is poverty more than 50%. On the other hand Pakistan and Bhutan are in medium category, and Sri Lanka and Maldives are in low MPI countries. The data of MPI of Afghanistan is not given due to unavailable sources for the collection of the data.



Multi-dimensional poverty index is an international measure of acute poverty covering over 104 countries.
As everyone knows that Poverty is measured as a single dimensional index such as income. But income alone misses
a lot because India is growing fast in economic perspective but health, education and living standard not improved
yet. It is the fact that India’s per capita income lies in one of the top countries in the world but if we look on the
other aspects like health, education and standard of living, then we find that India is not so good in the other aspects
rather than the income. India lies on 73rd position from 104 countries with a 53% multidimensional poor. Among
the 29 states, some states of India having high per capita income, yet lies in the high multidimensional poverty index.
It means those states have high per capita income but lacks in the health and standard of living. Some states like
Kerala is in very good position in Multidimensional poverty index while remaining states are in very bad position in
MPI according to OPHI. MPI illuminates a different set of deprivation and reflects the deprivation in very
rudimentary services and core human functioning for people. It shows the number of people who are
multidimensional poor and the number of deprivation with which poor household typically content.


http://www.erpublications.com/uploaded_files/download/download_07_03_2015_15_24_25.pdf

Riaz Haq said...

#India tops the world slavery chart with 18.4 million #Indians (1.4% of population) held in #slavery . http://www.indonesia-investments.com/news/todays-headlines/global-slavery-index-2016-what-about-slavery-in-indonesia/item6885 …

India tops the world slavery charts with 18.4 million slaves followed by China's 3.4 million and Pakistan's 2.1 million.

In terms of percentages, North Korea tops with 4.37% of population in slavery followed by Uzbekistan's 3.97% and India's 1.4%.

The number of modern slaves (45.8 million according to the 2016 Global Slavery Index) is 28 percent higher than the number that was reported in the 2014 edition. However, this difference is mainly caused by a different methodology and data compiling process applied during research. The 2016 index is based on 42,000 interviews in 25 nations
Cambodia is the country with the highest amount of modern slaves in the Southeast Asian region. According to the 2016 Global Slavery Index 1.6 percent of the Cambodian population is victim of slavery. However, in absolute terms, Indonesia leads the ranking in Southeast Asia
Combined, there are 26.6 million victims of slavery living in India, China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Uzbekistan. Together, these five countries account for 58 percent of total global slavery
The Walk Free Foundation is an Australia-based human rights group
Most modern slaves - nearly two-thirds - can be found in Asian countries. This is attributed to the huge number of people living in Asia, while this continent is also well integrated into the global supply chains

http://www.indonesia-investments.com/news/todays-headlines/global-slavery-index-2016-what-about-slavery-in-indonesia/item6885

Riaz Haq said...

6 #Mughal #Muslim mouments top earners of #India tourism dollars amid #Hindu saffron wave #Modi #BJP https://qz.com/937950 via @qzindia

Even in these days of rising Hindu nationalism, the remains of India’s Islamic past are of monumental significance.
There is no conjecture here: The Mughals are still the biggest money-spinners on India’s tourism circuit, according to data furnished by the Narendra Modi government (pdf) in parliament on March 20.
Five out of the country’s 10 highest-earning ticketed monuments under the Archaeological Survey of India in 2016 were built by Mughal emperors. And all five monuments that rake in the most ticket money anywhere in India are the handiwork of Islamic rulers in Agra and Delhi.
Close behind is the Agra Fort, another medieval structure from the neighbourhood, followed by the threesome from India’s capital city. It’s only at the seventh spot that the Sun Temple in Odisha’s Konark breaks the hold of the Agra-Delhi circuit, with the temples of Mamallapuram (Mahabalipuram) in Tamil Nadu further down India’s eastern coast at the eighth position. The cave complex of Ellora in Maharashtra, which contains Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain structures, and the intricately sculpted Hindu and Jain temples of Madhya Pradesh’s Khajuraho bring up the rear.
With foreign tourist arrivals in India growing at a steady clip over the last couple of years (pdf), you’d expect ticket earnings to rise, too. That’s mostly the case, except—surprise—at the Taj.

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF CULTURE
LOK SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.2888
TO BE ANSWERED ON 20.03.2017
PHALGUNA 29, 1938 (SAKA)

http://164.100.47.190/loksabhaquestions/annex/11/AU2888.pdf


Riaz Haq said...

Global Multidimensional Poverty Index 2017

http://www.ophi.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/B47_Global_MPI_2017.pdf

The 2017 global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) provides a headline estimation of poverty and its composition for 103 countries
across the world. The global MPI measures the nature and intensity of poverty, based on the profile of overlapping deprivations each poor
person experiences. It aggregates these into meaningful indexes that can be used to inform targeting and resource allocation and to design
policies that tackle the interlinked dimensions of poverty together.
Sabina Alkire and Gisela Robles


• Half of the MPI poor people live in destitution.
• In six countries and 117 subnational regions, 50% or
more of people are destitute.
• Most of the highest levels of destitution are found in SubSaharan
Africa.
• Pakistan has more destitute people – 37 million – than
East Asia and the Pacific (26 million) or the Arab States
(26 million).
• India has more destitute people (295 million) than SubSaharan
Africa (282 million).

Riaz Haq said...

Rising inequality is a global phenomenon. Oxfam’s briefings paper ‘An economy for the 99%’ reports only eight men today have the same wealth as 3.6 billion of the world’s population. In the last three decades seven out of 10 people living in a country have been facing inequality. Also the report mentions that in the next 25 years, the world will have its first trillionaire.

Besides this, every year economically stagnated countries cost $1,000 billion in the shape of corporate tax evasions. This huge sum can provide education to 124 million children and prevent the deaths of at least six million children globally. On the other hand, global inequality has devastating consequences for low-income countries like Pakistan.

The per capita income of Pakistan is $1,629. Poor families can bear the cost of food, health, shelter, education and other fundamental needs for a year in the country. Meanwhile, Bangladesh — a young country — has seen an increase of up to $1,602 in its per capita income.
Oxfam’s another report titled Commitment to Reducing Inequality (CRI) ranks Pakistan at number 139 out of 152 countries. In spending on education, health and social protection, it is ranked on 146; progressive taxation is ranked at number 98 and labour rights is ranked at number 118.

According to development experts of Pakistan, between 1998-99 and 2013-14 consumption-based poverty fell from 57.9 per cent to 29.5 per cent. Multidimensional poverty that comprises education, health and living standards dropped from 55.2 per cent to 38.8 per cent between 2004-5 and 2014-15. In addition, during 2013-14, the Gini coefficient was 0.41 while in the years 1987-88 it was 0.35. Besides, the richest 20 per cent in Pakistan spend seven times more than the poorest 20 per cent.

Currently, our country is on the trajectory of high economic deficit. This has caused 35 per cent of the people to live below the poverty line, around 22.4 million children are out of school and 45 per cent are stunted. Moreover, women’s unpaid domestic work is not measured in any data. They are not paid equal wages and around 63 per cent youth spends their life impractically.

Income and wealth inequality in Pakistan is from top to bottom. Only 22 persons in the country have billions of wealth and reserves. The rest spend their life in hunger and poverty. Education and health infrastructures are on the verge of collapse. Institutions are rotten. Moral and ethical values are decaying.

In addition, extreme inequalities cause rampant corruption in society, obstruct economic growth, leads to irregular wealth and income distribution, moral and ethical iniquities, and adversely affect labour and human rights. This portrays an intimidating picture of the country’s overall economic scenario.

Civil society organisations, public-sector organisations and INGOs in Pakistan are working more on issues like poverty, gender disparity, water, food, rights, etc. However, so far the root cause of all these issues — inequality — is untouched and undebated.

Undoubtedly inequality is a highly political debate, as it is entrenched in government policies and institutions. However, it needs to be advocated by people, civil society, policymakers and parliamentarians to initiate discourse in the country.

Inequality needs to be controlled now. The CRI index shows that some African countries through spending on education, health and social protection have controlled inequality. The government needs to increase spending on education, health and social protection, and provide equal labour wages for both men and women. The government should revamp and reform the taxation system to bring progressive and just tax systems.

https://tribune.com.pk/story/1509963/rising-inequality-pakistan/

https://www.oxfam.org/sites/www.oxfam.org/files/file_attachments/rr-commitment-reduce-inequality-index-170717-en.pdf

Majumdar said...

Brof sb,

This is offtopic but I have disturbing news for you. India has beaten Pakiland in the multidimensional poverty index.

Pakistan's score as per OPHI2017: 0.230, percentage of poor 44%, intensity of poverty 52%
India's score: 0.191, percentage of poor 41%, intensity of poverty 46%

Regards

Riaz Haq said...

Majumdar: "Pakistan's score as per OPHI2017: 0.230, percentage of poor 44%, intensity of poverty 52%"


Here's an excerpt of UNDP MPI Pakistan report published in 2016:

"Applying this (OPHI MPI) measure to data from the Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement (PSLM) survey for the 2014/15 period, we found that the country's Multidimensional Poverty Index stands at 0.197. This indicates that poor people in Pakistan experience 19.7% of the deprivations that would be experienced if all people were deprived in all indicators. Secondly, it must be noted that the MPI is a product of two essential components: the poverty “headcount” and the “intensity” of deprivation. Using the same data from the 2014/15 PSLM survey, the country's multidimensional poverty “headcount ratio” was estimated at 38.8% of the population. This means that 38.8% of the population of Pakistan are poor according to the MPI. The average intensity of deprivation, which reflects the share of deprivation which each poor person experiences on average, is 50.9%."

"Over Time Since 2004/05, multidimensional poverty has continuously declined in Pakistan. The MPI fell from 0.292 in 2004/05 to 0.197 in 2014/15, while the poverty headcount ratio fell from 55.2% to 38.8%. The intensity of deprivation also declined over the same period, falling from 52.9% to 50.9%."


http://www.pk.undp.org/content/pakistan/en/home/library/hiv_aids/Multidimensional-Poverty-in-Pakistan.html

And from 2017 report that you cite, income poverty (7%) and destitution level (20%) in Pakistan is significantly lower than in India (22% income poverty, 23% destitution) :

http://www.ophi.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/B47_Global_MPI_2017.pdf

Riaz Haq said...

The headline multidimensional poverty (MPI) figures for Pakistan (0.198) are worse than for Bangladesh (0.104) and India (0.069). This is primarily due to the education deficit in Pakistan. UNDP's report titled "Unpacking Deprivation Bundle" shows that an average Pakistani still enjoys a better "standard of living" than his/her counterparts in Bangladesh and India. Below is an excerpt from it:

"The analysis first looks at the most common deprivation profiles across 111 developing countries (figure 1). The most common profile, affecting 3.9 percent of poor people, includes deprivations in exactly four indicators: nutrition, cooking fuel, sanitation and housing.7 More than 45.5 million poor people are deprived in only these four indicators.8 Of those people, 34.4 million live in India, 2.1 million in Bangladesh and 1.9 million in Pakistan—making this a predominantly South Asian profile "

https://hdr.undp.org/system/files/documents/hdp-document/2022mpireportenpdf.pdf


Also note in this UNDP report that the income poverty (people living on $1.90 or less per day) in Pakistan is 3.6% while it is 22.5% in India and 14.3% in Bangladesh.

Living standards (Cooking fuel Sanitation Drinking water Electricity Housing Assets) of the poor in Pakistan (31.1%) are better than in Bangladesh (45.1%) and India (38.5%).

Pakistan fares worse in terms of education (41.3%) indicators relative to Bangladesh (37.6%) and India (28.2%).

In terms of health, Pakistan ( 27.6%) fares better than India (32.2%) but worse than Bangladesh (17.3%).

In terms of population vulnerable to poverty, Pakistan (12.9%) does better than Bangladesh (18.2%) and India (18.7%)