Question : Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative Report

(a) whether the Government has taken note of the recent report by Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative pointing out the high rates of child poverty prevailing in India and if so, the details thereof;
(b) whether out of 217 million children in the country 50 per cent are living under multi-dimensional poverty;
(c) whether the Indian children lack at least one third out of ten indicators of dimensions of poverty and if so, the details thereof; and
(d) the remedial measures proposed to be taken by the Government in this regard?

ANSWER

MINISTER OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
(SHRIMATI SMRITI ZUBIN IRANI)

(a) to (d) : The information regarding Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative Report are available in the public domain (https://ophi.org.uk/multidimensional-poverty-index/global-mpi-2019/ and http://hdr.undp.org/en/2019-MPI). The report observes that in India, there were 271 million fewer people in poverty in 2016 than in 2006, which shows improvement in status. The report noted that of the 10 selected countries for which changes over time were analysed, India and Cambodia reduced their Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) values the fastest—and they did not leave the poorest groups behind. The Government of India accords high priority to the issue of poverty alleviation in India. Ministry of Women and Child Development has accorded high priority to the issue of malnutrition and is making serious efforts to eradicate malnutrition. Several schemes with direct as well as indirect interventions to address the problem of malnutrition among women and children are being implemented as direct targeted interventions across the country like Anganwadi Services, Scheme for Adolescent Girls (SAG) and Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojna (PMMVY) under the Umbrella Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Scheme. These schemes are universal and open to all the eligible beneficiaries. Further, Government has set up POSHAN Abhiyaan on 18.12.2017 commencing from 2017-18. The goals of POSHAN Abhiyaan are to achieve improvement in nutritional status of Children from 0-6 years, Adolescent Girls, Pregnant Women and Lactating Mothers in a time bound manner with fixed targets.
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