UN praises 'remarkable' India as 415 million exit poverty levels in 15 years

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A total of 415 million people moved out of poverty in India within just 15 years from 2005/2006 to 2019/2021, the UN said on Tuesday, highlighting the remarkable achievement by the world's most populous nation.

The latest update of the global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) was released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) at the University of Oxford.
It said that 25 countries, including India, successfully halved their global MPI values within 15 years, showing that rapid progress is attainable.

These countries include Cambodia, China, Congo, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Morocco, Serbia, and Vietnam.

In April, India surpassed China to become the world’s most populous nation with 142.86 crore people, according to UN data.
"Notably, India saw a remarkable reduction in poverty, with 415 million people exiting poverty within a span of just 15 years (2005/6–19/21)," the report said.

The report demonstrates that poverty reduction is achievable. However, the lack of comprehensive data during the period of the COVID-19 pandemic poses challenges in assessing immediate prospects, it said.

In India, 415 million poor people moved out of poverty from 2005/2006 to 2019/2021, with incidence falling from 55.1 per cent in 2005/2006 to 16.4 per cent in 2019/2021.

In 2005/2006, about 645 million people were in multidimensional poverty in India, with this number declining to about 370 million in 2015/2016 and 230 million in 2019/2021.

The report noted that deprivation in all indicators declined in India, and “the poorest states and groups, including children and people in disadvantaged caste groups, had the fastest absolute progress.”

According to the report, people who are multidimensionally poor and deprived under the nutrition indicator in India declined from 44.3 per cent in 2005/2006 to 11.8 per cent in 2019/2021, and child mortality fell from 4.5 per cent to 1.5 per cent.

Those who are poor and deprived of cooking fuel fell from 52.9 per cent to 13.9 per cent, and those deprived of sanitation fell from 50.4 per cent in 2005/2006 to 11.3 per cent in 2019/2021, according to the report.

In the drinking water indicator, the percentage of people who are multidimensionally poor and deprived fell from 16.4 to 2.7 during the period, electricity (from 29 per cent to 2.1 per cent) and housing from 44.9 per cent to 13.6 per cent.

The report said that countries with different incidences of poverty also halved their global MPI value.

While 17 countries that did so had an incidence under 25 per cent in the first period, India and Congo had a starting incidence above 50 per cent.

India was among the 19 countries that halved their global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) value during one period - for India it was 2005/2006–2015/2016.

According to the 2023 release, 1.1 billion out of 6.1 billion people (just over 18 per cent) live in acute multidimensional poverty across 110 countries. Sub-Saharan Africa (534 million) and South Asia (389 million) are home to approximately five out of every six poor people.

Nearly two-thirds of all poor people (730 million people) live in middle-income countries, making action in these countries vital for reducing global poverty. Although low-income countries constitute only 10 per cent of the population included in the MPI, these are where 35 per cent of all poor people reside.

Children under the age of 18 account for half of MPI-poor people (566 million). The poverty rate among children is 27.7 per cent, while among adults, it is 13.4 per cent. Poverty predominantly affects rural areas, with 84 per cent of all poor people living in rural areas. Rural areas are poorer than urban areas across all regions of the world.

Countries halved their MPI in periods as short as four to 12 years, demonstrating the feasibility of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target of halving poverty according to national definitions within 15 years.

Thus, it is crucial to consider context-specific multidimensional poverty indices that reflect national definitions of poverty since the global MPI assesses multidimensional poverty with the same methodology, the report said.

The agencies, however, added that despite these encouraging trends, the lack of post-pandemic data for most of the 110 countries covered by the global MPI restricts the understanding of the pandemic's effects on poverty.

“As we reach the mid-point of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, we can clearly see that there was steady progress in multidimensional poverty reduction before the pandemic," the Director of the Human Development Report Office, Pedro Conceição, said.

"However, the negative impacts of the pandemic in dimensions such as education are significant and can have long-lasting consequences. It is imperative that we intensify efforts to comprehend the dimensions most negatively affected, necessitating strengthened data collection and policy efforts to get poverty reduction back on track,” Conceição added.

A press release issued by the UNDP said that judging from the few countries where data were solely collected in 2021 or 2022 – Mexico, Madagascar, Cambodia, Peru, and Nigeria – momentum on poverty reduction may have persisted during the pandemic.

Cambodia, Peru, and Nigeria showed significant reductions in their most recent periods, offering hope that progress is still possible. In Cambodia, the most encouraging case among these, the incidence of poverty fell from 36.7 per cent to 16.6 per cent, and the number of poor people halved, from 5.6 million to 2.8 million, all within 7.5 years, including the pandemic years (2014–2021/22).
However, the full impacts globally remain to be measured, it said.

With a renewed emphasis on data collection, “we need to broaden the picture to include the impacts of the pandemic on children," the press release said.

"In over half the countries covered, there was either no statistically significant reduction in child poverty or the MPI value fell more slowly among children than among adults during at least one period. This suggests that child poverty will continue to be a pressing issue, particularly in relation to school attendance and undernutrition,” it said.

Director of OPHI at the University of Oxford, Sabina Alkire, said the scarcity of data on multidimensional poverty is hard to comprehend, let alone justify.

“The world is reeling under a data deluge and gearing up for the next era of digital growth. Yet we do not have a post-pandemic line of sight for 1 billion of the 1.1 billion poor people,” Alkire said.

“This problem is eminently solvable – data on multidimensional poverty are faster to gather than most realise – requiring just 5 per cent of questions in the surveys we use. We call on funders and data scientists to make a breakthrough on poverty data, so the interconnected deprivations that strike poor people in real-time can be tracked – and intercepted,” she added.

The global MPI monitors poverty reduction and informs policy, showing how people experience poverty in different aspects of their daily lives – from access to education and health to living standards such as housing, drinking water, sanitation, and electricity.
The MPI as a poverty index can be pictured as a stacked tower of the interlinked deprivations experienced by poor individuals, with the aim of eliminating these deprivations.

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That is a lot of people who are not poor so kudos to the India Govt for doing this. Not sure what this represents in terms of percentage (of total population of poor people in India)
 
That is a lot of people who are not poor so kudos to the India Govt for doing this. Not sure what this represents in terms of percentage (of total population of poor people in India)
Bro, thanks for working really hard and bringing PP back. I just wish the traffic resumes soon like it was before.
 
well done to india, the more developed parts of the country, the south in particular has left the rest of asia in the dust in terms of improving living standards and economic well being.

tamil nadu's GDP is almost reached that of Pakistans, with less than a third of the population.
 
Digitalization has been a big boost and a lot of credit goes to Ambani for taking high speed Internet to every corner of India.
 

Inclusion to result in nearly $26 bn of passive inflows, say experts​

JP Morgan Chase & Co has announced it will include Indian government bonds to its emerging markets bond index from June 2024, a much-anticipated move which could attract more foreign flows into the domestic government securities market. The move can potentially attract about $25 billion into the country, as per analyst estimates.

India, which will be included in the GBI-EM Global index suite starting June 28, 2024, is expected to reach the maximum weight of 10 per cent in the GBI-EM Global Diversified Index (GBI-EM GD), JP Morgan said. Currently, 23 Indian government bonds with a combined notional value of $330 billion are index eligible. Inclusion of the bonds will be staggered over 10 months through March 31, 2025 (i.e., inclusion of 1 per cent weight per month), it said.

“… this could prompt overall ~$26 billion of passive inflows as a one-off stock adjustment over the scale-in period, while actual flows may be higher, depending on market dynamics,” said Madhavi Arora, Lead Economist, Emkay Global Financial Services. A Goldman Sachs report said the move could prompt passive inflows of around $30 billion (comprising emerging market local dedicated funds, as well as blended funds) over the scale-in period as a one-off stock adjustment.

However, given India’s attractiveness from a yield and (low) volume perspective, it could attract at least another $10 billion of active flows. “So in total, we think India’s fixed income markets could see inflows upwards of $40 billion over the next one and a half years (where the phase-in period will be completed by March 2025),” the Goldman Sachs report said. It said as several emerging markets dedicated funds are already set up on India, the flows will be front-loaded, beginning immediately, as investors pre-position for inclusion next year.

“Naturally, there will be a tendency for the currency to appreciate just as it happened between 2003 and 2008 and capital inflows into India surged. Therefore, when there is a demand for investors to buy Indian government bonds denominated in rupees then naturally the demand for rupees will increase and everything else being equal, it will lead to a potential for rupee’s nominal appreciation. So that is both a positive and a challenge because we have to make sure that the rupee stays competitive as well. In that sense, there is a potential for currency appreciation when the index inclusion starts to happen and the demand from investors for Indian government securities starts to rise,” Chief Economic Advisor in the Union Ministry of Finance V Anantha Nageswaran said.
Citing estimates by various brokerages, Nageswaran said the move would lead to inflows of $20-25 billion. He pointed out that with the bond inclusion, the investor base will widen and relieve Indian financial institutions from being one of the biggest buyers of government bonds to lend for more productive purposes and the private sector. “…and naturally the financing of the current account deficit becomes that much easier because it is by-and-large believed that these investors are long term and patient investors and they are not fickle or hot-money flows. So these are all the advantages that we all know about,” he said.
The CEA, however, noted that there will be challenges in terms of the rise in sensitivity of domestic policy to external spillovers. For which, he said, fiscal and monetary priorities will need to be cognisant of global perceptions and “macro-prudential policies will become critical down the road”. “We need to keep an eye on what foreign investors would be thinking, what will happen to bond yields, currency, etc. and sometimes, during globally uncertain times, unrelated to Indian macro-fundamentals, there could be volatility in the Indian bond market or in the currency because of the inclusion or holding of Indian G-secs by foreigners. That is something we need to be prepared for and prepare ourselves and also think about accordingly. Therefore fiscal and monetary policies need to be cognisant of the global perceptions,” Nageswaran said.
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The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has been engaging with other index providers, including FTSE Russel and Bloomberg-Barclays, for the inclusion of IGBs in global bond indices. Post the inclusion into JP Morgan EM Bond Index, India’s chances of inclusion into Bloomberg Global Aggregate Index also rises, IDFC First Bank said in a note. “In case India is included in the Bloomberg Global Aggregate Index, it could result in inflows of $15 billion to $ 20 billion with India’s weight ranging from 0.6 per cent to 0.8 per cent,” it said.
The news of inclusion helped the yield on the 10-year government bond – 7.26 per cent – 2033, ease. It opened at 7.08 per cent but ended at 7.18 per cent on profit booking and in anticipation that the RBI will not purchase government bonds through open market operations (OMOs) given the higher flow of funds. The rupee also closed 16 paise down at 82.94 on Friday, compared to previous closing of 83.09.
According to Clearing Corp. of India data, foreigners have raised their holdings of Indian government bonds to almost $12 billion from $7.4 billion at the end of 2022, in anticipation of the inclusion. So far in the calendar year 2023 (till September 22), foreign portfolio investors (FPI) have invested Rs 28,476 crore in the country’s debt market compared to an outflow of nearly Rs 9,000 crore in the same period of 2022. FPIs have turned net buyers of the domestic bonds on hope India will be included in global bond indices, improving growth prospects, lower inflation compared to other economies and stable rupee.

“There have been some sentiments that India is expected to be included in global bond indices. As Russia is out, obviously some other developing economy has to be included, and India is the only country which qualifies,” said Madan Sabnavis, Chief Economist, Bank of Baroda. With more clarity on its future growth prospects, the country will be a natural candidate to be part of global bond indices, he said, adding that even if inclusion does not materialize immediately, it indicates that India is among the best performing economies, which is boosting the sentiments of FPIs.
IIFL Securities Fund Manager Ujjwal Shah said that in the short term, things look quite attractive (in India). “…and we are seeing a lot of investments by FIIs in debt because of a good and stable inflationary and interest rate scenario,” he said.

In July this year, an Inter-Departmental Group (IDG) of the RBI, headed by Executive Director Radha Shyam Rathore, recommended the central bank should step up measures to engage with index providers for the inclusion of IGBs in global bond indices. It also suggested recalibration of the FPI regime to facilitate a more conducive environment for foreign investments into the Indian debt markets (both government and corporate).

 
This bond index comprises a total of USD 213 bn funds, so it will lead to a total flow of USD 20bn+. The inclusion is effective from June 2024.
 
24 Patients, Including 12 Newborns, Die In Maharashtra Hospital In A Day
Of 24 deaths, 12 adults were suffering from "various ailments, mostly snake bites", the dean of Nanded's Shankarrao Chavan Government Hospital said.

New Delhi: Twelve newborns and as many adults died at a state-run hospital in Maharashtra's Nanded in 24 hours, the hospital dean said, blaming a shortage of medicines and hospital staff.
Of 24 deaths, 12 adults were suffering from "various ailments, mostly snake bites", the dean of Nanded's Shankarrao Chavan Government Hospital said.

"Six males and six female babies died in the last 24 hours. Twelve adults also died due to various ailments, mostly snake bites. We faced some difficulty since various staff were being transferred," he said.

"We are a tertiary-level care centre and the only such place in the 70 to 80-km radius. So, patients come to us from far-off places. On some days, the number of patients increases and it creates a problem for the budget," he said.

"There is an institute Haffkine. We are supposed to buy medicines from them but that also didn't happen. But we did buy medicines locally and provided them to the patients," the dean added.

Refuting the dean's claims that there was a shortage of medicine and funds, the hospital, in a press release, said: "Essential medicines are available in the hospital. The hospital has ₹ 12 crore in funds. For this financial year, ₹ 4 crore has been approved. Other patients are being treated as necessary."

"There were 12 adult patients (five male and seven female) and 12 children. Among adults, four were suffering from heart disease, one from poisoning, one from gastric disease, two from kidney ailments, one from obstetric complications, and three were accident victims. Among the children, four in the terminal stage were referred from private hospitals," the statement added.

Calling the deaths "unfortunate", Chief Minister Eknath Shinde told reporters in Mumbai that more information will be sought about what happened at the hospital and action will be taken.

 
The US Food and Drug Administration is looking into products made by two Indian spice makers for allegedly containing a cancer-causing pesticide.

Earlier this month, Hong Kong suspended sales of three spice mixes made by MDH and another by Everest over alleged high levels of ethylene oxide.

MDH and Everest products are among the most popular in India and worldwide.

Everest has previously said its products are safe for consumption, while MDH has not commented.

"The FDA is aware of the reports and is gathering additional information about the situation," an FDA spokesperson told Reuters news agency.

Singapore has also recalled the Everest mix for fish curries, saying the alleged high levels of ethylene oxide posed a cancer risk.

India's Spices Board - the government's regulator for spice exports - said earlier this week that it was seeking information on both companies' exports in Hong Kong and Singapore, and was working with the, to find the "root cause" of the quality issues as inspections started at their plants.

Both companies' websites were offline on Saturday.

Ethylene oxide is used for several purposes in industry, including as a fumigating agent for spices. The US's Environmental Protection Agency says the chemical is carcinogenic to humans.

"Evidence in humans indicates that exposure to ethylene oxide increases the risk of lymphoid cancer and, for females, breast cancer," the EPA wrote in 2018.

The BBC has contacted MDH and Everest for comment.

Back in 2019, a few batches of MDH products were recalled in the US due to fears of salmonella contamination.

 
World Inequality Report: India Has 85% Billionaires From Upper Castes, None From Scheduled Tribes

A recent report by the World Inequality Lab has documented a significant rise in economic disparities in India. Nearly 90 per cent of the country's billionaire wealth has been found concentrated in the hands of the upper castes.

The report, "Towards Tax Justice and Wealth Redistribution in India", looked into issues on wealth distribution. It said the top 1 per cent controls over 40 per cent of India's total wealth, indicating rising inequality.

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Overview of Wealth Distribution Among Billionaires

The report provides a detailed analysis of data, revealing 88.4 per cent of billionaire wealth in India is concentrated among upper castes (UCs). Scheduled Tribes (STs), among the most marginalised communities, have no representation among the wealthiest Indians. This disparity extends beyond billionaire wealth; upper castes hold nearly 55 per cent of the national wealth, according to the All-India Debt and Investment Survey (AIDIS) for 2018-19. This stark contrast in wealth ownership underscores the deep-seated economic inequalities rooted in India's caste system.

Caste Continues to Dominate the Financial Demographics of the Country

Caste continues to influence access to education, healthcare, social networks, and credit-all essential for entrepreneurship and wealth creation. Historically, Dalits were forbidden from owning land in many regions, severely limiting their economic advancement.

The disparity is not confined to billionaires. The "State of Working India, 2023" report by Azim Premji University highlights that Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) are underrepresented as enterprise owners relative to their workforce participation. While SCs make up 19.3 per cent of the workforce, only 11.4 per cent own enterprises. For STs, who constitute 10.1 per cent of the workforce, only 5.4 per cent are enterprise owners.

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Wealth inequality extends beyond the billionaire rankings. According to the National Family Health Survey, only 12.3 per cent of SCs and 5.4 per cent of STs are in the highest wealth quintile. Conversely, over 25 per cent of SCs and 46.3 per cent of STs fall into the lowest wealth category. The Other Backward Classes (OBC) community has 16.3 per cent of its population in the lowest wealth category and 19.2 per cent in the highest wealth category.

Inequality at Highest Levels on Record

India's income and wealth inequality, which declined post-independence, began to rise in the 1980s and has soared since the 2000s. Between 2014-15 and 2022-23, the increase in top-end inequality has been particularly striking in terms of wealth concentration. The top 1 per cent of income and wealth shares are now at their highest historical levels. Specifically, the top 1 per cent control over 40 per cent of total wealth in India, up from 12.5 per cent in 1980, and they earn 22.6 per cent of total pre-tax income, up from 7.3 per cent in 1980.

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This dramatic rise in inequality has made the "Billionaire Raj," dominated by India's modern bourgeoisie, more unequal than the British Raj. It places India among the most unequal countries globally. Current estimates indicate that it takes just ₹ 2.9 lakhs per year to be in the top 10 per cent of income earners and ₹ 20.7 lakhs to join the top 1 per cent . In stark contrast, the median adult earns only about ₹ 1 lakh, while the poorest have virtually no income. The bottom 50 per cent of the population earns only 15 per cent of the total national income.

To fully grasp the skewed income distribution, one would have to be close to the 90th percentile to earn the average income. In terms of wealth, an adult needs ₹ 21 lakhs to be in the wealthiest 10 per cent and ₹ 82 lakhs to enter the top 1 per cent . The median adult holds approximately ₹ 4.3 lakhs in wealth, with a significant portion owning almost no wealth. The bottom 50 per cent holds only 6.4 per cent of the total wealth, while the top 1 per cent owns 40.1 per cent , and the top 0.001 per cent alone controls 17 per cent . This means fewer than 10,000 individuals in the top 0.001 per cent hold nearly three times the total wealth of the entire bottom 50 per cent (46 crore individuals).

 
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