Guwahati, July 24, 2023: NITI Aayog recently unveiled the second edition of the National Multidimensional Poverty Index, which evaluates poverty based on key indicators related to health, education, and standard of living. According to the index, the proportion of the population experiencing multidimensional poverty in Meghalaya has declined from 32.54% in the first release of the index in 2021 to 27.79% in the current edition. This positive change has resulted in 1.5 lakh people moving out of multidimensional poverty.

The index takes into account 12 indicators, including nutrition, child and adolescent mortality, maternal health, schooling years, school attendance, access to basic amenities like cooking fuel, sanitation, drinking water, electricity, housing, assets, and bank account ownership. Out of these indicators, Meghalaya has shown improvement in 8.

However, despite these improvements, the overall ranking of Meghalaya among Indian states has slipped from the 24th position to the 26th position. Only Bihar and Jharkhand currently have a higher percentage of the population experiencing multidimensional poverty than Meghalaya.

The government’s efforts in implementing various development programs in the social and economic sectors over the past five years, including initiatives like MOTHER, MHSSP, ECD, and FOCUS, as well as central schemes like Jal Jeevan Mission, MGNREGA, PMAY, and PMUY, have not fully reflected in the state’s current ranking on the index. Meghalaya has been recognized as a leading performer in implementing centrally sponsored schemes and has been acknowledged for its socio-economic initiatives.

The current performance can be attributed to the nature of social sector indicators, which may show results with a time lag after investments are made. Additionally, much of the data for NFHS-5 was collected in 2019, and therefore, does not capture the significant improvements made in the last three years. Notably, Meghalaya has achieved a 50% reduction in maternal deaths and a 20% decrease in infant deaths over the past two years. Institutional delivery has also increased from 58.1% to 67%.

The government remains committed to prioritizing service delivery and making strategic investments in critical sectors such as early childhood development, health, education, and basic infrastructure. These efforts aim to boost the state’s performance across various Sustainable Development Goals and other development indicators.