Still much work left | Mint

A report by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) shows as many as 415 million people exited poverty in India between 2005-06 and 2019-20. Of this, as many as 140 million made their exit in the latter third of that period, since 2015-16. This follows a World Bank report which also noted a decline in Indian poverty levels. While measuring poverty is complex, and varied statistical benchmarks and parameters can lead to vast differences in results for a country as large as India, it’s heartening that our overall deprivation numbers have been trending down. What happened during the covid pandemic remains a matter of research. More than two-thirds of the data from the 2019/2021 Demographic and Health Survey for India used by UNDP was collected before the pandemic. Going by anecdotal evidence as well as some academic surveys, though, there is little doubt that covid set many Indians back financially and pushed many into poverty despite India’s rescue programme of free food distribution on a massive scale. Poverty is still prevalent all around. As with any other scourge, we should be wary of declaring a premature victory over it.