The Niti Aayog recently released its National Multidimensional Poverty Index 2023, according to which the poverty headcount ratio declined from 24.85 percent in 2015-16 to 14.96 percent in 2019-21. In absolute numbers this translates to 135 million people exiting multidimensional poverty in this time period. In addition, a few days earlier, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) released its own Multidimensional Poverty Index, which in a press note said that,...

The Hindu Businessline With the Centre’s initiative, the UN General Assembly declared 2023 as the international year of millets. Nutri-cereal crops or millets are the main sources of micronutrients such as calcium, fibre, protein, iron, etc. Given the higher level of micronutrient deficiencies among the large population of India, the continuous reduction in area under nutri-cereals can pose a threat to nutritional security. Recognising the importance of these crops as well as popularizing...

KEY TRENDS   • Oxfam India's 2023 India Supplement report on poverty and inequality in India reveals that the gap between the rich and the poor is widening. Following the pandemic in 2019, the bottom 50 per cent of the population have continued to see their wealth chipped away. By 2020, their income share was estimated to have fallen to only 13 per cent of the national income and have less than 3...

The Hindu Businessline India’s urea production has surged by 25.6 per cent during the first month of the current fiscal to 23.45 lakh tonnes (lt), thanks to the revival of four closed plants in the public sector at Gorakhpur, Sindri, Barauni, and Ramagundam. However, sales were lower at 11.77 lt in April from year-ago, which indicates its comfortable availability as farmers normally rush to store the crop nutrient ahead of sowing...

Human-caused climate change made April's record-breaking heatwaves in Bangladesh, India, Laos, and Thailand at least 30 times more likely, according to an analysis conducted by a group of leading climate scientists. The study by World Weather Attribution also emphasises that the region's high vulnerability, known as a heatwave hotspot, exacerbated the impacts of the heatwave. During April, parts of south and southeast Asia faced an intense heatwave, reaching unprecedented temperatures exceeding 42...