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,...

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 Pioneer Every year, India observes September as Poshan Maah (nutritional month) to raise awareness about proper eating habits and also about nutrition. Speaking to ARCHANA JYOTI, ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition Director, Dr R Hemalatha, discusses in length about the nutrition landscape of India, the proposed revision of the dietary guidelines, the need for increased focus on maternal nutrition and the reasons behind India's sluggish performance on key maternal and child...

Is India a country where most people eat vegetarian food? The answer to this question is a bit complex. The consumption of either vegetarian or non-vegetarian food depends not just on one's personal choice but also on one’s geographical location, caste and religious background, gender and marital status. There are other determining factors as well behind a person's choice of food.  The results of the newly released data of the fifth...

In the previous news alert, we looked at the under-nutrition problem in the Bundelkhand region in terms of 3 indicators -- proportion of children under 5 years who are stunted (height-for-age); proportion of children under 5 years who are wasted (weight-for-height); and proportion of children under 5 years who are underweight (weight-for-age). However, the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) data also indicates that severe under-nutrition like severe wasting and anaemia among...