India eliminates extreme poverty, claims US think-tank

The American Think Tank Brookings Institution has said that the Indian Government’s strong policy thrust on redistribution has helped the country eliminate extreme poverty. In a report, the Institution said that it has also led to strong inclusive growth in India over the last decade. The reports include a national mission for the construction of toilets and attempts to ensure universal access to electricity, modern cooking fuel, and piped water. The report further states that the elimination of extreme poverty is an encouraging development with positive implications for global poverty headcount rates.
The government’s explicit focus on improving development indicators could have been the game-changer behind this change, says the report.The report finds growth in per capita consumption, a decline in urban and rural inequality and a drastic decline in the country’s poverty index. According to the Brookings Report, the real per capita consumption growth was recorded at 2.9 per cent per annum while rural growth was at 3.1 per cent per annum staying higher than urban growth of 2.6 per cent.It also found an unprecedented decline in both urban and rural inequality. The urban Gini (x100) declined from 36.7 to 31.9; the rural Gini declined from 28.7 to 27.0.
“The Headcount Poverty Ratio (HCR) for the 2011 PPP$ 1.9 poverty line has declined from 12.2 per cent in 2011-12 to 2 per cent in 2022-23, equivalent to 0.93 percentage points (ppt) per year. Rural poverty stood at 2.5 per cent while urban poverty was down to 1 per cent, the report found.“Incidentally, the decline in HCR at the higher poverty line is remarkable given that in the past it took 30 years for India to witness a similar decline in poverty levels as now witnessed over 11 years,” it said.On a closing note, the report said India should now graduate to a higher poverty line, which would then provide an opportunity to redefine existing social protection programs in order to give greater support to the genuine poor.