Huge contrast in poverty index estimation in Puducherry

PUDUCHERRY: Puducherry government presents a contrary picture of poverty with more than half of the population (50.17 per cent) holding BPL ration cards. This is in sharp contrast with the NITI Aayog’s Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) of UT’s poverty ratio of 1.72 per cent, with the UT ranking second among the 28 States and nine Union Territories.

The region-wise percentage of BPL population in the UT of Puducherry is Yanam 5.18, Karaikal 3.13, Puducherry 1.3 and Mahe 0.08. The national proportion is 25.01 and it ranges from as low as 0.71 percent in Kerala to as high as 51.91 per cent in Bihar.

“This estimate of Puducherry’s poverty is compatible with the earlier assessments made by four major Reports of the Government of Puducherry, namely Puducherry Vision: 2020 (2003), Puducherry State Development Report (2010), Annual Sectoral Document of Planning and Research Department (2020) and CAG Report (2018-19),” says former Lok Sabha member M Ramadass. The huge variation between 1.72 per cent of NITI Aayog and 50.17 per cent of the Government of Puducherry is inexplicable, says Ramadass.