Poverty headcount down from 36% to 14% in 10 years, says Assam CM

Guwahati: Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday claimed that the poverty headcount ratio in the state has come down from 36.97 per cent in 2013-14 to 14.47 per cent in 2022-23.

“An estimated 80.36 lakh people have escaped poverty in the state, in a big win of our welfare initiatives," he added. The MPI is an assessment undertaken by NITI Aayog to study poverty prevalence based on 12 indicators, which include nutrition, child and adolescent mortality, school attendance, cooking fuel, sanitation, assets and bank accounts,” Sarma said sharing the National Multi-Dimensional Poverty Index (MPI) provided by the Aayog.

As many as 24.82 crore people moved out of multidimensional poverty in nine years from 2013-14 to 2022-23, a NITI Aayog report said on Monday.

The chief minister also claimed that the poverty headcount in Assam has reduced by 25 per cent in the last three years.

Taking to X (formerly Twitter), Sarma wrote: “80 lakh people in the State have escaped poverty under Hon'ble Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi ji's government. In last three years poverty headcount ratio has come down by 25 per cent.”

Maintaining that the state is ‘experiencing its most prosperous era in modern history,’ the chief minister said: “We are currently on a rapid growth trajectory that will see Assam make a significant contribution to nation building by emerging as one the top 5 states in the country.”

“Now there are 14 per cent of people are below the poverty line in Assam. Although it is against the national average of 11 per cent, we are considered to be a very low poverty level state of the country,” he said.

“The schemes like Orunidoi have been able to fight against poverty in the state,” he added.