Increasing Inflation, downfall in the GDP, depreciation of the Indian currency, and the increase in trade deficit all are problems that are being highlighted by each news channel and talked about but what about the micro indicators which are being ignored?
GDP, inflation, and such macroeconomic variables are affected by factors such as nutrition, hunger, sanitation, and such variables at micro levels. The Multi-Dimensional Poverty and Global Hunger Index are two ignored indices but which are of great importance when it comes to economic analysis. These indices are published by an international organization based on publicly available data varying from country to country. For India, the data source is National Family Health Survey(NFHS) and the Vth edition was published in 2020-21.
The Multi-Dimensional Poverty Index. The parameters considered while calculating this index are access to sanitation, drinking water, electricity, clean cooking fuel, education, child mortality, nutrition, housing, and so on. These are important parameters analyzed to throw light on such problems to which the unprivileged sector of our economy is exposed. According to the UNDP report, 140 million people moved out of poverty between FY2016 TO FY2021 as compared to 275 million people between FY2006- FY2016. This shows that pulling people out of the poverty line has been a challenging part after the pandemic.
The Global Hunger Index The index calculates how hunger affects the economy and is defined as the minimum calorie intake required by an individual at the urban and rural levels. This takes into consideration child nutrition along with under nutrition from Food and Agricultural Organization (FAQ). The GHI has marginally increased by 29.1 in 2020 which shows the rising level of malnutrition in our country. Although there is an increase in the population in these years there is no increase in food and nutrition conditions to support the growing population.
Both these indicators project a growing issue for the Indian economy. We talk about our demographic dividend but what will we do with this dividend if there are no supporting facilities to gel with this dividend.
There is economic growth and development…. What India needs is economic development and the growth will take care of itself. Thank you.
Very well written and informative
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