Master the concept of Multidimensional Poverty Index
The Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) is a measure of poverty that goes beyond just income. It captures the various deprivations a person faces in their life.
The MPI considers three main dimensions: health, education, and standard of living. Each dimension has indicators to assess deprivation.
This includes two indicators: child mortality and nutrition.
Years of schooling and school enrollment rates are considered here.
This dimension assesses household assets, cooking fuel, sanitation facilities, drinking water, quality of house and electricity access.
A person is identified as MPI poor if they are deprived in at least 33% of the weighted indicators across all three dimensions.
MPI provides a more nuanced understanding of poverty. It helps target policies towards specific deprivations faced by people.
Choosing the weights for indicators and defining deprivation cutoffs can be subjective. It may also be data-intensive to calculate.
The MPI is a valuable tool for understanding poverty. Mastering this concept will strengthen your UPSC preparation in social issues and development.