Niti Aayog released a national multidimensional poverty index baseline report, which has erupted a war of words and notions in the political sphere in Bihar. The report has been ranked poorly in the majority of the parameters.
The ranking of the state in all the indices such as Education, Electricity, Nutrition, Sanitation, Drinking Water and School Attendance etcetera are gigantically poor. The report says that 11 crore population which makes 51.91% of the population in Bihar are poor and in the nutrition index 51.88% of the population is destitute of the nutrients one needs to endure a healthy life, which means that half of the population of the state has no humanitarian standard of living. The state’s ranking is worst in both the factors as compared to other states.
In child and adolescent mortality, the state is second-worst in the country after Uttar Pradesh, asserted by the report. In maternal health, the report averred 45.62% of the state’s population is deprived of good medical assistance and 26.27% of the population is deprived of years of schooling. 73.61% of the population in Bihar doesn’t have access to good sanitation facilities.
Bihar is on the top of the list when talking about having electric facilities at homes. 39.96% is the highest percentage of the population not having electric power at their homes. 24.32% of the population have no assets to claim that belong to them, be it television, radio, or computer. Talking about the bank account index, 26% of Bihar’s population has no bank accounts.
Having performed badly in almost all the indices, Bihar’s ranking in drinking water is better than other states. Only 2.35% of the population is deprived of safe drinking water.
The report has created a ruckus in the state. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Friday abstained from giving any statement in response to the report. Meanwhile, state’s energy minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav and Bhartiya Janata Party’s state spokesperson Prem Ranjan Patel declared Niti Aayog’s report a “bundle of lies” and said that the report is very far from the ground reality.
The report released on Thursday offered quite a lot of ammunition to the leaders of the opposition and in response to the statement made by the state’s energy minister and state spokesperson Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, who is a leader of Opposition in the assembly of Rashtriya Janata Dal said, “Bihar government has no logical explanation as to why the state has got a dud in almost all parameters in the report despite the claim that last 16 years of Nitish Kumar’s dispensation have been glorious.”
The report has upset the ruling party, Janata Dal-United, and the Bhartiya Janata Party. Bijendra Prasad Yadav questioned how one can claim that 40% of households in Bihar do not have electricity in their houses when even the Centre has praised Bihar for its initiative and reforms in the power sector. He also said that “The entire report has seemingly been made arbitrarily, and it is beyond comprehension as to what parameters were chosen.” He asked the Niti Aayog’s team to visit Bihar and compare the development that has taken place over the last numerous years and draw a parallel between today’s Bihar and the one in 2005. Furthermore, he also highlighted the per capita income in Bihar which was rupees 7000 in 2005 and has risen to 46,000 and also the budget has increased exponentially in the last 15 years.
Tejasvi Yadav taking a dig in the matter tweeted, “Bihar in a bad shape in 16 years of Nitish’s rule.” Lalu Prasad Yadav, RJD’s chief, condemned the ruling government, saying that no development has been seen in Bihar in 16 years.
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