51.91% people in Bihar poor, highest in India: NITI Aayog report
Highlights
- NITI Aayog releases National Multidimensional Poverty Index.
- Bihar ranks on top in the list of most number of poor people living in a state.
- Bihar performs poorly on several other dimensions such as healthcare, education.
Bihar NITI Aayog report: In what has given the Opposition fresh fodder to attack the Nitish Kumar government, a NITI Aayog report has said that Bihar has the most number of poor people in the country. According to NITI Aayog's Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), 51.91% population of Bihar is poor.
While Jharkhand (42.16%) is placed second in the index, Uttar Pradesh (36.65%) is at the third spot. Kerala has emerged as the best state with only 0.71% poor people.
Bihar also has the highest number of malnourished people. Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh also feature in this list. The Nitish Kumar-led state also ranks worst when it comes to school attendance and using fuel other than gas for cooking. Bihar also ranks at the top in the list of states with houses having no electricity connection. Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Jharkhand and Odisha are the other top four states in the list.
NITI Aayog has released the National Multidimensional Poverty Index.
Tejashwi Yadav questions Nitish Kumar's 16-year regime
Taking a dig at the Nitish-led government, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav said Bihar has failed on all fronts.
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"Bihar is also the worst in 7 indices of the second report of NITI Aayog. The double engine government has no logical answer to this. When I ask questions with facts, logic and truth in the interest of the state, the chief minister gets furious," Tejashwi said in a Tweet in Hindi.
In October, CM Nitish Kumar had dismissed NITI Aayog's report on Bihar's health sector describing it as 'inappropriate'.
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"Is there any logic of comparing a poor state like Bihar with a state as prosperous as Maharashtra? I don't understand who and how the study is carried out?" Nitish had told reporters. He asserted that there has been tremendous development in the health sector ever since he took over as the CM.
