Poverty in Monetary versus Non-Monetary Indicatorsin India: A Case of Alkire-Foster Methodology

This study was undertaken to assess the poverty in monetary as well as non-monetary indicators in India. For this purpose, Alkire-Foster methodology has been used on the consumption expenditure data. Findings of the study revealed that incidence of poverty was the highest in the source of cooking fuel (68 percent) followed by deprivation in calorie intake (62 percent), ownership of land (53 percent) and education (53 percent) dimensions. Consolidated index of poverty, revealed that 34 percent of the Indian population was suffering from the multidimensional poverty and they were experiencing around 63 percent of the average number of deprivations. STs, SCs and labour households were in the most pitiable situation. Among three sectors of the economy, the majority of the poor population belongs to the primary and secondary sectors particularly those employed in construction, agriculture, forestry and fishing and mining and quarrying. Further, human capital, ownership of land and health dimension observed to be the major contributors to the incidence of multidimensional poverty. Targeting mechanism suggests that marginalised groups have a greater potency to reduce poverty at a higher rate.