Reporters’ Collective, an American Deep State-funded group of journalists, published a report on 18th December alleging that the Narendra Modi government has rigged a “Homemade Poverty Index” to show a dramatic decrease in poverty in India. It claims that the government’s report of pulling 25 crore people out of poverty in 10 years is false because the govt of India added two important parameters to the global index.
The report claims that because international agencies that publish global rankings can’t be bullied, the Modi govt invented its own index, and rigged the results to show good results. It claims, “the government had rigged the results of its poverty index long before even the framework for the new poverty index was finalised. The index on poverty was pre-ordained to show poverty is reducing because of government interventions.”
The report further claims that because India ranks far below in global poverty rankings, the govt report is false based on rigged numbers. But shockingly, the report provides no evidence at all about this claim of rigged data and just makes several vague claims. Further, it claims that the data is rigged because the Indian index uses more parameters than the Global Multidimensional Poverty Index.
Notably, the Global Multidimensional Poverty Index was developed by the Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative (OPHI) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). And, the Reporters’ Collective report itself mentions that the NITI Ayog, which created India’s own Multidimensional Poverty Index, partnered with OPHI and UNDP to develop the index. Therefore, the creators of the global index agree with the addition of extra parameters for the Indian index. But still, Reporters’ Collective calls it rigged data.
The report says that as the govt added the indicator “maternal health” to the Health parameter, the weightage for existing parameters “nutrition” and “child mortality” went down. Further, the report claims that addition of a new indicator “standard of living”, which includes the availability of a bank account in a household, the weightages of other parameters are reduced.
The report further claims that because of the addition of the ‘bank account’ parameter under the Standard of Living dimension, the poverty index showed remarkable improvement, and calls it an “absurdity”. According to Reporters’ Collective, the share of the population having bank accounts going down from 58% to 3.69% does not mean anything, and it has nothing to do with the decrease in poverty level.
However, the Reporters’ Collective’s critique of India’s National MPI suffers from several methodological and conceptual misunderstandings. Their allegations of manipulation and cherry-picking fail to account for the rationale behind the government’s approach, and their dismissal of new parameters demonstrates a lack of understanding of poverty’s multidimensional nature.
Maternal Health Inclusion
The article criticizes the inclusion of maternal health as a factor in the National MPI, arguing that it skews the results to artificially reduce poverty levels. However, this criticism is completely baseless for several reasons.
Poverty is a multidimensional phenomenon, and maternal health is directly tied to poverty as it reflects access to healthcare, economic stability, and education. Earlier the Health Indicator had nutrition and child mortality, and the addition of maternal health is a logical addition. A mother’s health has cascading effects on a household’s well-being, from birth outcomes to the productivity of family members.
Just because adding this parameter may show an improvement in the index does not mean it is rigged. Rigged data means made-up data not obtained from the field, if the indicator included real data for maternal health, it can’t be called rigged data.
Just because the global index does not include this parameter does not mean it is wrong to use it. Actually, ignoring such a crucial aspect would render any poverty index of a developing country like India incomplete.
Notably, while the Global Multidimensional Poverty Index does not include maternal health as a parameter, there are other global programs that put importance on it. For example, the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), endorsed globally, place maternal health at the heart of poverty alleviation efforts. It acknowledges that pregnancy and childbirth pose particular risks for women, and has set targets to reduce maternal mortality rate.
Global bodies like WHO, UNICEF, UNDP etc have special programs for improving maternal health, showing how significant this parameter is. The Indian government is therefore aligning with international best practices rather than deviating from them. Programs like Janani Suraksha Yojana and Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana have significantly improved maternal health outcomes. Therefore, the inclusion of maternal health in the MPI reflects real progress and is a valid metric to gauge poverty reduction.
Financial Inclusion as an Indicator
The article mocks the inclusion of financial inclusion like access to bank accounts in the National MPI, alleging that it artificially inflates poverty reduction figures. It seeks to claim that the availability of banking services has nothing to do with the poverty index, and the Modi govt included this in the index just because govt was able to include crores of people into the formal financial sector. This claim is fundamentally flawed.
Financial inclusion is globally recognized as a game-changer in poverty alleviation. Bank accounts empower individuals by providing access to savings, credit, and government welfare schemes directly, reducing leakages and middlemen corruption. In the Indian context, the bank accounts meant that beneficiaries received benefits of govt programs like subsidies and grants directly, eliminating large-scale leaks that happened earlier.
Over the past decade, India has leveraged technological innovations and policy initiatives to tackle poverty on a massive scale. Three cornerstone initiatives—Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT), Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), and Aadhaar—have created a transformative ecosystem, ensuring financial inclusion, reducing leakages, and empowering the most vulnerable.
DBT through PMJDY accounts enabled by Aadhaar revolutionized welfare schemes by directly transferring benefits into beneficiaries’ bank accounts. This has been a game changer in India’s fight against poverty. This shift eliminated intermediaries, reduced corruption, and ensured that subsidies for fertilizers, LPG, pensions, and scholarships reached the intended recipients.
Since the launch of the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, over 480 million bank accounts have been opened, with millions accessing direct benefit transfers (DBTs). These accounts have tangible impacts on poverty reduction, as they ensure households receive subsidies and support without systemic inefficiencies. These initiatives have not only empowered millions but also set the foundation for sustainable and inclusive growth.
Global Indices Overlook Local Realities
The Reporters’ Collective complains that global indices do not include financial inclusion as a parameter, and therefore Modi govt rigged India’s MPI by including it. But the fact is, this parameter is significant for a developing economy like India. The National MPI’s focus on this aspect reflects its commitment to addressing localized challenges rather than conforming to one-size-fits-all global templates.
Other parameters in the Standard of Living dimension like Housing, Assets, Electricity etc are directly related to the availability of banking services, therefore it is an important parameter.
The article by Reporters’ Collective grudges India’s departure from global indices, implying that such indices are inherently superior. This assumption is wrong. Global MPIs often rely on outdated or insufficiently granular data, leading to skewed representations of poverty in countries like India. For instance, they may depend on limited household surveys, often conducted with methodologies that do not capture regional nuances.
Many global indices are produced by organizations with ideological biases, which can influence the selection of indicators and their weightages. We have seen how democracy indices produced by far-left organisations rate India far below in the table, showing how skewed some global rankings are. India’s National MPI counters this by focusing on pragmatic, data-driven measures that reflect the government’s goals and socio-economic realities.
Baseless Allegations of Weightage Manipulation
The report criticises the National MPI for adjusting indicator weightages, claiming this led to the devaluation of other important factors, and therefore it is rigged data. This is a completely baseless allegation.
Assigning different weights to indicators is a standard practice in index design. It is natural that when a new parameter is added, the weightages of existing parameters will be accordingly adjusted. The National MPI includes indicators like maternal health and financial inclusion because they represent critical barriers to poverty reduction in India.
With the inclusion of new parameters, the National MPI captures the impact of the Modi government’s several flagship programs. These initiatives directly tackle deprivation in ways that global MPIs do not measure effectively.
Global Index shows a reduction in poverty in India
The Reporters Collection mentions that India ranked 53 among 105 countries in the 2018 Global Index but does not mention the number from the latest 2024 report, and more importantly, it does not mention the overall improvement in the country’s actual index.
As per the Global Multidimensional Poverty Index report on India, the country’s MPI went down from 0.122 in 2015-16 to 0.069 in 2019-2021, which is a remarkable reduction in 5 years. This means that while India’s index was very bad before the Modi govt came to power, the index has gone down significantly.
The article claims that poverty levels in India may have remained stagnant or even worsened, but it offers no evidence to substantiate this claim. The Global MPI, taken as sacrosanct by the report, says that India’s poverty index came down from 0.122 in 2015-16 to 0.069 in 2019-2021, which shows a reduction of 0.016 points each year. If we take this reduction, the estimated index for 2024 would be around 0.035.
However, the report refrains from mentioning any such achievements.
Overlooking Transparency in National MPI
The article implies that the National MPI lacks credibility, ignoring the transparency of its methodology. The National MPI is based on the National Family Health Survey (NFHS), one of the most comprehensive and reliable datasets in India. In contrast, global MPIs often use limited and patchy data from developing countries. The reliability of data collected from conflict-hit countries in Africa and the Middle East is often questionable.
The methodology and calculations for the National MPI have been published, allowing independent researchers to scrutinize and validate the findings. This openness contradicts any allegation of manipulation.
Therefore, the Reporters’ Collective’s article is rife with unsubstantiated claims and ideological biases. Its dismissal of India’s National MPI as “rigged” is not only baseless but also ignores the substantive progress made in addressing multidimensional poverty. By tailoring the MPI to reflect India’s unique challenges, the government has taken a pragmatic approach to measuring and combating poverty, ensuring targeted and effective interventions. The Reporters’ Collective has offered little more than conjecture and ideological grievance, failing to present any credible evidence or alternative solutions.
India’s efforts to reduce poverty are real and measurable, and the National MPI reflects the strides the country has made in creating a more inclusive and equitable society.
Reporters’ Collective and Deep State
The report is consistent with ongoing global efforts by far-left organisations to show India in a poor light, and therefore it is important to look at the organisations behind Reporters’ Collective. A look at the list of donors of its parent organisation shows that it is backed by usual suspects behind the ongoing anti-India campaign.
Reporters’ Collective is run by the National Foundation for India, an FCRA-registered NGO. A perusal of its donor list shows that the National Foundation for India is funded by the Ford Foundation, the Open Society Foundation of George Soros, the Omidyar Network, and the Rockefeller Foundation, among others. All these organisations are part of the American Deep State network and have funded numerous anti-India campaigns and initiatives.
Therefore, the Reporters’ Collective article is nothing but a part of the ongoing anti-India campaign by the American Deep State. It comes after recent reports by the US-funded OCCRP targeting India and Indian business houses.
