Multidimensional Adult and Child Poverty in India—Establishing Consensus About Socially Perceived Necessities for a New Measure of Poverty

Bibliographic Data

ID14955017
AuthorsMarco Pomati (0000-0002-3370-2709, Cardiff University, corresponding author), Shailen Nandy (0000-0003-1066-9181, Cardiff University), Sunny Jose (0000-0002-5740-882X, Gandhi Institute of Technology and Management (GITAM), Hyderabad, Telangana, India), B Sambi Reddy (Birla Institute of Technology and Science - Hyderabad Campus), Bheemeshwar Reddy (BITS Pilani School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Hyderabad, Telangana, India)
Year2024
Volume18
Issue2
Pages159-176
Publication date2024-08-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueIndian Journal of Human Development (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0973-7030 • E-ISSN: 2456-480X
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/09737030241274084
OpenAlexW4403847742
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited34

This article describes the use of the Consensual Approach to poverty measurement in a pilot survey conducted in Telangana state in 2020/21. Respondents were asked about whether a series of items and activities, ranging from two pairs of all-weather shoes to attending important social functions were essential for adults and children and whether they had them or could take part. Households that answered negatively were then asked why. Following the approach pioneered by Mack and Lansley, households whose lack was enforced were identified as deprived. We found high levels of endorsement for a wide range of items such as three meals a day, school uniforms and equipment, health facilities and transport access as well as the ability to afford clothing, social activities and savings. We also found similar levels of consensus over a wide range of necessities across religion, location, caste and education. The results underscore the importance of dimensions and specific deprivations that are not entirely captured by existing monetary and multidimensional poverty approaches used in India. This reinforces the call for child-centric methodologies such as United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF’s) Multiple Overlapping Deprivation Analysis (MODA), which distinguish between age groups and their evolving needs. Our results also suggest that simply relying on existing Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) and Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) surveys leads to underestimation of the extent to which widely endorsed needs are satisfied. Furthermore, our findings challenge policymakers to consider expanding the measurement of poverty to include the public’s perception of necessities, which will enrich the index with culturally specific and socially validated indicators

Basic needs · Child poverty · Development economics · Economic growth · Economics · Measure (data warehouse · Poverty · Socioeconomics · Agricultural risk and resilience · Computer Science · Income, Poverty, and Inequality · Poverty, Education, and Child Welfare · Psychology

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