Multidimensional adult and child poverty in India-establishing consensus about socially perceived necessities for a new measure of poverty

Pomati, Marco ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3370-2709, Nandy, Shailen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1066-9181, Jose, Sunny and Reddy, Bheemeshwar 2024. Multidimensional adult and child poverty in India-establishing consensus about socially perceived necessities for a new measure of poverty. Indian Journal of Human Development 10.1177/09737030241274084

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Abstract

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.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Published Online
Status:	In Press
Schools:	Social Sciences (Includes Criminology and Education)
Publisher:	SAGE
ISSN:	0973-7030
Funders:	UK Economic and Social Research Council�Global Challenges Research Fund
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	28 October 2024
Date of Acceptance:	26 July 2024
Last Modified:	30 Oct 2024 02:30
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/173487

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