Odisha Makes Significant Strides In Poverty Reduction, But Falters In ‘Zero Hunger’ & ‘Quality Education’: NITI Aayog Report

Bhubaneswar: Odisha is among the 10 top gainer states in SDG India Index 2023 released by NITI Aayog recently.

It has improved sustainable development goal (SDG) score by 15 points during 2018 to 2023-24 period. “Top Gainer States between 2018 and 2023-24 include Uttar Pradesh (increase in score by 25), followed by Jammu and Kashmir (21), Uttarakhand (19), Sikkim (18), Haryana (17), Assam, Punjab and Tripura (16 each), Madhya Pradesh and Odisha (15 each).”

The overall performance of Odisha has improved from 61, a performer in 2020-21, to 66, a front-runner in 2023-24. “In 2023-24, 32 States/UTs are in Front Runner Category (Scores 65-99), up from 22 States/ UTs in 2020-21. 10 new entrants to the category of Front Runners include Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Odisha, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu.”

According to the NITI Aayog report, Odisha saw substantial improvement in several parameters, moving from yellow to green in the last five years. It has jumped from aspirant to front-runner category in poverty index from 63.84% in 2005-2006 to 11.07% in 2022-2023. The head count ratio of Odisha as per the multi-dimensional poverty improved from 35.9% to 15.8%.

While 99.92 per cent of the persons who demanded employment were provided jobs under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), 11.3 per cent of people resided in kutcha houses in the state, the report said.

The state has also emerged as a front-runner in Good Health and Well-being, Clean Water and Sanitation, Affordable and Clean Energy, Responsible Consumption and Production and Life on Land with scores of 73, 88, 84 and 85 respectively. The under-five mortality rate is estimated at 39 for every 1000 live births while maternal mortality ratio (per 100,000 live births) is 119. Similarly, 82.02% of children in the age group 9–11 months are fully immunized. The suicide rate per 100,000 population is 13.3%. Health worker density per 10,000 population is 50.02%.

However, Odisha continues in the aspirant category in ‘Zero Hunger’ with a low score of 45. The percentage of pregnant women between 15 and 49 years of age who are anaemic has increased to 61.8% from 47.6% in the previous index. Similarly, the percentage of stunted children under five years has gone up from 29.1%t to 31%. Children who are underweight have increased from 29.2% to 29.7%.