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Telangana 2nd best in poverty reduction, outperforms national average in many parameters: NITI Aayog

The claims made by top leaders of Congress, alleging that Telangana has been devastated over the past 10 years under KCR’s rule, have been challenged by recent reports. Contrary to the propaganda, a reputed weekly ‘The Economist’ has lauded Telangana’s development across various sectors under the BRS regime, highlighting it as a successful model for small states. Additionally, NITI Aayog, the central government’s think tank, has reinforced the same in its recent report.

The ‘Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) India Index, 2023-24’ report from NITI Aayog, released just two days ago, presents comprehensive data on Telangana’s progress. The report emphasizes significant improvements in areas such as reduction in poverty alleviation, economic development, electricity, education, healthcare, sanitation, drinking water, and urbanization.

The NITI Aayog report places Telangana second among states with the lowest poverty levels in the country. Since 2005-06, NITI Aayog has tracked ‘multidimensional poverty’ across India. According to the latest findings, 28 out of every hundred people in India live in poverty. In Telangana, however, 91 out of every hundred people have risen out of poverty, leaving only eight in poverty. 

Tamil Nadu leads with a score of 92, followed by Telangana with 91, and Andhra Pradesh with 86. Notably, the top three states with the least poverty are all in the south. Conversely, BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh and NDA-ruled Bihar have the highest poverty levels, with scores of 57 and 39, respectively.

The NITI Aayog score is based on 13 factors, including poverty, hunger, health, quality education, gender equality, clean drinking water and sanitation, electricity supply, economic development, industrialization, and urbanization. Telangana has excelled in 12 key areas. It achieved a perfect score of 100 in quality electricity supply at affordable rates, ranked second in poverty alleviation with 91 marks, and third in economic development with 84 marks. The report also noted Telangana’s second-place ranking in increasing the share of Gross Value Added (GVA) in the services sector and in expanding forest area.