SRINAGAR — Jammu and Kashmir will undertake its first-ever household enumeration to identify multi-dimensionally poor families across the Union territory with an aim to strengthen inclusive governance and ensure that welfare schemes reach the most deserving people.
J-K Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo on Wednesday chaired a meeting of the Planning, Development and Monitoring Department (PD&MD) to have the first-hand appraisal of the proposed household-level enumeration of multi-dimensionally poor families across the Union territory, an official spokesman said.
Multi-dimensionally poor families are those that suffer deprivations across health, education and living standards.
Speaking at the meeting, the chief secretary said the proposed household enumeration represents the next logical step in the development journey.
He said the initiative seeks to identify the actual households that continue to experience multiple deprivations with an objective to create a scientifically validated and technology-enabled database that will help government departments deliver welfare benefits with greater precision, improve inter-departmental convergence and ensure that no deserving family is left behind.
Dulloo said the proposed exercise is the first step towards data-driven governance, transparency and inclusive development, and would provide an institutional framework for identifying and addressing pockets of deprivation across J-K.
He asked the deputy commissioners to work out the human resource requirements in coordination with the Planning Department.
The CS also directed the department to frame capacity building programmes for these resources so that the exercise is taken up after the culmination of the two phases of the Census operations across the UT, including the pastoral population of J-K.
The proposal, presented by the Commissioner Secretary, Planning, Development & Monitoring Department, R Alice Vaz, lays down a scientifically designed framework for identifying households experiencing multiple deprivations across health, education and living standards as per the government norms.
Vaz said the proposal is founded on the National Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) framework developed by NITI Aayog in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), while adapting it for household-level identification of poor families within J-K.
Unlike sample-based national surveys that provide only macro-level poverty estimates, the proposed exercise seeks to identify the actual households behind the statistics, thereby facilitating direct and targeted government intervention, she said.
The enumeration would initially cover the most vulnerable categories already available in government databases, the Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) households, covering approximately 2.19 lakh beneficiary households across all 20 districts of J-K, the spokesman said.
He said the proposed methodology follows the nationally accepted MPI framework by assessing every household across three dimensions, including health, education and standard of living, through 12 carefully defined indicators.
These include nutrition, child and adolescent mortality, maternal health, years of schooling, school attendance, cooking fuel, sanitation, drinking water, electricity, housing, household assets and financial inclusion.
A scientifically weighted deprivation score would be generated automatically through a digital application, and households crossing the prescribed deprivation threshold would be identified as multi-dimensionally poor, the spokesman said.
To ensure comprehensive assessment, two structured digital schedules have been proposed, he said.
The first schedule would collect household information required for automated computation of the MPI score, while the second schedule, applicable only to households identified as multi-dimensionally poor, would capture the reasons for deprivation, gaps in access to government schemes, awareness levels and barriers preventing families from availing benefits, he said.
The information generated would enable departments to design targeted interventions based on district-specific and household-specific needs, the spokesman added.
The household database generated through the exercise is said to become a robust decision-support system for government, enabling convergence of welfare schemes relating to health, education, housing, drinking water, sanitation, clean energy, financial inclusion, livelihoods and social protection, the spokesman asserted.
He said it would also facilitate more efficient utilisation of public resources, strengthen monitoring of sustainable development goals and support evidence-based district planning. — (PTI)