GUWAHATI, May 3 - Sabina Alkire, Director, Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative at the University of Oxford, has stressed that a complex concept like poverty should not be measured only in terms of income. It warrants rather an all inclusive and broader understanding. She was delivering a lecture on � �Multi-Dimensional Poverty: Ideas, measures and Policy Relevance� in the conference hall of the Omeo Kumar Das Institute of Social Change and Development (OKDISCD) here on Monday, said a press release.
In her lecture, Alkire spoke on the issue of different dimensions of poverty and how different aspects affect the very nature of it. While laying stress on the fact that a complex concept like poverty should not be measured only in terms of income, she said that it warrants rather an all inclusive and broader understanding.
It needs mention here that to comprehend and measure the complexity in relation to poverty, Alkire has developed the Multi Dimensional Poverty Index and in her lecture at the OKDISCD she showed how that index is used in different contexts to measure poverty. In fact, in the final documents of United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), the concept of multi-dimensional poverty has been used extensively.
Drawing on examples from different countries, particularly from Latin America, she has demonstrated how the concept has been successfully used in poverty eradication. This measure is helpful in bringing about policy changes in those countries. In her lecture she also appealed to the Government of Assam to develop its own index to better address poverty in the State.
