The learning curve: Why college education for women matters

The correlation between districts with college-educated women and multidimensional poverty was very high for 10 of 12 indicators

Earlier this week, NITI Aayog released the state-wise National Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), in line with the global index released by the United Nations each year. Although the National Family Health Survey 2015-16 forms the basis of the data — NFHS 2019-21 results are not entirely out yet — the report is the first attempt in years to define poverty measures.

The report, based on three counts — health, education and standard of living — found that a quarter of the population in the country was multidimensionally poor or deprived on at least a few of the 12 counts. Under the