12 Aug 2022 The credibility of the sample data of NFHS : An analysis
Context :
As per the data of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) the Poverty Ratio (Head Count Ratio) of Tamilnadu declined from 4.89% in 2015-16 to 1.57% in 2020-21. Many economists and scholars, many time raised questions about the credibility of the data of NFHS. However, the NITI Ayog makes the policy for the poor on the bases of the data provided by NFHS. These data should be carefully evaluated and verified from other sources and then the policies should be made on the bases of these data.
Introduction
NFHS is the collaborative project of the IIPS (International Institute for Population Science) Mumabali with some institutions of the foreign. It surveys for the collection of the data based on the family’s income. NFHS was funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) with supplementary support from United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
The first family health survey was done in 1992-93. This is the fourth and fifth family health survey.
We should check the qualities of the data before relying on it
The data on MPI ( Multidimensional Poverty Index)
Niti Ayog published its report in 2021 on the MPI. and the MPI is derived from the multiples functions of the family like health, education, living standard, etc. However the NITI Ayog identified 12 parameters .and among that parameters, weight deprivation is also a parameter. If we accept this parameter then the score would be more than .33 and they would be considered the poor
In some non-poor families, the deprivation score may be more than .33. therefore, this parameter for using poverty is questionable.
Another surprising and interesting aspect of this approach is an estimation of the Intensity of Poverty. This is the weighted-average deprivation score of the multidimensionally poor. and on this ground, the Intensity of Poverty in Tamil Nadu declined from 39.97% to 38.78% during this period. It indicates that the summary measure of multiple deprivations of the poor has only marginally declined during this period
In fact, the MPI is the product of the Head Count Ratio and Intensity of Poverty. In Tamilnadu, it declined from 0.020 to 0.006. This gives us a clue that any further decline in MPI in Tamil Nadu should happen only by addressing all the dimensions of poverty and reducing its intensity substantially across the State.
Quality of NFHS data
Today, the disputes evolve in the matter of the quality of this data of NFHS. the academicians and the other economist raised the question mark in front of the quality of the data. However, the survey done by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) had never been free from criticism. but every time the NSSO has been attempting to improve sampling design and reduce non-sampling errors
Demographics like K. Srinivasan, S. Irudaya Rajan, and K.S. James on many occasions suggested the NFHS for reducing the anomalies in sampling surveys. these people reported many articles on the errors of these surveys. In these surveys, we found arbitrariness in the data on the deaths, differences in data quality, pregnancy rate, death rate, and fertility rate. these data were also not of such qualities
In the case of Tamilnadu, the data was collected by NFHS in two phases – the pre-lockdown period and the post-lockdown period. Approx 30 percent in pre corona period and 70 in the post-lockdown period. the impact of lockdown should be reflected in data. if we compare the data of the pregnant women before the lockdown period, we see the pregnant women below the age of 19 were 18.82 % and those between 19-21 years was 25:75 and 32:68 for pregnant women above 21 years. The data on pregnancy increased during the lockdown period. Death data also increased because of the pandemic
The survey data, if suppose collected from a single time period, it is normal and easy to compare the result of survey data on specific indicators. But in two different situations, some indicators may be affected and some do not affect by this pandemic. These flaws must be considered while making the policy for the poor
Conclusion
As per the above discussion, it can be concluded that the data provided by NFHS are not free from criticism. therefore our lawmakers should use these data very carefully while making policies based on these data. the quality of these data was impacted because of the corona pandemic. This survey data provides us the inputs on a broad level for making the policies But these survey data should be analyzed with the ground-level reality also. We should use data for making the policy after careful analysis and then we should improve our data collection pattern and the data interpretation also in future
YojnaIAS daily current affairs eng med 12thAugust
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