One-Day Training Workshop on “Comprehending Poverty Dynamics in India

Press Release Department of Economics, University of Ladakh, Conducted One-Day Training Workshop on “Comprehending Poverty Dynamics in India”. Leh, [5/10/2023] — The Department of Economics has organised a one-day training workshop on ‘Comprehending Poverty Dynamics on 5th of October, 2023 at the conference hall of University of Ladakh, Leh campus. At the outset, the aim for the workshop was briefly introduced about by Ms. Sonam Angmo the 3rd semester student of Economics Department. Along with the introduction about the Resource person for the event who was Dr. Shahnawaz Ahmed, Assistant Professor, Department of Humanities, Social Sciences and Management, National Institute of Technology, Srinagar. The Dean College Affairs, Dr Phuntsog Angmo, formally welcomed the resources person with the traditional Khataks and Memento as token of appreciation to the esteemed speaker. The training workshop witnessed the participation of more than 60 students and faculty members of Economics Department from EJM college Leh and GDC Khaltsi, making it a significant milestone in invoking interest in the Economics discipline. The workshop investigated into the intricate layers of poverty dynamics starting from its uni-dimensional nature to the multi-dimensional, equipping the participants with its knowledge, methods of measurement, approaches and the perspectives needed to make the meaningful strides towards its alleviation. In the first session the resource person focussed on the concepts, types, methods of measurement, measurement approaches and the dynamics of poverty. During this session he also discusses how the paradigm shift to measurement and identification of poverty has compelled the nations across globe to start developing their own national multidimensional poverty indices and India is a no exception to it. Besides showing the data on multidimensional poverty in context of India and Ladakh, the resource person also enlightened the audiences about the importance of selecting the area-specific indicators in highlighting the real picture of multifaceted poverty and inform the policy making. While discussing the advantages of the Multidimensional Poverty Index in complementing the uni-dimensional poverty measures he also discussed in details about its calculation methods and the key take aways. Citing the menace of poverty, a result of human actions he also stressed that only human as a stakeholders can combat it, and make it possible to achieve a dream of ‘Poverty free world’. The first session was followed by a question answer session. During the second technical session of the training workshop, the hands-on training was given to participants for the calculation of Multidimensional Poverty Index. The methodology used for measurement of multidimensional poverty and even calculating the same at UT level was elaborated in details. After distributing questionnaires containing information on indicators and dimensions used for measurement of National Multidimensional Poverty Index, the participants were asked to fill the details considering themselves as respondents. The respondents were then asked to feed theses responses in the advanced statistical software SPSS and they were trained to calculate the multidimensional poverty index using same software for further analysis. The practical training workshop using the statistical SPSS software marked a significant step toward enhancing the analytical skills of the students and faculty members in carrying out quantitative data analysis of household surveys. The workshop concluded with the vote of thanks presented by Mr. Ghulam Mustafa, Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, University of Ladakh. He expressed his heartfelt gratitude to the resource person Dr. Shahnawaz Ahmed, for accepting the invitation and coming all the way from Srinagar out of his own expenses. He further thanked, Coordinator, Department of Economics, Mr. Rigzin Sandup, Dr. Kailash Bharti Goswami, Assistant Professor, Department of Economics for their valuable support in ensuring the success of the training workshop. Lastly, he also expressed his gratitude to the faculty members and students of economics of different constituent colleges of University of Ladakh for their gracious presence and making it a huge success.