SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 11 September 2024, Shift 2 · General Awareness · Question 16 of 100

Text as printed on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; answer per SSC's tentative key as marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 6 September 2026.

Where this paper and its answers come from

SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. The questions and options here are reproduced as printed on a candidate's own response sheet for this shift — the Commission's text, unchanged. Each answer is SSC's tentative key as marked on that sheet; SSC allowed challenges to it and never publishes a final key. The solutions are written by UnlockIAS.

As per the report of the NITI Aayog in 2023, which among the following states in India has the lowest percentage of the total population that is multidimensionally poor?

(a)Uttarakhand
(b)Sikkim
(c)Kerala
(d)Goa

Answer

Why

Correct - C. NITI Aayog's National Multidimensional Poverty Index review of 2023, built on NFHS-5 (2019-21) data, places Kerala at the bottom of the state table - the smallest share of people counted as multidimensionally poor.

Goa lies close to it, which is what makes option (d) tempting, but Kerala's share is the lower of the two and option (c) is what the report's own ranking gives.

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Uttarakhand — Uttarakhand does well on literacy, which makes it look like a candidate, but its multidimensional poverty share in the same report is far above Kerala's - it is nowhere near the bottom of the table.
(b)
Sikkim — Sikkim is one of the better-performing small states and sits low in the table, yet still above Kerala. Small population and good human development do not by themselves make the lowest share.
(d)
Goa — Goa is the closest wrong answer - it shares the bottom of the same table with Kerala. The report separates them, and Kerala carries the smaller share of multidimensionally poor people.

Concept

The MPI does not ask what people earn. It counts deprivations directly.

India's national index uses the Alkire-Foster method: 12 indicators grouped into three equally weighted dimensions - health, education and standard of living. A household is counted as multidimensionally poor when it is deprived in one-third or more of the weighted indicators.

That is why a state can have modest average income and still rank well: piped water, electricity, cooking fuel, school years and antenatal care all count.

This is a table-reading question. The exam wants the extremes of a published report, not an argument about which state is best governed.

Key facts

India's national MPI uses 12 indicators across three equally weighted dimensions: health, education and standard of living.
A person is identified as multidimensionally poor on deprivation in at least one-third of the weighted indicators.
The 2023 review used NFHS-5 (2019-21) data and compared it against NFHS-4 (2015-16).
NITI Aayog is the nodal agency for India's national MPI, while the global MPI is published by UNDP and OPHI.

Study next

The 12 indicators of India's national MPI and their weightsAlkire-Foster methodology and the one-third deprivation cut-offHow the global MPI of UNDP and OPHI differs from India's national index

Common traps

Reading multidimensionally poor as income-poor, and answering with the richest state.
Assuming the smallest state must have the smallest poverty share.

SSC usually lifts the first or last row of a published index table - highest or lowest state, best or worst performer - though a plain rank is sometimes asked instead, as at 26 Sep 2024, 12:30, General Awareness Q.25 (Sri Lanka's HDI rank).

Learn the extremes of each major report first.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.