As per a report released by the NITI Aayog, the incidence of multidimensional poverty in India decreased from 29.17 per cent in 2013-14 to 11.28 per cent in 2022-23, leading to approximately 24.82 crore individuals lifting themselves out of poverty during this timeframe. At the state level, Uttar Pradesh emerged as the leader, with 5.94 crore people successfully escaping poverty, followed by Bihar with 3.77 crore and Madhya Pradesh with 2.30 crore. India's national multidimensional poverty is gauged by the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), a comprehensive metric developed by the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). This index takes into consideration three primary dimensions: health, education, and standard of living. Each dimension incorporates multiple indicators to gauge deprivation. Health indicators within the MPI encompass aspects such as nutrition, child mortality, and access to health services. Education-related indicators include years of schooling and school attendance. The standard of living dimension encompasses factors like access to clean water, sanitation, electricity, and housing. The progress in terms of several of these indicators is clearly evident to the naked eyes, particularly in the standard of living dimension. In the health sector, however, the broader picture is not very encouraging. As per the Global Hunger Index report released last year, India had the highest child wasting rate among countries on the index at 18.7 per cent, ranking 15th highest in child stunting rate with 35.5 per cent. The prevalence of undernourishment stood at 16.6 per cent, and the under-five mortality rate was 3.1 per cent. In the education sector, the recently released Annual State of Education Report (ASER) for 2023 revealed that enrolment ratio decreased in the higher grades, as children progressed from the age of 14 (upper limit for compulsory education) to 18. It further revealed considerable gaps in rural students’ foundational numeracy and literacy skills. It won’t be wrong to say that the state of education in India is still not up to the mark. Income, though not sufficient, is a crucial component that determines the level of health and education in households. Based on income levels, India’s poverty declined from 39.91 per cent in 2004 to 22.53 per cent in 2011, and from 18.73 per cent in 2015 to 11.9 per cent in 2021. It is evident that over the last two decades, there has been a decline in income-based poverty as well, but not as steep as is projected in NITI Aayog’s income-excluding measurement of MDP. Economic experts mark a distinction between the two types of poverty measures, emphasising that the decline in NITI Aayog’s measure of MDP cannot be a substitute for the broader income-based poverty, which is derived from consumer expenditure surveys that are long overdue. In addition, experts have strongly contested the latest MDP numbers floated by the NITI Aayog. For the terminal years of comparison, i.e., 2013-14 and 2022-23, there isn’t any actual data. The comparison is made on the basis of interpolations and extrapolations, the authenticity of which is dubious. NITI Aayog’s assessment of MDP is based on National Family Health Survey (NFHS) data, which were released in 2005-06 (NFHS-3), 2015-16 (NFHS-4), and 2019-21 (NFHS-5). The estimates for 2013-14 and 2022-23 are arrived at through the presumption of Compounded Annual Growth Rate in MDP reduction in years when NFHS was conducted. Such estimates can be highly misleading as the trajectory of poverty alleviation may not be as uniform over an extended period. Furthermore, it must also be noted that the projections for 2022-23 overlook the significantly devastating impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and other global crises. Data plays a vital role in guiding policy makers towards making robust policies. Credibility and accuracy of data are important so that policymakers are not misguided. Data cannot be distorted as a tool to coincide with a particular narrative or to highlight the achievements of the government’s tenure. Poverty, malnutrition and low education levels are some of the realities of India that merit honest acceptance and addressal. Denial is not the way forward.