Are rural households in the Kargil district of Ladakh multidimensionally poor?

<p align="justify">Reducing poverty and inequality of any kind is a pre-condition for achieving improved quality of life and overall well-being of the masses for attaining sustainable development. In this pre-text, this paper examines the multidimensional aspects of poverty in the rural households of the Kargil district of Ladakh, India. The analysis of primary data collected from 315 sample households using the Alkire-Foster method reveals the presence of multidimensional poverty in about 66.03% of households. In contrast, about 33.33% of households are vulnerable to such poverty. It is found that deprivations in education, standard of living, nature of employment, women empowerment, and social security dimensions are critical in contributing to multidimensional poverty in the district. Besides, the estimation of the multiple regression equation infers that the intensity of multidimensional poverty is positively influenced by the age of the household head and family size, and negatively influenced by monthly food and non-food expenditures. Therefore, the policy focus is required on all these aspects to help households escape from multidimensional poverty so that inclusive growth can be ensured.</p>