NATIONAL SAMPLE SURVEY ORGANISATION

MINISTRY OF STATISTICS & PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

PRESS INFORMATION BUREAU

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

Dated the 4 Jyaistha, 1927 Saka

25 May 2005

PRESS NOTE

HOUSING CONDITION IN INDIA:

HOUSEHOLD AMENITIES AND OTHER CHARACTERISTICS

(JULY – DECEMBER 2002)

The second report of the nationwide survey of housing condition carried out by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) in the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, Government of India, has been released. The first report, “Housing Stock and Constructions”, was released in the month of May 2004. The present report is titled “Household Amenities and Other Characteristics”. In the survey, conducted during July-December 2002, a sample of 97,882 households spread over 4,769 villages and 3,538 urban blocks in the country had been interviewed to obtain precise information regarding the conditions of the dwellings in which India’s rural and urban households live, the amenities available to them, residential constructions undertaken by them in the recent past, rent paid by those living in hired dwellings and so on. Households living in urban slums were, in addition, asked how long they had been living there, why they had come to the slum and from where, whether they had any documents of identification and whether they had ever tried to leave the slum.

The present report reveals facts about availability of drinking water, use of electricity, system of garbage disposal, etc.; possession of vehicles, radio, TV, and computer; rent being paid for hired accommodation, and migration of households.

As regards drinking water, the major source of drinking water was tube-wells and hand-pumps for 51% of rural households in the country, taps for 27%, and wells for 18%, all other sources together account for only 3% of households. Tube-wells and hand-pumps were the main source for drinking water for 89% of rural households in Bihar, 86% in Uttar Pradesh, 78% in West Bengal, 76% in Punjab and Chhattisgarh, 63% in Orissa and 60% in Madhya Pradesh. However, taps were the major source of drinking water for as many as 77% of rural households in Tamil Nadu, 60% in Karnataka, 58% in Gujarat and 54% in Andhra Pradesh. In urban India 74% households (80% in urban slums) depended on taps, 20% on tube-wells and hand-pumps, and only 5% on wells. Use of tube-wells and hand-pumps was more prevalent than taps in urban areas of Bihar (69% of households), Uttar Pradesh (50%) and Assam (49%).

Ten years ago, as many as 19% of rural households and 70% of urban households had been getting sufficient drinking water throughout the year. In 2002, 89% households got sufficient water in rural as well as urban areas. In urban areas, 66% households got their supply through taps. Drinking water in sufficient quantity was not available in the slums and squatter settlements of Rajasthan (75% households reporting insufficient drinking water), Jharkhand (49%), and Orissa (45%).

Electricity was used as the main source for lighting by 53% of rural households compared to only 36% during 1993 and by 92% of urban households compared to 81% during 1993. This indicates a substantial increase in dependence on electricity by households for lighting over the past ten years especially in rural areas.

For regular disposal of garbage, 59% of urban households depended upon the Nagar panchayat or municipality. 18% had a system of garbage disposal developed by the residents themselves, while 20% of urban households had no arrangement for garbage disposal. In urban slums, a higher percentage of households (26%) managed without any system of garbage disposal, 63% depended on the Nagar panchayat or municipality, and in only 10% cases, the residents themselves had made arrangements for regular disposal.

Turning to the possession of means of transportation, bicycle was one of the household possessions in about 48% of the households in both rural and urban areas. Only 7% of rural and 24% urban households owned either a moped or a scooter. Ownership of four-wheelers - car or jeep - was restricted to about 4% urban households. However, about 2% rural households possessed a tractor.

As regards the possession of audio-visual means of entertainment and communications, 26% of rural households possessed a TV set, with 10% having cable connection. In urban areas, 66% households had TV sets, and 41% had cable facility as well. Possession of radio/tape-recorder was more common among the rural population (67%) than among the urban (51%). The telephone - including a cellphone - was available in only 26% of urban households (2% of households possessed both landline as well as cellular connection) and 6% of rural households. Among rural households with monthly per capita expenditure Rs.950 or more, about 30% possessed telephones.

Personal computer (PC) with Internet facility was available in only 1.4% urban households. Another 1.7% had it without Internet. In rural India, a PC with Internet facility was practically non-existent as a household possession while 0.6% rural households had a PC without Internet facility.

Refrigerators were present in 28% of urban households, air coolers in 15% and washing machines in 11%. The corresponding rural proportions were 4% for refrigerators, 2.5% for air coolers, and less than 1% for washing machines.

Regarding the prevalence of rented housing, about 29% urban households lived in hired accommodation and another 6% lived in accommodation provided by the employer. Among rural households, only 4% lived in hired accommodation. 39% of urban house owners stayed with their tenants in the same house. On an average, an urban tenant household paid Rs.673 as monthly rent and almost Rs.2200 as non-adjustable deposit. About 79% urban tenants occupied their rented dwelling in or after 1995.

More than half of those living in urban slums had been living there for more than 15 years. About 20% had moved in during the previous five years. About 30% used to stay in a village before coming to the slum. About 20% slum households did not possess any document like ration card or voter ID-card. In slum households with one married couple, 44% of households did not have a separate room for the couple. In households with more than one couple, the problem was more acute. Very few of the slum-dwelling households - only 4% - had ever tried to move out of the slum.

Information collected on migration particulars of households revealed that household in-migration to the place of survey during the past one year was 1.6% in rural areas and 4.6% in urban areas.