Household census of 2011 has thrown some interesting details, which indicates a definite progress in standard of living alongwith several contradictions. Here are a few facts for you to chew upoin:
- Total number of houses in the country 26.93 crores, of which almost 2.5 crores are vacant.
- 29% of the houses counted have become sturdier with concrete roof. In 2001 this was only around 19.8%.
- It may be noted that 18% houses do not have any specified assets (radio, TV, computer, phone, means of transport including a bicycle).
- 63.2% own telephone connection up from mere 9.1% in 2001.
- In 2001 half of the Indian households did not own any of the specified mode of communication, By 2010 as mentioned 63.2% own telephone connections, 47.2% own television, 19.9% own radio / transistors.
- Only 9% households own computers. Here there is a big divide between rural / urban. 20% households in urban areas own computers, while only 5% in rural areas. Of the 9% owning computers only 6% have internet connection. However with internet connection available in large number of mobiles, perhaps figure for interconnectivity needs reconsideration.
And the contradictions:
- Only 32% of household have access to treated water. 33.5% still rely on hand-pump water.
- 67% of households have electricity as the main source for lighting, while as many as 31% still rely on kerosene.
- Still 53.1% households do not access to toilets. (also see our earlier post on this http://blog.srr-foundation.org/?p=737 )
- 41.6% still do not have bathing facility in their houses, while another 16.4% have bathing facility but it is not covered.
- Only 18.1% have closed drainage facility, 33% have open drainage, while almost 50% have no drainage in the houses.
- While 28.5% have LPG/PNG connections, 49% use firewood.
- With all the talk of financial inclusion, with more than 41% households not using any banking facility, challenge remains huge.
The above facts give you enormity of the tasks that any Govt faces in trying to reach out or getting those benefits to people.
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