Bare Necessities:
Access to “the bare necessities” such as housing, water, sanitation, electricity and clean cooking fuel are a
sine qua non to live a decent life.
This chapter examines the progress made in providing access to “the bare necessities” by constructing a
Bare Necessities Index (BNI) at the rural, urban and all India level. BNI summarises 26 indicators on five
dimensions viz, Water, Sanitation, Housing, Micro-environment, Other facilities.
Key findings related to bare necessities: Access to the ‘bare necessities’ has improved across all States in the country in 2018 as compared to 2012. It is highest in States such as Kerala, Punjab, Haryana and Gujarat while lowest in Odisha, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Tripura Inter-State disparities declined across rural and urban areas.
Improved access to the ‘bare necessities’ has led to improvements in health indicators such as IMR and
also correlates with future improvements in education indicators. Schemes such as Jal Jeevan Mission, SBM-G, PMAY-G, etc. may design appropriate strategy to reduce the gaps.
- GDP growth is a critical variable for decision-making by investors as well as policymakers. Therefore, the recent debate about whether India’s GDP is correctly estimated following the revision in estimation methodology in 2011 is extremely significant.
- The survey highlighted the need to invest in ramping up India’s statistical infrastructure is undoubted. It also said that India has made impressive improvements in several social development indicators.
Eduindex News 