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Kerala’s poor is UP’s rich — how access to basic services varies in Indian states -Vidya Mahambare and Sowmya Dhanaraj

-ThePrint.in

West Bengal and Rajasthan have remarkably improved the delivery of basic services to their poorest 20% population between 2005-06 and 2015-16, NFHS data show.

The lives of asset poor in India’s major states, as shown in an earlier article, have improved between 2005-06 and 2015-16 in terms of owning common durables. Asset poor are defined as the bottom 20 per cent of a state’s population in terms of durable asset ownership.

It is important to note that asset poor in one state can be asset rich in another state since there are wide regional variations in the level and changes of asset ownership. For example, an asset-rich person in 2015-16 who is almost in the top 10 percentile in Bihar has the equivalent level of durable asset ownership of an asset-poor person in the bottom 20 percentile in Punjab.

In this article, we look at the state-wise differences in the quality of housing and access to government provision of basic services among the asset poor. Access to good quality basic social services — for example, clean, regular and easy access to water and sanitation, electricity, banking — is not only essential for improving the well-being of the poor, but it also enables them to participate in the economy, raising their income levels and hence the ability to buy durable assets.

Moreover, basic services such as regular and stable supply of electricity and water act as complementary services without which durables such as a refrigerator or a washing machine would not provide utility. Additionally, the size of homes itself may impact the decision to purchase a durable asset that requires space.

Using data from two rounds of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) in 2005-06 and 2015-16, we construct an index of basic services where households are differentiated based on access and quality of these services. For example, if a household has water supply piped into its dwelling or via a public tap or a tube well, whether it has access to clean cooking fuel, whether it has an improved sanitation facility, and so on.

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