Quality of life and living environment in India

Dr. Devendra Kothari

Population and Development Analyst

Forum for Population Action

 

India’s rank in the latest UN’s Human Development Report has fallen from 127 in 2001 to 134 out of 187 countries and territories in 2011. Further, India is simply not doing enough for its women either. The Global Gender Gap Report 2011, released by the World Economic Forum, reveals a stark and deep rooted gender gap in India. It is pathetically ranked 113 amongst the 135 countries considered. The country has fallen from 96^th rank in 2006 to 113^th in the last 6 years according to the Report. This is a rather   shameful reflection of the conditions in a country that is said to be on a growth song. It appears that the impact of the economic reform program in enhancing the quality of human life in India has been limited. The reform program concentrated more on the fiscal, structural and trade adjustment rather than improving the living environment as well as the social sector development[1]. 

The provision of basic services such as piped water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) as well as electricity has been an important goal of Indian developmental planning. Hence, a description of these amenities from a household perspective provides an overview of the success of public policies as well as the challenges facing these policies.   On March 13, 2012, the Registrar General of India released the final figures for the first phase of the 2011 Census – known as the Housing Census which includes data on household amenities and assets. The data revealed several interesting facets of the Indian economy as well. While at one end it highlights the improvement in the material well-being for large sections of the society, it also paints a picture of stark contrast and disparity in India.

The post aims to provoke a discussion and mobilize support for improving living conditions to improve the quality of life. It is argued that until the policy makers take a focused and long term interest in improving the living environment or conditions, it will be rather difficult to achieve an improvement Human Development Index as well  as in achieving a  significant breakthrough on maternal and child health as well as on empowering women. The census data indicate that slightly more than one third of India’s population in 2011 was enumerated in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Bihar alone. Next seven States namely West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan. Karnataka and Gujarat accounted for more than 43 percent of the total population. In other words, more than three fourths of the country’s population was enumerated in these States and the remaining 25 States and Union Territories recorded less than one fourth of the population of the country. To understand the ground level situation, the analysis is based on the data from these ten most populous States of India.

As per the Housing Census, there were 306 million occupied houses in India in 2011. The data indicate that there is some improvement in the construction material used for roof, wall and floor, both in rural and urban areas as compared to 2001.  However, slightly more than half of the occupied houses were in a “good” condition. There are more than 247 million households in the country in 2011. “A ‘Household’ in Census is defined as group of persons who normally live together and take their meals from a common kitchen unless exigencies of work prevent any of them from doing so”. The average number of persons per household is 4.9, and more than 70% of the households in the country live in 1-2 room houses - very congested living environment.  Table 1 provides data on household amenities and assets by major States of India.

Clean water and sanitation form the backbone of an effective public health system. However, the challenges of providing these services in a large and heterogeneous country can be vast. 96% of households are using Tap, Tube well, Hand pump and Covered well as the main source of drinking water while 43% tap water. Only 47% of households have source of water within the premises while 53% of households travel more than half-a-km in rural areas and more than 100 meters in urban areas to fetch their supplies. This is a substantial loss of time that could be used for other purposes. In addition, poor water supply has obvious health costs for both urban and rural households, since only one in three households are supplied ‘treated’ water in the country. Nearly 65% households in rural India do not have drainage connectivity and the risk of seepage of waste water into the hand pumps and tube wells is quite high.  Research on health outcomes suggests that both the quality and the quantity of water are important determinants of the prevalence of gastrointestinal diseases and improving the maternal and child health. Also, chemical contamination of water in the region is another major challenge. Millions of people in the country suffer from water borne diseases on account of lack of access to safe drinking water. It is the poor who suffer from higher prevalence of disease as compared to the rich.

The provision of tap water, at best, remains sketchy especially in rural areas. Hand pumps, and tube wells are more common in rural areas. Whether in villages or towns, tap water is rarely available 24 hours a day, as per the findings of India Human Development Survey conducted by NCAER[2]. Most households (83%) have water available fewer than three hours on a typical day. The inconsistent supply means that most households have to store their water in containers, allowing the potential for contamination. The inter-State differences in the availability of drinking water are quite striking.  Almost 80% households in Tamil Nadu and 70% in Andhra Pradesh have indoor piped water, while less than 5% households in Bihar has  that facility.

This problem is further compounded by lack of access to sanitation. About 53% of Indian households do not have a toilet within premises; only 36% have a flush toilet (Water Closet). The absence of toilets is particularly stark in rural areas, where 70% of households have no toilet, compared to 19% in urban areas. It is interesting to note that a total of 47% households in the country have latrine facilities within premises, a significant increase from 36% over 2001. Still there are about 50% households in India   do not have latrine facilities, it means around 600 million people defecate in open.  Further, only 51% of the households have drainage connectivity with two third have the closed drainage. It means around 49% of total households in India are not connected with drainage system at all inviting lots of health related problems[3].  This is a very sorry state of affairs for a country which is the fourth largest economy in the world.  Again there are wide regional variations. All the 10 major States of the country differ widely in the flush toilet facilities. More than half of households in Gujarat have flush latrines, while only 20% households in Bihar are lucky to have that facility (Table 1).

  Table 1:   Households with selected amenities:  Major States of India, 2011

States according to population size in 2011	% of households with:
	Tap water	Flush latrine	Without drainage	Electricity	LPG	TV	Phone /mobile
1	2	3	4	5	6	8	9
Uttar Pradesh	27	30	31	37	20	33	61
Maharashtra	70	43	33	84	43	57	54
Bihar	04	20	58	16	08	15	52
West Bengal	25	33	68	54	18	35	43
Andhra Pradesh	70	43	43	92	36	59	55
Tamil Nadu	80	42	50	93	48	87	62
Madhya Pradesh	23	26	61	67	18	32	41
Rajasthan	41	28	59	67	23	37	62
Karnataka	66	37	39	91	32	60	57
Gujarat	69	53	53	90	38	54	59
India	43	36	49	67	29	47	53
Source: Based on data obtained from Census of India 2011 –Tables on Houses, Household Amenities and Assets, Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India.

This lack of adequate sanitation is responsible for severe health problems. Cholera, dysentery, typhoid, para-typhoid, infectious hepatitis and many other diseases can be traced to the unsanitary disposal of human excreta. Lack of sanitation also has grave social consequences, the need to have ‘night soil’ removed has given rise to the profession of ‘scavenging’ or collecting it from bucket latrines, the streets and other locations. Though, this practice has been banned and the Indian Constitution bans the segregation of those who service this profession, there are many pockets in the country where the practice continues unabated.

The census found that Indian households use many different fuels for cooking, lighting, and heating. The most widely used cooking fuel in the country remains firewood, used by 49% of households; crop residues are the second most common cooking fuel, used by 9% of households; cow dung cakes are another important cooking fuel in the country, used by another 8% of the households. Thus, around 66% of the households in the country use biomass fuels and 3% use Kerosene as cooking fuel. Only 28% of the households use LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas) as a cooing fuel. All the 10 major States of the country differ widely in the use of   LPG as cooking fuel. Slightly less than half of households in Tamil Nadu, 43% in Maharashtra, 38% in Gujarat and 36% in Andhra Pradesh use LPG for cooking. In Bihar only 8% households use LPG. It is observed that cooking with biomass fuels on open fires causes significant health problems. An estimated 1.6 million people worldwide die prematurely annually due to exposure to indoor air pollution.

Access to electricity is a basic amenity in today’s context. In India, successive five year plans have laid specific targets for extending the coverage of electricity to households. However, the progress has been far from satisfactory. As per the 1991 Census, only 42 per cent of households had access to electricity in their homes as against 26 per cent in 1981. Table 1 indicates   that 67% of households have electricity as the main source of lightening in the country in 2011 while 31% still depend on kerosene. The rural-urban gap is very wide in use of electricity (55% versus 93%) as source of lighting.  There are large inter-State variations in the availability of electricity to the households, both in urban and in rural areas. In the better off States, including Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra, a larger proportion of households had access to electricity in 2011. In case of economically less well-off States and geographically larger States, the coverage of electricity among the households was low. In case of Bihar, only 16% of the households had access to electricity in 2011. The proportion was also quite low in Uttar Pradesh. The rural-urban gap in access to electricity is quite striking. At the national level in 2011, 93% of the urban households in the country had access to electricity, whereas only 55% of those living in rural areas had access to this facility.

As regards mode of communication, less than half of households in India have television while only one in five households use radios/transistors. Less than 1 out of 10 households have Computer/laptop with only 3% having internet facility. The penetration of internet is 8% in urban as compared to less than 1% in rural area.  63% households have Telephone/mobile facility with 82% in urban and 54% in rural area. The penetration of mobile phone is 59% and landline is 10%

To sum up, in a telling reminder of the wide chasm between States and rural and urban areas of India, the latest Census has thrown up figures that would shock the policy makers. Despite significant improvement in living standards over the last census, the 2011 figures show a picture that is far from respectable looking to the high economic growth. About half of total households in India still defecate in open. This situation is particularly piquant for women and girls.  Based on the data provided by the Census 2011, it is estimated that around 290 million women in India (270 in rural India and 20 million in urban India), the worst sufferers of open defecation, continue with the age-old practice even after 20 years of economic reforms.

Further, better living environment or conditions have a direct bearing on decision-making power of the women.  Table 2 clearly indicates   poor availability of certain household amenities  create  obstacles in improving the decision making power of women including   safe drinking water (Col. 3), inadequate sanitation facilities (Col. 4), availability of smokeless  cooking fuel  like LPG (Col. 5),  and electricity (Col. 6). Absence of these facilities increases women’s workload as well as their physical and mental fatigue. Women spend nearly twice as much time gathering firewood and fetching water as men. Households in which water is brought from outside spend an average of 103 minutes per day, fetching water, including the time required to wait in line. Gathering firewood is not necessarily a daily activity but requires longer trips and households spend an average of 369 minutes per week on this activity, as per the findings of the India Human Development Survey.  Any improvement in access to water and LPG is likely to result in a considerable reduction in domestic drudgery for women, freeing up their time for other activities and  enhancing their decision making power. For example, Tamil Nadu with highest proportion of households with some basic household amenities like piped water, flush latrine, LPG connection and electricity recorded the highest ranking in terms of decision making power among the major States of India. And a reverse pattern can be observed in West Bengal and Rajasthan.  In other words, the living conditions are equally important in empowering the women.

Table 2: Level of women empowerment and selected variables, some selected States, India            

States	Level of women empowerment*	% of household with:
		Piped water	Flush  latrines	LPG	Electricity
1	2	3	4	5	6
Tamil Nadu	49	80	42	48	93
Maharashtra	45	70	43	43	84
Andhra Pradesh	40	70	43	36	92
India	37	43	36	29	67
Madhya Pradesh	29	23	26	18	67
West Bengal	24	25	33	18	54
Rajasthan	23	31	28	23	67
* % of women   who usually make specific four decisions alone or jointly with their husband: 1. own health, 2. making major household purchases, 3. making daily household needs and 4. visiting family or relatives
Source: Based on data obtained from Census of India 2011 – Tables on Houses, Household Amenities and Assets, Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India and National Family Health Survey-3, Mumbai, IIPS, 2007.

There are many ways to improve the living conditions especially in rural India. One of the effective measures could be to use the existing Panchayat Raj Institutions (PPIs).  As per 73rd amendment of the Constitution of India, PRIs are required to be endowed with adequate responsibilities and powers to enable them to function as the “Institutions of self-government” at the village level. However, there is no serious involvement of these local bodies in the management or creation of basic public services like primary education, public health, safe drinking water and sanitation or in raising local resources.  It is suggested that the rural employment guarantee scheme (NREGA), which is responsibility of PPIs, should be used to improve the basic amenities like water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in rural areas. (The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, initiated by Government of India in 2005, aims to enhance livelihood security in rural areas by providing at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in a year to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work.) There is no lack of funds for NREGA, claims the Rural Development Minister, Mr. Jairam Ramesh. Rs 420 billion are available for the financial year 2012-13 (Press Trust of India, March 18, 2012).  But the big question remains – will the policy makers acquiesce?

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[1]  Srinivasa Rao Gangadharan and C.A. Yoonus. 2012. Impact of the Economic Reform Programme on the quality of  human life in India, Journal of Health Management , 14 (20), 182-199.

[2] The survey, which involved 41,554 household interviews covering 33 states and union territories of India, was designed to be nationally representative. For detail, see: Sonalde B. Desai et al. 2010. Human Development in India: Challenges for a Society in Transition.  New Delhi: Oxford University Press.

[3] Hygiene is four times as important as clean drinking water for preventing diarrheal disease according to research published in The Lancet - medical journal.