Page 331 - ES 2020-21_Volume-1-2 [28-01-21]

314 Economic Survey 2020-21 Volume 1

INTRODUCTION

10.1 Since the 1950s, when Shri. Pitambar Pant advocated the idea of “minimum needs”, the
idea that economic development can be viewed as a process of providing the “bare necessities
of life” to citizens has been around in India. A family’s ability to access bare necessities – such
as housing, water, sanitation, electricity and clean cooking fuel – have therefore been regarded
as an important barometer of economic development in academic and policymaking circles.
This idea of accessing the bare necessities of life as a sine qua non has resonated with the
common man as well. No wonder Bollywood’s rhetoric, which often mirrors socio-economic
issues in the country (Desai, 2004), has zoomed in on “the bare necessities” in movies such as
Roti, Kapda Aur Makaan (1974). A pointed question by the angry young man Shri. Amitabh
Bachchan in the 1989 movie Main Azaad Hoon “pkyhl cjl esa] vki ,d balku osQ fy, ,d fxykl
ikuh ugha ns ldrs] rks vki D;k dj ldrs gSa?” highlights the importance of “the bare necessities”
to the common man. The song “the bare necessities” in Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book
captures their importance too. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) focus on providing
“the bare necessities” to all: Goal 6 focuses on access to clean water and sanitation to all while,
goal 7 inter alia aims to provide universal access to electricity and clean cooking fuel. The
Economic Survey 2019-20 examined access to food through the idea of “Thalinomics: The
Economics of a Plate of Food in India.” In this chapter, the Economic Survey builds on that
endeavour by examining the progress made in the country on providing “the bare necessities”
to all its citizens.

10.2 The “bare necessities” of housing, water, sanitation, electricity and clean cooking fuel are
jointly consumed by all the members of a household. They, therefore, touch the life of every
member in the household. As these are durable assets, they deliver services to the household
over long periods of time. Access to clean drinking water, safe sanitation and clean cooking
fuel also have direct linkages with health of the members in the household. Access to these
saves time for a household, which they can utilise in productive activities such as education
and learning.

10.3 In order to improve access to “the bare necessities,” successive governments have
made constant efforts. The network of schemes designed to deliver these necessities include
inter-alia the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM), National Rural Drinking Water Programme
(NRDWP), Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana (PMAY), Saubhagya, and Ujjwala Yojana
(Box-1). These Schemes were equipped with new features such as use of technology, real
time monitoring, geo-tagging of assets, social audit, embedded digital flow of information,
and direct benefit transfers wherever possible. As Chapter 10 in the Economic Survey 2018-
19 highlights, these features improved the transparency in governance and enhanced the
efficiency and effectiveness of the Schemes.