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The Bare Necessities 317

These households are being electrified by the
concerned States and as on 20.12.2019, electricity
connections to 7.42 lakh Households have been
released.
Pradhan PMUY launched in May, Under PMUY, a target to provide 8 crore new LPG
Mantri 2016 in order to provide connections has been achieved in September,
Ujjwala clean cooking fuel to poor 2019, 7 months in advance of the target date of
Yojana households with a target 31 March, 2020.
st
(PMUY) to provide 8 crore deposit
free LPG connection. This
connection is provided in
the name of an adult woman
member of a poor family and
the beneficiary has an option to
avail connection with 14.2 kg
or 5 kg cylinder. The existing
beneficiary with 14.2 kg LPG
cylinder has an option to swap
with 5 kg cylinder also.
Source: Complied based on information received from concerned Ministries/Departments

10.4 To measure the progress in the delivery of “the bare necessities”, the Survey develops a
composite index called the Bare Necessities Index (BNI); see Box 2 for the details about the
construction of the index. The BNI measures access to “the bare necessities” for households
in rural areas, urban areas and at the all India level. These necessities are measured using 26
comparable indicators on five dimensions viz., water, sanitation, housing, micro-environment,
and other facilities. The indicators used to capture the availability and quality of housing, access
to bathroom, kitchen, toilet, drinking water, waste discharge facilities, clean cooking fuel and
disease free environment, etc. The composite index for the States/UTs for 2012 and 2018 has
been created using data mainly from two NSO rounds viz., 69 (2012) and 76 (2018), on
th
th
Drinking Water, Sanitation, Hygiene, and Housing Condition in India.
Box 2: The Bare Necessities Index

The “basic needs” approach to economic development focuses on the minimum specified quantities
of basic necessities such as food, clothing, shelter, water and sanitation that are necessary to prevent
ill health, and undernourishment (Streeten, 1981; Emmerij, 2010). Sen (1999) defines poverty as a
failure to achieve certain minimum basic needs or capacities. Shaffer (2008) similarly defines poverty
as the deprivation of material requirements for the minimum acceptable fulfilment of basic needs.
The Bare Necessities Index (BNI) is an attempt to quantify this approach to economic development
using data from the National Statistical Office (NSO).
The data for developing the Bare Necessities Index (BNI) is sourced from two NSO Rounds on
drinking water, sanitation, hygiene, and housing condition in India: 69 (2012) and 76 (2018). The
th
th
data on the indicator ‘household using LPG for cooking’ for 2011-12 is taken from NSO Report on
Energy Sources of Indian Households for Cooking and Lighting 2011-12. The BNI is created for all