Page 348 - ES 2020-21_Volume-1-2 [28-01-21]

The Bare Necessities 331

Figure 21: Increasing Equity in Access to Other Facilities

0.8
0.7
Other Facilities Index 0.5 2012
0.6

0.4
2018
0.3
0.2
0.1
0.0
Q1 Q5 Q1 Q5 Q1 Q5
India Rural Urban

Source: Survey calculations.

HEALTH OUTCOMES

10.20 Research highlights the health benefits that can accrue from greater access to the bare
necessities examined above. The Economic Survey 2018-19 (Chapter 8, Volume 1) showed the
benefits of the Swachh Bharat Mission, as it led to a decrease in diarrhea and malaria cases in
children below five years, still births and new-borns with weight less than 2.5 kg. Geruso and
Spears (2014) document similar effects on child survival of safe sanitation through the decline
in open defecation. Access to improved sanitation also reduces the risk of contracting diarrhoea
(Kumar and Vollmer, 2013; Jalan and Ravallion, 2003). Further, the access to the piped water
and sanitation is critical in reducing the child mortality substantially (Zwane et.al., 2007). The
distance and time spent on fetching water from the source is found to affect under-five child
health (Pickering and Davis, 2012; Zayatri et. al., 2013) and increase the risk of illness (Xia and
Hunter, 2010).

10.21 Research also supports the view that access to clean cooking fuel improves child health.
Studies have found a significant trend for higher infant mortality among households that cooked
with a greater proportion of biomass fuel (Rinne et.al., 2007). The close association between
household air pollution and mortality among children aged under-five, possibly because of
respiratory illnesses, support the case for providing clean cooking fuel through government
programmes (Naz et. al., 2016). Having a separate kitchen improves the indoor environment,
thereby yielding health benefits to the household, especially women and children. Access to
housing, better housing conditions and amenities are closely connected with health outcomes
(Thomson et. al., 2017).

10.22 Motivated by the various studies described above, we correlate the BNI with health
outcomes in India. Figure 22 plots the correlation of BNI with infant mortality rate and under-5
mortality rate for rural and urban areas; the data for both from NFHS-4 and NFHS-5 against the
5
corresponding levels of BNI. The close associations suggest bare necessities correlate strongly
with health outcomes. Table 2 shows the results from a panel regression that controls for the effect

5 State-wise data on IMR and under-5 MR are taken from NFHS-4, 2015-16 and NFHS-5, 2019-20 (for 22 States/
UT where data has been released).