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334 Economic Survey 2020-21 Volume 1

CHAPTER AT A GLANCE

¾ Compared to 2012, access to “the bare necessities” has improved across all States in the
country in 2018. Access to bare necessities is the highest in the States such as Kerala,
Punjab, Haryana and Gujarat while it is the lowest in Odisha, Jharkhand, West Bengal
and Tripura.

¾ The improvements are widespread as they span each of the five dimensions viz., access to
water, housing, sanitation, micro-environment and other facilities. Inter-State disparities
in the access to “the bare necessities” have declined in 2018 when compared to 2012
across rural and urban areas. This is because the States where the level of access to “the
bare necessities” was low in 2012 have gained relatively more between 2012 and 2018.

¾ Access to “the bare necessities” has improved disproportionately more for the poorest
households when compared to the richest households across rural and urban areas. The
improvement in equity is particularly noteworthy because while the rich can seek private
alternatives, lobby for better services, or if need be, move to areas where public goods
are better provided for, the poor rarely have such choices.

¾ Using data from the National Family Health Surveys, we correlate the BNI in 2012 and
2018 with infant mortality and under-5 mortality rate in 2015-16 and 2019-20 respectively
and find that the improved access to “the bare necessities” has led to improvements in
health indicators.

¾ Similarly, improved access to “the bare necessities” correlates with future improvements
in education indicators. Thrust should be given to reduce variation in the access to bare
necessities across states, between rural and urban and between income groups, on bare
necessities. The schemes, inter alia, Jal Jeevan mission, SBM-G, PMAY-G, may design
appropriate strategy to reduce these gaps.

¾ A BNI based on large annual household survey data can be constructed using suitable
indicators and methodology at district level for all/targeted districts to assess the progress
on access to bare necessities.

REFERENCES
Adukia, Anjali, “Sanitation and Education.” American Economic Journal: Applied Economics
9, no. 2 (2017): 23-59.

Besley, Timothy and Ghatak Maitreesh. ‘Public Goods and Economic Development’. London
School of Economics (http://econ.lse.ac.uk/staff/mghatak/public.pdf)
Emmerij, Louis, “The Basic Needs Development Strategy”, World Economic and Social Survey
2010: https://www.un.org/en/development/desa/policy/wess/wess_bg_papers/bp_wess2010_
emmerij.pdf

Geruso, Michael and Dean Spears, “Sanitation and health externalities: Resolving the Muslim
mortality paradox,” Working paper, University of Texas, Austin (2014).