During the past decade of unprecedented economic boom in the country,
people have shockingly hardly cared to improve their living conditions
but remained busy with “runaway consumerism”.
A scholar of the Mumbai-based International Institute of Population Sciences has analyzed census, sample surveys and other data to paint a picture in which people seem to be enjoying TV serials under a half-covered roof or living with a mobile handset in filthy living conditions.
Sociologist RB Bhagat, in his research paper published in a prestigious social science research journal, has analyzed how economic development in the country has widened the rural-urban gap and the gap between the Scheduled Castes-Scheduled Tribes and the rest of the population.
“For a majority of households ,living conditions as well as ownership of assets are at very low levels,” asserts the sociologist.
The percentage of households with concrete roof was only 21 per cent in India as a whole, and 18 and 52 per cent in rural and urban areas, respectively, in 2011.
Only about half of the households in rural areas used electricity as a source of light, the study notes.
“ Also, only 47 per cent of the households have a latrine facility within their premises, 41 per cent have a bathroom, and 28 per cent use LPG/PNG as cooking fuel while 43 per cent households have access to tap water as per the 2011 Census for rural and urban areas put together. A majority of the households do not have access to treated drinking water which is a major factor of waterborne diseases like diarrhoea and dysentery,” the sociologist points out.
Women suffer
He also presents the darker side of women’s existence and says that, “Due to lack of access to clean fuel like LPG/PNG, majority of households in rural areas use wood, cow dung and crop residue as cooking fuel and suffer from the risk of indoor air pollution.”
“The deprivation of drinking water, sanitation and toilet facilities is most glaring in rural areas and also in small and medium towns of urban areas,” says the study.
But, this pathetic existence of the large part of the population hardly deters them from chasing consumerist goals.
According to the study, about half of the households had access to television (47 per cent) and mobile phone (53 per cent) in 2011. Scooters, motorcycles and mopeds seem to have emerged as the most convenient mode of transport with one-fifth of the households using this mode of transportation.
The influence of the information age has led people to possess computers/laptops in a massive way. According to the 2011 Census, about one-tenth of the households own computer/laptop. Every fifth household in the urban areas owns a computer/laptop compared to one in every 20 households in rural areas.
A scholar of the Mumbai-based International Institute of Population Sciences has analyzed census, sample surveys and other data to paint a picture in which people seem to be enjoying TV serials under a half-covered roof or living with a mobile handset in filthy living conditions.
Sociologist RB Bhagat, in his research paper published in a prestigious social science research journal, has analyzed how economic development in the country has widened the rural-urban gap and the gap between the Scheduled Castes-Scheduled Tribes and the rest of the population.
“For a majority of households ,living conditions as well as ownership of assets are at very low levels,” asserts the sociologist.
The percentage of households with concrete roof was only 21 per cent in India as a whole, and 18 and 52 per cent in rural and urban areas, respectively, in 2011.
Only about half of the households in rural areas used electricity as a source of light, the study notes.
“ Also, only 47 per cent of the households have a latrine facility within their premises, 41 per cent have a bathroom, and 28 per cent use LPG/PNG as cooking fuel while 43 per cent households have access to tap water as per the 2011 Census for rural and urban areas put together. A majority of the households do not have access to treated drinking water which is a major factor of waterborne diseases like diarrhoea and dysentery,” the sociologist points out.
Women suffer
He also presents the darker side of women’s existence and says that, “Due to lack of access to clean fuel like LPG/PNG, majority of households in rural areas use wood, cow dung and crop residue as cooking fuel and suffer from the risk of indoor air pollution.”
“The deprivation of drinking water, sanitation and toilet facilities is most glaring in rural areas and also in small and medium towns of urban areas,” says the study.
But, this pathetic existence of the large part of the population hardly deters them from chasing consumerist goals.
According to the study, about half of the households had access to television (47 per cent) and mobile phone (53 per cent) in 2011. Scooters, motorcycles and mopeds seem to have emerged as the most convenient mode of transport with one-fifth of the households using this mode of transportation.
The influence of the information age has led people to possess computers/laptops in a massive way. According to the 2011 Census, about one-tenth of the households own computer/laptop. Every fifth household in the urban areas owns a computer/laptop compared to one in every 20 households in rural areas.
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