The bare necessities for India

The latest Economic Survey has presented an interesting new index called the Bare Necessities Index. The BNI Index covers five areas that impact the daily lives of a bottom-of-the-pyramid householder

The Economic Survey, traditionally presented a day before the Union Budget, usually contains some breakthrough ideas and suggestions. However, the anticipation of Budget announcements and the hectic analysis that follows thereafter result in the Economic Survey perspectives not getting the attention they deserve — drowned out by the din and bustle of the Budget. As an aside, it would be a good idea to have the Economic Survey presented a full month ahead of the Budget so as to give policymakers, and the discerning public, enough time to soak in and deliberate on the issues highlighted therein.

Economic Surveys, in recent times, have offered some fresh insights. Memorable ones include Universal Basic Income and Bad Bank. The latest Economic Survey under the stewardship of the Chief Economic Advisor, Krishnamurthy Venkata Subramanian, has formulated and presented an interesting new index called the BNI — the Bare Necessities Index. [Incidentally, the Bare Necessities, is a popular jingle from the famous movie Jungle Book, where Baloo (the bear) dances joyfully to this song. The Economic Survey, indulging in a moment of light-heartedness, also refers to this.]

India, has historically been obsessed with asset creation, with relatively less attention being paid to squeezing the desired service-delivery from these assets. Be it large thermal power plants, or dams or highways —the benefits accruing to “aam aadmi” (the common man) have been conspicuously less visible across decades.

The BNI Index covers five areas that impact the daily lives of a bottom-of-the-pyramid householder (see table). The Economic Survey does give credit to successive governments for having focused on provision of bare necessities, albeit with differing emphasis. In the context of current initiatives, the chapter highlights the ongoing schemes:

Swachh Bharat Mission-Rural and Urban: To achieve 100 per cent Open Defecation Free  status and 100 per cent scientific processing of the Municipal Solid Waste.

Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana: To provide housing for all in urban and rural areas.

National Rural Drinking Water Programme (now Jal Jeevan Mission): To provide safe and adequate water for drinking, cooking and other domestic needs to every rural person.

Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana —Saubhagya: Universal household electrification by providing electricity connections to all willing unelectrified households in rural and urban areas.

Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana : To provide clean cooking fuel to poor households with a target to provide 80 million deposit-free LPG connections.

The index for each state and group has been constructed for rural, urban and (rural + urban) combined for India for 2012 and 2018. The value of the index ranges between 0 and 1. Higher the value of the index, the better is the access to the bare necessities.

For the immediate, some of the conclusions are indeed revealing.

One, in most of the states, the access to bare necessities for the households in 2018 is significantly better compared to 2012. Access to bare necessities in 2018 is the highest in states such as Kerala, Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat, Uttrakhand, Delhi, Goa, Mizoram and Sikkim, while it is the lowest in Odisha, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Tripura.

Two, Inter-state disparities in the access to bare necessities have declined in 2018 compared to 2012.

Three, in rural India, the highest access to bare necessities in 2018 is recorded in Punjab, Kerala, Sikkim, Goa and Delhi, while the lowest in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha, Assam, Manipur and Tripura.

Four, the access to bare necessities has improved disproportionately more for the poorest households when compared to the relatively richer households across India, rural as well as urban. This 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.

Five, the improved access to the bare necessities has led to improvements in health and education indicators.

The BNI has been created for all states for 2012 and 2018 using data from two NSO rounds viz., 69th and 76th on drinking water, sanitation, hygiene and housing condition in India. It is hoped that along with other accepted indices of measuring well-being such as per capita income, nutrition, health et al, the BNI will get its rightful place in all future evaluations of the quality of life in India.

The writer is Chairman of Feedback Infra