Basic Amenities in Rural India:Households’ Access Deprivation, Disparities and Determinants

The need for access to basic amenities - drinking water, sanitation, electricity and drainage - to ensure a decent quality of life has been internationally recognised and acted upon in the form MDGs and various policies and programmes in India. Deprivation and disparities in access to basic amenities in rural areas have been highlighted in this paper using data from Census of India, 2001 and 2011, and National Sample Survey's Housing Conditions Rounds unit records data, 1993 and 2008/2009. Determinants of households having access to basic amenities in the house have been estimated using an econometric exercise on household level information, NSS unit record data 2008/09. Despite improvement many households in rural India still face severe access deprivations and hence low standards of living. Households belonging to the weaker sections of society have been most deprived of access to basic amenities, and the corresponding disparities in access among various socio-economic groups have increased over last decades. This paper suggests the need for immediate attention towards providing adequate basic amenities with inclusive and group-specific provisions (also socio-spatial situatedeness focus) in rural India so as to raise the overall quality of life.