The Bare Necessities For India

Context: An overview of the Bare Necessities Index (BNI) presented in the Economic Survey 2020-21.

Related Government schemes

• Swachh Bharat Mission-Rural and Urban: To achieve 100% Open Defecation Free status and 100% 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.

About Bare Necessities Index (BNI)

• Covers: Five areas that impact the daily lives of a bottom-of-the-pyramid
  • 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.
• Scope: Along with other accepted indices of measuring well-being such as per capita income, nutrition, health etc., BNI could be the benchmark to measure the quality of life in India.

Conclusions from BNI Index: Comparison between 2012-2018

• Better Access to bare necessities
  • Highest in states such as Kerala, Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat, Uttrakhand, Delhi, Goa, Mizoram and Sikkim.
  • Lowest in Odisha, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Tripura.
• Decline in Inter-state disparities: in Access to bare necessities.
• Rural India scenario: Highest Access to bare necessities in 2018 is recorded in Punjab, Kerala, Sikkim, Goa and Delhi, while lowest in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha, Assam, Manipur and Tripura.
• Access to bare necessities has improved disproportionately more for poorest households: When compared to relatively richer households across India, rural as well as urban
• Spillover effect: has led to improvements in health and education indicators.