90% rural houses don't have refrigerators, 50% have TVs

Nearly half the households in villages had a television, but only less than 10 per cent owned a refrigerator in 2011-12, as per the latest government survey.

Both the items have shown an increase from 2004-05, when only a quarter of households in villages had TVs and less than 5 per cent owned refrigerators. In contrast, about 56 per cent families in cities didn't have refrigerators in 2011-12, which is no longer considered a luxury item, while 80 per cent households had TVs.

"Refrigerators were possessed by 43.8 per cent urban households in 2011-12 compared to 31.9 per cent in 2004-05," as per National Sample Survey Organisation's 68th Round Survey of Household Consumption of Various Goods and Services in India. 

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On the other hand, just 9.4 per cent of families in villages had refrigerators in 2011-12, compared to 4.4 per cent such households in 2004-05.

Besides, nearly half the households in villages had TVs in 2011-12, compared to 26 per cent in 2004-05. In cities around 80 per cent families had television compared to 66 per cent in 2004-05.

As for the food items, the survey revealed that rice consumption per person per month in villages fell to 5.98 kg in 2011-12, compared to 6.38 kg in 2004-05. In cities, the fall in rice consumption was from 4.71 kg to 4.49 kg.

It showed however that per capita consumption of PDS rice doubled in rural India, and has risen 66 per cent in cities since 2004-05, implying that the share of PDS purchases in rice consumption has risen substantially. 

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Per capita consumption of wheat in 2011-12 showed a slight rise since 2004-05 of about 0.1 kg per person per month in rural areas, and a fall of 0.35 kg in urban areas.

As in case of rice, the share of PDS purchase in wheat consumption has increased considerably, with per capita consumption of PDS wheat having more than doubled since 2004-05 in both sectors.

As for other items, according to the survey, 63.5 per cent families in the villages had electric fans, while the proportion of such households was 92.7 per cent in cities in 2011-12.

In villages, 57.1 per cent families had bicycles in 2011-12, while the percentage of such households in cities was 38.6 per cent. 

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The proportion of rural households with motorcycles or scooters more than doubled in the 7 years prior to 2011-12 from 7.7 per cent to 18.4 per cent, while in the urban sector the proportion increased from 26 per cent to 38 per cent.

About two per cent of the families in villages had motor car or jeep in 2011-12, whereas the percentage of such households was 8 per cent in cities.

The NSSO survey is based on information collected during 2011-12 from 1,01,651 households in 7,469 villages and 5,268 urban blocks spread over the entire country.

It showed that nearly 71 per cent households in urban areas and over 21 per cent in rural areas reported consumption of LPG for household use. However, the percentage of families reporting use of firewood and chips remained as high as 83.5 per cent in rural areas, and 23 per cent in urban areas.

Educational expenditure per person per month was about Rs 50 (3.5 per cent of monthly per capita expenditure) in villages, and Rs 181.50 (about 7 per cent of MPCE) in cities. 

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The per capita expenditure on petrol in villages rose in 2011-12 to about Rs 23, about 4.2 times its level in 2004-05.

In cities spending on petrol increased about 2.7 times, from Rs 31 to about Rs 85 per month, between 2004-05 and 2011-12 – a period during which overall per capita consumer expenditure grew by 122 per cent in villages and by 124 per cent in cities.

In villages, telephone expenditure per person increased to about Rs 25 per month in 2011-12, which was about 4.6 times its value in 2004-05. While 32 per cent of rural households reported telephone expenditure in 2004-05, the proportion of families in 2011-12 reporting expenditure on mobile phones alone was 77 per cent.

Expenditure per person on cable TV subscription in rural India rose in 2011-12 to 5.9 times its value in 2004-05, and the proportion of households incurring such expenditure increased by 270 per cent.

Urban expenditure per person on house rent registered a nearly threefold increase over the 7 years between 2004-05 and 2011-12.