Bare necessities most accessible in Pb, Hry

The neighbouring states figure among top four in country

JALANDHAR: The economic survey for 2020-21 presented by the Union government in the Parliament on Friday revealed that Punjab and Haryana are among top four states where rural and urban population have the highest access to ‘bare necessities’. These include housing, water, sanitation, electricity, clean cooking fuel and other facilities.

The survey reveals that as compared to 2012, access to bare necessities has improved across all states in the country in 2018, but are highest in Kerala, Punjab, Haryana and Gujarat, while it is the lowest in

Odisha, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Tripura. The survey revealed that 50% to 70% of the Punjab population had access to bare necessitates in 2012 whereas it improved and remained above 70% in 2018.

“It has improved disproportionately for the poorest households as compared to the richest households across rural and urban areas. The improvement in equity is particularly 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,” the survey observed.

It further said that the highest access to bare necessities in rural areas in 2018 is recorded in Punjab, Kerala, Sikkim, Goa and Delhi. The central government has launched schemes, including Jal Jeevan Mission, Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana and others, to address these gaps. The economic survey also said that Punjab reported the high attendance rate at 61.6% of the children in the age group of 3-5 years in 2017-18. The survey said the age specific attendance ratio (ASAR) indicated that children in the age-group of 6-13 years have reported almost 95% and above attendance across states but the attendance rate in the early childhood education is low and diverging.

Threat of labour shock on Punjab

The economic survey cautioned Punjab about the impact of Covid-19 on gross value added (GVA), labour markets and fiscal position, saying that Punjab is likely to experience informal labour shocks in the services sector. The survey highlighted that Punjab had higher unemployment ratio for 15 years or above age group in 2018-19, as it recorded 7.4% unemployment rate (urban and rural) while all India ratio was 5.8. The survey also recorded the percentage of literates (above seven years) by religious or social groups in 2017-18 and revealed that 87.3% males and 75% females in Sikhism were literate.