Economic boom benefitted urban India

New Delhi, Sep 02: India's growth story has benefitted urban people more than ruralites as reflected in expenditure of urban India.

A survey by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) of household consumer expenditure, 2004-05 said urban India is spending nearly double the amount on an average compared to rural areas. The per capita monthly expenditure of people living in urban areas was Rs 1,052.36 against Rs 558.78 of those in rural areas.

The survey said national average spending by rural scheduled tribes (STs) was the lowest at Rs 426.19, followed by rural scheduled castes at Rs 474.72, other backward castes (OBCs) Rs 556.72 and others Rs 685.31. In urban India, STs spent Rs 857.46, SCs Rs 758.38, OBCs Rs 870.93 and others Rs 1,306.10.

While growth in services and industrial sectors has been spurring the economic momentum at nine per cent plus for the last two years, agriculture continued to be the major source of livelihood in rural India where 64.3 per cent of population was still dependent on it, either as self-employed (39.4 per cent) or as farm labour ( 24.9 per cent), the survey said.

Population dependent on self-employment ( in agriculture plus non-agriculture) was 49 per cent for STs, 36.6 per cent for SCs, 60.7 per cent for OBCs and 66.4 per cent for others, according to the survey.

In rural India, population dependent on labour, both agriculture and non-agriculture, was 56.4 per cent for SCs, 45.2 per cent for STs, 30.7 per cent for OBCs and 21.8 per cent for others.

In urban India, proportion of population in regular wage/salary households was almost the same between 42 to 42.9 per cent for all social groups except OBCs which was 34.3 per cent. Dependence on self-employment was more prevalent for OBCs at 46.4 per cent, as well as for residual classes at 45.3 per cent. It was, however, 30.9 per cent in case of SCs and 27.4 per cent in respect of STs.

SCs' spending in the country was lowest in Orissa at Rs 283.97, followed by Madhya Pradesh Rs 342.71, Chhattisgarh Rs 361.67 and Bihar at Rs 394.60 as against all-India average of Rs 426.19. Among Indian states, SCs' spending was highest in Goa at Rs 1.948.59, followed by Nagaland Rs 1,019.99. In the much-hyped prosperous Punjab, which has the largest SCs population among states, it is just Rs 640.64, much lower than Haryana's Rs 986.69.

UNI