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Tamil Nadu
By Our Staff Reporter
On the flip side, it still lacks in latrine and sanitation facilities, is largely dependent on firewood for cooking, a reflection of low LPG penetration, is depending less on groundwater and has not progressed in terms of in-house connections. Besides, provision of infrastructure does not necessarily translate into availability of drinking water. Releasing the house listing data at a press conference here on Tuesday, C. Chandamouli, Director of Census Operations, Tamil Nadu, said there had been a 15 per cent increase in households and a trend towards more permanent residence since the previous census, though the population rise was only 11 per cent.
No privacy for couples
The census presents a typical rural household as being in good condition with power connection and access to water sources, though not necessarily within the house. Most of the houses are, however, cramped with only one dwelling room, without adequate privacy for married couples and without in-house bathrooms, latrines or drainage, and are largely dependent on firewood for cooking. And only about one-third of them have television, radio or transistor sets. Urban households, on the other hand, are more spacious, have greater in-house access to drinking water sources and in-house bathrooms, and more than half of them have television, radio and transistor sets. In terms of permanent residence, Chennai, Coimbatore, Nilgris and Madurai were rated among the best districts. However, there has been a marginal percentage decrease in ownership of residence, especially in Chennai, but the number of people living in government or official quarters — not-owned, non-rented premises — has increased.
Dependence on taps
On accessibility to water, Dr. Chandramouli pointed out that dependence on groundwater, especially open wells, had "drastically come down". Dependence on taps increased from about 44 per cent in 1991 to about 63 per cent in 2001, but most of the developments were in providing public, not in-house, connections. "In rural areas, people have to travel more than half a kilometre to fetch drinking water". In electricity for lighting, Tamil Nadu ranked eighth with about 78 per cent connectivity. About 20 per cent of the households depended on kerosene lamps, and surprisingly, about 35,000 households even tapped solar energy for lighting. Major areas of concern were that about 65 per cent households in the State did not have latrines within the house, and about 55 per cent did not have drainage. The penetration of LPG was also low, though there was a substantial increase from about 7 per cent in 1991 to about 19 per cent in the latest census. "About 65 per cent households still use firewood for cooking, thereby depleting forest resources", the director said.
Joint family system breaking down
The survey also established that the joint family system in the State was breaking down, with all most 70 per cent households sheltering only one married couple. However, the privacy index was disappointing, with less than 50 per cent of married couples having access to separate bedrooms.
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