The Hindu : 1.11 cr. couples don't have separate rooms

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, May 31, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Karnataka-Bangalore

1.11 cr. couples don't have separate rooms

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE MAY 30. Over 47 per cent of the 1.11 crore married couples in the State do not have separate sleeping rooms, the latest data on House-listing Operations of Census 2001 has revealed.

Of the 75 lakh couples in rural areas, only 38.5 lakh (51.6 per cent) have separate sleeping rooms, and of the 36 lakh couples in urban areas 26 lakh (69.8 per cent) have separate rooms. There are 1.02 crore households in the State.

The data was released here today by the Director of Census Operations (Karnataka), H. Shashidhar. He said the data by and large indicated the economic prosperity of the people of the State, as Karnataka is ahead of the all-India figures in drinking water, bathrooms, toilets, consumer durables, vehicles etc.

Around 82 per cent of the 66 lakh rural and 24 per cent of the 35 lakh urban households still do not have toilets on their premises. In all, 62.5 per cent of the households do not have toilets.

Similarly, 40 per cent of the rural and 20 per cent of the urban households do not have bathrooms in their homes. However, as far as drinking water is concerned, 58.9 per cent of the households (48.5 per cent in rural and 78.4 per cent in urban) get water through taps.

This percentage has substantially increased from 41.9 in 1991. On the other hand, households depending on tubewells, wells, and rivers for drinking water have come down from 29.8 per cent to 25.7 per cent, 23.4 per cent to 12.4 per cent, 2.2 per cent to 1.1 per cent respectively.

The number of Census houses in the State has risen from 1.06 crore to 1.38 crore (65.1 per cent in rural and 34.9 per cent in urban areas) recording a growth of 30.3 per cent. Of these, the number of households is 1.02 crore.

The percentage of owned houses was 79.8 during the 1991 Census, but it came down to 78.5 during the 2001 Census. The percentage of people staying in rented houses has increased from 17.8 to 18.6 per cent during the same period.

Less than 50 per cent houses are in good condition and 51.2 per cent are in "livable" condition. It is interesting to note that tiles/slate still dominate as material for roof with 5.7 million houses using them. Houses with grass, bamboo, wood, mud, and the like form the second predominant material for roof, closely followed by concrete. However, the percentage of houses with concrete as roof has shown an increase from 10.8 to 19.1.

Though mud is predominantly used for flooring, its percentage has come down from 53.9 to 39.4.

On the other hand, use of cement and mosaic for flooring has increased from 28.3 per cent to 35.2 per cent and from 5.3 per cent to 7.6 per cent respectively.

Use of LPG as cooking fuel has registered a rise from 0.7 per cent in 1991 to 4.6 per cent, and it has reached villages too. On the other hand, the percentage of wood as fuel has come down from 78.6 to 64.9.

Kerosene has come down to the third position, while electricity, which is widely used mainly in urban areas, has lost its importance due to high costs. Crop residue, which hitherto was not netted, accounts for 5.3 per cent.

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